Nine out of ten travellers who hit the hotel mini-bar feel they are being ripped off, according to a new study.
In the hotel mini-bar and fridge survey by travel community website TripAdvisor, 86 per cent of the 1,600 travellers polled said they felt prices were too expensive, while nearly half (45 per cent) claimed to have been charged two or three times the amount they would normally pay.
A quarter of the survey respondents reported having had a dispute with a hotel over a mini-bar charge and a third (thirty-four percent) claimed they had been inaccurately charged for something in the mini-bar or fridge.
Meanwhile a fifth of respondents admitted trying to beat excessive charges by replacing consumed mini-bar items themselves, with Australians the biggest culprits (59 per cent).
TripAdvisor’s communications manager Ian Rumgay said: “Judging by the results of this survey, hotel proprietors need to think about reducing prices, introducing more healthy options and have a more tolerant attitude about guests using the mini-bar to store their own items.”
Beef jerky and energy drinks were the least popular mini-bar items for travellers, while bottled water and nuts were the surprisingly healthy top billers.