Travel Tip #1: Cheating the mini-bar
Maybe the best part of Travel Tip #1 is that a co-worker and I came up with it about the same time, without conferring:
Cheating the Mini-Bar
Drink from the mini-bar when desperate, but hang the privacy sign and replace the drink from a local alcohol or grocery store at less than half the cost.
I was very thirsty at the end of a long day of interviewing CEOs and watching protesters. I walked all around the 14th floor of The Omni looking for a water fountain or a soda machine or something, but with no luck. When a tumbleweed rolled out of my mouth I finally called the front desk. Not only was there no soda machine on the 14th floor, but none in the building and none within a three block radius.
I was forced to drink a coke out of the mini-bar. $3.50 per 12oz can, and a 21% restocking fee (how does that work?) The can had marketing from last year’s Summer Olympics, but I was really thirsty.
The next day, my previously mentioned co-worker and I had the idea to walk to the alcohol store (about three blocks) and purchase Cokes (they were about the price of The Omni restocking fee). We put the replacement cans behind the original can and stashed our empties. Our little walk (we were out and about anyways) saved us a combined $13.
Hilarious. I travel a ton and plan to try this. Their have been many times where I needed something to drink but didn’t have anything. This is almost always tru in fancy hotels.