So Long, Hotel Minibars. Good Riddance.

I’ve never taken an item from a hotel room minibar. Five dollar sodas? Ridiculous. Four dollar candy bars? No way. As far as I’m concerned, the things are just a waste of space. And don’t get me started on the hotel staff that knock on your door, waking you from a perfectly good afternoon nap, to ask whether your minibar needs refilling. Let me nap in peace! So I was delighted to read in USA Today that an increasing number of hotels are giving up on minibar price gouging and emptying the little fridges so guests can actually use them for their own drinks or other items. It turns out, ironically, that some hotels are finding the minibars to be big money losers. The pricey drinks and snacks often don’t generate enough revenue to justify staff time refilling them.

Reports Jayne Clark:

The Hilton McLean in suburban Washington, D.C., for instance, is in the process of emptying the last of its 458 minibars, which are being rechristened as plain old refrigerators. The reason: lack of demand.

Similarly, New York’s 1,946-room Marriott Marquis has ousted its minibars, which took 20 employees seven hours to service.

“It was a pure business decision,” spokeswoman Kathy Duffy says. “When we saw how few people were actually using them and the amount of labor it cost to visit each room every day, it was far higher than the revenue.”

Marriott has noted a trend toward refrigerators and away from minibars. And Omni Hotels is testing a sleeker version of the standard minibar that leaves space for guests to store their own items.

Good riddance.

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