A minibar is a small refrigerator, typically an
absorption refrigerator
An absorption refrigerator is a refrigerator that uses a heat source (e.g., solar energy, a fossil-fueled flame, waste heat from factories, or district heating systems) to provide the energy needed to drive the cooling process. The system uses t ...
, in a hotel room or cruise ship stateroom. The hotel staff fill it with drinks and snacks for the guest to purchase during their stay. It is stocked with a precise inventory of goods, with a price list. The guest is charged for goods consumed when checking out of the hotel. Some newer minibars use infrared or other automated methods of recording purchases. These detect the removal of an item, and charge the guest's credit card right away, even if the item is not consumed. This is done to prevent loss of product, theft and lost revenue.
The minibar is commonly stocked with small bottles of
alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The c ...
s,
juice
Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such ...
,
bottled water, and
soft drinks. There may also be
candy
Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies ( Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called '' sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, ...
,
cookie
A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, ...
s,
crackers, and other small snacks. Prices are generally very high compared to similar items purchased from a store, because the guest is paying for the convenience of immediate access and also the upkeep of the bar. Prices vary, but it is common for one can of non-alcoholic beverage to cost $6–10
USD. Due to the convenience of
room service and the minibar, prices charged to the patron are much higher than the hotel's restaurant or
tuck shop.
As premium bottled water has become popular with guests since the 2000s, there is "ambient placement" of such chargeable products outside the minibar and in the guests' line of vision; for example "by placing
ottledwater on bedside tables, during the night, people are more likely to grab it than get up to get a glass of water".
The world's first minibar was introduced at the
Hong Kong Hilton Hotel by manager Robert Arnold in 1974. In the months following its introduction in-room drink sales increased 500%, and the Hong Kong Hilton's overall annual revenue was boosted by 5%. The following year the Hilton group rolled out the minibar concept across all its hotels.
In recent years, as minibars become less and less popular with guests, hotels have been eliminating this feature from their rooms. It takes staff considerable time to re-stock the traditional mini-bar inventory and monitor its use precisely, and such manual work is prone to
human error
Human error refers to something having been done that was "unintended consequences, not intended by the actor; not desired by a set of rules or an external observer; or that led the task or system outside its acceptable limits".Senders, J.W. and M ...
. In recent years cunning guests have managed to game the traditional minibar system, such as replacing or emptying the contents of items (also known as "shrinkage"
), consuming items before immediately lodging a complaint to switch hotel rooms, and disputing the minibar charges at check-out time.
Some newer minibars use infrared or other automated methods of recording purchases, detecting the removal of an item and automatically charge the guest's credit card right away, even if the item is not consumed.
A hotel may also charge a "personal use" fee if the guest uses the minibar to store their own items.
From absorption cooling unit to compressor
Typically the minibar cooling unit was different from standard refrigerators, using
absorption technology. A
Italian companywas the first manufacturer to install a compressor mini-refrigerator in the
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
Space Shuttle in 1982. A compressor refrigeration unit, in addition to a timer
and a eutectic plate, allow saving more energy, compared to a traditional absorption minibar.
See also
*
References
External links
{{Commons category, position=left, Mini-bars
Hotel terminology
Food storage
Cooling technology
Food preservation