Lloyd Center Doubletree.
Definitely.
Nope. I see them at the mid-to-high-end hotels here in Chicago. I don’t stay at these places, but I do find myself in them a lot, and they all seem to have them. Or, wait, is there a difference between mini-bars and mini-fridges? I mean a fridge with various non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks in it for an overly inflated price. One recent example I remember from a month ago: the Raddison Blu Aqua Hotel here in Chicago.
I mostly stay in mid-price business hotels. Those usually have a small dorm-sized refrigerator but no minibar. Although I remember one with eight-dollar bottles of fancy spring water.
Haven’t seen a minibar in quite a few years, before Covid. Then again, haven’t been to a big city business hotel in a while either.
I don’t mind the places that have a grab and go set up like a convenience store and it just gets billed to the room and the pricing is basically on par with what you’d expect at the local 7/11 equivalent.
I’ve never used the overpriced minibar. I do remember a couple times I’ve had travel companions watch (non porn) movies on demand. I think I was able to use points to pay for them, just found it weird that someone would need to watch the first 20 minutes of some film just to fall asleep by and couldn’t find anything on cable or HBO to fit the bill
The one I saw in Vegas this past July included more than the usual booze, mixers and snacks. On the top of the cabinet that held the fridge , there were other items such as headphones and a “romance kit”. Funny thing is I’ve stayed in other hotels run by the same casino company, but never saw a mini-bar in the other hotels.
I’ve done that in the past on cruise ships and in hotels. Because I wanted the refrigerator space.
Yes, about 35 years go. I thought they seemed cool.Fun! Convenience! So I got a box of M&Ms. It only cost about 1.5-2X the store rate back then. I quickly realized even that is too much. So now I just bring my own and put it in the room fridge.
However, the scene in Flight with Denzel and the minibar was pretty impressive!
I’ve done so many times in the past. I used to have to travel for different jobs that I had and was paid a fairly hefty per diem, so it was no skin off my wallet.
My wife and I will occasionally grab a bottle of wine from the mini bar. Yes, it’s expensive, but so is the wine at the bar in the lobby. We don’t tip the mini bar.
I suspect there’s also a mentality where people are more likely to splurge while on vacation, and some people might be more willing to pay that outrageous price while in that mindset.
And then when you get to the high end of the hotel spectrum there’s probably some number of guests who consider $10 to be basically pocket change and are completely fine with paying that price.
Stayed at a place in the Dominican Republic once. No mini-bar but they had bottles of basic booze set up in your room with spigots on them. Whiskey, vodka etal. No charge.
There where about 10 of us celebrating a friends birthday. All of us had our own rooms with this set up, and all of us made it home alive.
I’m my experience the prices are high but not usually as crazy as some of the prices people have mentioned here. Although my experience is mostly of Europe and asian hotels.
Having said that, the only time I’ve used the minibar was when I was with someone and, well, we didn’t want to leave the room for a while.
Stayed at a resort in Jamaica years ago on a solo vacation. They had “generic” bottles of rum, vodka, whiskey, that you could pour. No spigots, though.
ETA: the Dominican Republic is very proud of their beer (Presidente). Bartenders treated it reverently, discussing its quality.
Yeah, I stayed at the all-inclusive Hard Rock (first and only time I’ve ever been at an all-inclusive) in DR a few years ago for work, and they had the same set-up, so far as I remember. At least in some of the rooms (including mine.) Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I had stopped drinking like a year or two before that, so I didn’t take advantage of it.
Here is what I found by googling “minibar prices” and scrolling past all the results that were complaints about outrageous prices. This is a pretty nice hotel in DC. Same level as flagship Hilton I would say. Doesn’t seem that much higher than the prices in the 1990s.
I stay in Hiltons on most of my business travels, and they do not have minibars any more. Sometimes we are in a “boutique” hotel and they do have minibars. My brother is a Marriott loyalist and reports that the minibars have disappeared from there as well. Neither of us remember when they disappeared. I know that the one trip I made in the first year of COVID there was a notice that the minibar was suspended. Maybe they did not resume them.
That wouldn’t surprise me. Maybe the income from the “mini store” by the front desk for cans of soda and baggies of chips is easier and better than the return on keeping a couple hundred rooms stocked and dealing with irate customers disputing charges. Plus, potentially, having some liquor bottles sitting around in a room with children in it.
I’m a Marriott loyalist. Mini bars are rare to nonexistent in the regular rooms but present in almost all the suites.
I agree that the advent of the 24/7/365 snack and booze sales alcove off the front desk at almost all brands & levels of hotel has pretty well replaced the mini bar in the mainstream rooms.
I don’t stay at Marriotts - but I don’t think there is a 24/7/365 snack and booze alcove at almost all brands and levels. There are plenty of hotels that still have vending machines for snacks and sundries and even the hotels I’ve seen that have those little alcoves ( or even a full-size store) don’t have booze. IME, the places with the alcove/store either have no restaurants/bar and it wouldn’t be worth getting a liquor license to sell the occasional miniature bottle or they do have a restaurant/bar and prefer to sell the booze by the drink.
I’ve seen beer, wine, and stuff like White Claw in the mini-stores (not in all but in some). No real hard liquor. More commonly than I’ve seen a fully stocked in-room mini-bar these days though.