Hotel guest ‘nearly passes out’ at shocking cost for bottle of water in minibar

A HOTEL guest was left stunned by the price of his minbar after a recent stay.

Visiting a hotel in Las Vegas, they took a look inside the minibar and found all kids of booze, soft drinks and snacks.

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He wrote: “Be warned, amid all this in-room indulgence was eye-watering prices [and] steep fines for doing something many of us do quite regularly with minibar.”

One of the eye-watering costs was a 1l bottle of water – which cost a whopping $31 (£25).

They said it was “enough to make you pass out”.

But the priciest item was a 200ml bottle of Patron – smaller than a can of Coca Cola – for $75 (£60).

He added: “Not that it was easy to find these prices.

“There was no printed sign next to the fridge warning that your wallet was going to be emptied quicker than at the roulette wheel several stories below.

“This information was instead buried on a page of the in-room television.”

And make sure not to buy something from a cheaper shop and add it to your fridge, as you will also be charged for that.

He wrote: “Why not rent a fridge from them for your extras? It’s a mere $50.

“No, not for your entire stay, silly. It’s $50 per day.

“To chill your $4 [corner shop] beer for 24 hours in a hotel minibar will cost you more than 10 times the cost of the actual beer.”

Another hotel guest shared an image of a similar warning at their hotel.

It reads: “The refreshment centre is on a sensor.

“Use of the refreshment centre for personal storage will automatically incur a $50 (£41) charge.”

Another tourist shared their own horror story of using the hotel minibar for his own booze.

He said: “I was at the MGM Aria Resort, where they have advanced minibars that employ sensors that can detect when an item is moved or the size or weight changes.

“We brought our own alcohol and used the mini-fridge to keep it cool and when we checked out, MGM charged us a $25 (£22) a day ‘personal use fee’.”

Jacob Tomsky is author of Heads In Beds, a Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles and So-Called Hospitality, said guests can often get out of the charges entirely if they dispute them.

He said: “Even before guests can manage to get through half of the ‘I never had those items’ sentence, I have already removed the charges.”

Back in 2018, hotels in Costa Blanca banned minibars – because Brits kept weeing in the bottles to avoid the charges.

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