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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Minibar £35

102 replies

Sandinmytoes · 16/04/2016 03:58

To think you shouldn't just blindly help yourself to the minbar when someone else is paying?

£35 for a vodka/tonic- extortionate
I don't mind paying for a beer @ £4 or a juice but that's ridiculous.

She hasn't realised and now I have to bring it up- which is just awkward

OP posts:
Pipbin · 16/04/2016 09:57

I remember staying in a hotel in London that wanted £5 for a mars bar. I could actually see a 24 hour Spar from the hotel window. Why would you spend £5 on a Mars bar rather than go over the road?

KittenOfWoe · 16/04/2016 10:08

Holy crap that's pricey!! Query it and, if it's right, she pays for what she's drunk fair and square.

Marynary · 16/04/2016 11:36

Oh dear. I presume that you sister is quite young and/or has never stayed in a hotel with a minibar before. I think that is incredibly pricey even for a mini bar. I'm sure it never occurred to her that it would be such a rip off. You should tell her how much it was and see if she offers to pay.

AppleSetsSail · 16/04/2016 11:37

I don't understand how this could be awkward between sisters.

BarbaraofSeville · 16/04/2016 11:48

Apple. You know all those crazy unreasonable loons that people often moan about on here? Many of those are somebody's sister. They aren't likely to be any more sensible and reasonable with their own families.

Both my sisters get offended at the slightest thing and I am constantly on eggshells around them.

I'm slightly astonished that some people just don't look at prices. I do it constantly because I generally like to get the best value and won't pay over the odds of features/products that I don't want or need.

DP once commented to me in a surprised tone that the glass of wine he'd just had in a restaurant had been about £6 as if he had found this information out for the first time he had. Up to then he just chose whichever drink he wanted without looking at the prices and genuinely didn't seem to realise that wine in restaurants costs a lot more than it does in the supermarket.

AppleSetsSail · 16/04/2016 11:50

Fair enough Barbara. Chocolate

Pico2 · 16/04/2016 12:01

It's odd that minibars are so expensive as I'd have thought that people would use them more if they were a bit more reasonable and that would make the hotel more profit.

AppleSetsSail · 16/04/2016 12:23

It's odd that minibars are so expensive as I'd have thought that people would use them more if they were a bit more reasonable and that would make the hotel more profit.

It might, though, cannibalise their restaurant/bar business?

Pico2 · 16/04/2016 12:41

True - I doubt that I could be right as the hotel trade would have discovered it and changed years ago.

fascicle · 16/04/2016 13:00

OP, did you tell your sister that you would pay for minibar items, or are you paying for the room, and your sister has assumed that includes minibar costs?

Is it worth trying to negotiate on the charge with the hotel (especially if you can fact in cost price, reasonable/industry mark up etc)?

fascicle · 16/04/2016 13:01

factor in, not fact in

Original poster
Sandinmytoes · 16/04/2016 16:01

It's 2 miniatures of vodka plus the can of tonic
£33 to be precise

Whoever said burj al Arab was pretty close!

I'm gobsmacked at the price so she has no idea I'm sure. She's just not very responsible that's all.

OP posts:
Original poster
Sandinmytoes · 16/04/2016 16:05

I just told get how much it was and she nearly fainted!!
Said she only had it cos they didn't restock the beer. Can of beer is £8

OP posts:
Original poster
Sandinmytoes · 16/04/2016 16:06

The staff add it up on a list daily

OP posts:
notonyurjellybellynelly · 16/04/2016 16:09

Whoever said burj al Arab was pretty close

I did wonder if it was a hotel in this part of the world where alcohol is more expensive anyway, and even more expensive when you add on a premium for the minibar.

So no, Im not shocked at the price.

loveulotslikejellytots · 16/04/2016 16:17

Is it the Atlantis on the palm? We stayed there and the mini bar has sensors which charge you just to take the drinks out of it! Even if you put them back.

Original poster
Sandinmytoes · 16/04/2016 17:37

Jumeirah beach

OP posts:
notonyurjellybellynelly · 16/04/2016 17:41

Jumeirah beach

I thought it might be but truth be told the price would have been the same in any of their sisters hotel along that stretch and not much cheaper elsewhere in Dubai or this part of the world.

Its why I never check the price of whats in a mini bar. We pay so much for alcohol here anyway that anywhere else we go in the world its a bargain.

Janecc · 16/04/2016 18:02

Went there 13ish years ago - $20US for breakfast even then. Very expensive. Bloody expensive minibar. Has she agreed to pay?

Original poster
Sandinmytoes · 16/04/2016 18:21

I invited her, I don't really expect her to pay.
It was more about not looking at the price before you drink it.

OP posts:
Marynary · 16/04/2016 18:35

I normally only look at prices of drinks if I expect that they might be outside the normal price range. I would look if it was a minibar as I know they might be really high. I would also look if the hotel or restaurant was a very expensive one. If your sister doesn't realise how much out of the normal range the drinks could be it is perhaps not surprising that she didn't look. I'm sure she won't make the same mistake again.

fascicle · 16/04/2016 18:44

Why didn't you say that the hotel was in Dubai, OP? It's pretty relevant to the thread.

Original poster
Sandinmytoes · 16/04/2016 18:56

Why's it relevant?

My point was wherever you are surely you look at the prices before you take any drink from the minibar?

OP posts:
Janecc · 16/04/2016 19:32

I'm really confused. You said that you are paying regardless of the price so are you happy or not happy for your sister to help herself? A beer is £8 is that ok? I get the prices are exhorbitant. If you haven't set up any rules or consequences and describe your sister as not very responsible, it's not surprising she didn't check. I just think she could maybe do with some guidelines because not everyone thinks about the price of something if they don't have to pay. Personally I wouldn't touch a mini bar with a barge pole unless desperate regardless of who is paying.

Original poster
Sandinmytoes · 16/04/2016 19:39

Sis and I are good friends
I'm just a bit bemused that you wouldn't check the prices first.
It's done now so I'm not going to quibble. She was amazed at the price as I was.
£8 is a bit different to £33 for one drink.
£8 is still ridiculous but my £8 beer was worth every penny tonight.

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