Hotel survey: to sell more at mini-bars, reduce the price
Memo to hoteliers on their mini-bars: survey shows to sell more, prices should be lower.
The hotel mini-bar refuses to die and perhaps not surprisingly, a new survey reveals that price and not selection is the most important factor when it comes to its use.
TripAdvisor found 94% of all travelers would use the mini-bar more often if the prices were more reasonable. One-third of travelers said they never hit the mini-bar. Other findings:
- One-quarter of survey respondents have had a dispute with a hotel over a mini-bar charge. Men are more likely to get into a dispute over a mini-bar bill (32%) than women (22%).
- Thirty-four percent of travelers feel they have been inaccurately charged for something in the mini-bar or fridge.
- With the advent of motion and weight sensors, 16% of travelers have been billed for simply adding items to a hotel room mini-bar/fridge or for moving contents around.
- Seven percent have been charged for merely storing their own items in a mini-bar/fridge.
Hotels are diversifying their mini-bar selection with travelers reported finding pork rinds, bottled oxygen and jelly babies among the more common nuts and soda.
Beef jerky and energy drinks were the least popular items travelers would purchase from a mini-bar.
“Travelers are scared of hotel mini-bars because of sky-high prices,” said Michele Perry, director of communications for TripAdvisor. “By lowering prices and double-checking bill charges, hotels could provide a mini-bar service that travelers would embrace.”
Report by David Wilkening
David
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