Mini-bar

A mini-bar is a small, private snack and beverage bar often found in upscale Western-style hotel rooms.

Typically, a mini-bar comes in the form of a counter and small refrigerator stocked with a precise inventory. The room's guests can take a beverage or snack at any time during their stay. When the housekeeping staff makes up the room, they note what items are missing from the mini-bar and add the cost to the guest's bill.

The bar is commonly stocked with small bottles of alcoholic beverages, juice, and soft drinks as well as candy (sweets), cookies (sweet biscuits), crackers (savoury biscuits) and other small snacks. Prices are generally very high relative to similar items purchased in a store, since the guest is paying for the convenience of the items and upkeep of the bar. Many hotels have progressed further to offer non-food items, such as socks, toiletries, and condoms. Some even use infrared or other high-tech methods of automatically recording purchases.

History

The German company Siegas introduced the first refrigerated mini-bar in the early 1960s. Earlier mini-bars did not have refrigerators, so the idea likely stretches back at least to the early 1950s.

Popular culture references

"Sometimes the hotel I stay at has a mini-bar. A mini-bar is a machine that makes everything… expensive. And when I take something out of the mini-bar, I always fathom that I'm gonna replace it before they can check me off and charge me. But they make that shit impossible to replace. I go to the store, 'Do you have Coke in a glass harmonica? Do you have individually wrapped cashews?'" -Mitch Hedberg, In his 1999 album Strategic Grill Locations

External links

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