I know I'm easily shocked, but there was an article in the SMH (and the age) that moved me to new heights of righteous disapproval. According to some (not doubt fatuous and non-rigorous) survey, by far the most popular item in hotel minibars is bottled water. That's right, water. Now, I can understand if you're in Mumbai or Mogadishu and not awfully keen on drinking the water, but this 'survey' was in Australia and NZ.
"The biggest change we have seen in the last five years in terms of mini bar usage is the huge increase in guests consuming water from the mini bar. A decade ago this would almost have been unheard of," Gaynor Reid, Media Relations Manager for Accor, says.
Women are more likely to sip the mini bar water, with three quarters of women drinking the water according to the Accor staff survey.
The gender thing was interesting too. Men are still partial to beer and chips, which reassures me.
When I travel on business - which I used to do a lot - I'm famous for being a cheap date. I never get stuff from the minibar, I never have the $50 hotel breakfast, I don't get fleeced by cab drivers. Although I have to say the breafast at the Radisson in Bogota is excellent, especially if you make friends with the guy who does the local specialties (and no, not those ones. I'm just an adventurous eater).
My favorite business travel factoid is the one about how the average length that people watch pay-per-view adult movies in hotels is seven minutes. You only need to think about this for a split-second before you see how funny and sad this is. I once tried to source the statistic and I suspect it was just made up, but has been perpetuated because it's got such truthiness. (By which I mean it sounds like it could or should be true, and therefore shouldn't really be checked. It's a Colbertism, I think.)
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Re the minibar. I sooo totally refuse to be ripped off by those bastards, but they always have the last laugh. When in Melbourne recently, I had to indulge in the bailey's (x 2) whilst having a bath, then a gin and lemonade upon return to the room following dinner. I went to the extreme of puting the "do not make up room" sign on the door so that I could replace said items. Came home to a pig sty, had to go late night shopping for the items as checkout next morning, walked 42km and saved $0.43. J.
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