A hotel room definitely has a lot of amenities contained within the room, but the smart traveler will evaluate everything before they actually use anything in the room. For example, you might have a mini-bar in your hotel room that actually has bottles of water and even alcohol right there for you to drink and enjoy. However, these perks don’t come for free — the mini-bar is often far more expensive than going down to a cafe or convenience store and picking up what you actually want to eat and drink.
However, is this really a bad thing? A closer look is necessary in order to determine whether or not you really will be making the wrong decision. You see, a min-bar isn’t an inherently bad thing. Hotels put it in not to just make reckless profits, but to really provide a service that some travelers like to have.
The mini-bar is much more convenient than walking down to a vending machine, and you don’t even have to have cash handy right then and there. If you do decide to take advantage of the mini-bar section of your hotel room, it will be on your bill when you check out. If you already know that you will have plenty of extra money to cover your purchases at the mini-bar, then you might want to indulge lightly.
The key word there is lightly — the mini-bar can seem really tempting, but it’s important to make sure that you know what the price of everything you take actually is. If you have to call down to the front desk and ask, don’t be afraid to ask and get something in writing that actually says how much the things in the mini-bar cost. Don’t just settle for someone telling you how much things cost — they could not remember the price correctly, but it will be you that has to pay that final bill at the end of your stay.
If you’re on a tight budget, you might want to avoid the mini-bar altogether. Again, it’s just a convenience measure in the room, and it’s one that you don’t have to ultimately take advantage of if you don’t want to. You might want to save that money for a dinner at a nice restaurant where you can usually get unlimited drinks.
Overall, getting into the mini-bar in your hotel room is ultimately up to you — but now that you have a little more information, you can make the choice for yourself.
