Just got back home after a fantastic european holiday, taking in London, Paris, Rome, Florence and Venice.
A staggering 50% of the time, hotels were charging me on check out for items from the mini bar that were never used (I never ever use the mini bar in any case). In most cases this was rectified with ease but not always.The hotel in Prague (casa marcello) is a lovely hotel to stay at and fully recommend anyone to stay there, so it was a great pity that they charged me for a disposable camera that they have in the room for guests to purchase and a greater pity that i had to be very abusive to get the damned camera off my bill as it was never used. The claim was that the seal had been broken so therefore I had to buy it, but I had my own camera and no reason to even touch the disposable (which I didn't for the record).
VENICE.
Stayed at the San Clemente Palace hotel. If you go to venice you absolutely MUST stay here - I'm not going to even try and find words to describe this place - truly an amazing hotel to stay at.Unfortunately here too I was charged for mini bar items but they were taken off the bill with no hesitation atall -perhaps they were taken off the bill a bit too easily I felt????..
My recommendation after this trip and what I will be doing in future is.......
1) Have the mini bar emptied, or locked, or a stock take done in front of me, anyone with similar experiences and/or advice? It was the most annoying problem and the most consistent.

Other hotels I stayed at....
LONDON= Thistle Barbican. Not a great location but not that bad either. The first 2 nights I was put in a cupboard sized single room in the building opposite - not good atall. On the next visit there the week after I opted for an upgrade and was able to negotiate the cost a little...result was a lovely suite which made staying in London all that more pleasuable for not a lot more money.Stayed here on 3 occasions and 2 of those times, mini bar charges wrongly made.

Paris. Stayed at the Hotel Terrass....Lovely location in Montmartre and a lovely hotel to stay in.

Rome...Lancelot Hotel...Nice hotel too, but so very disorganised. checked me into a room that had a guest staying in and wasn't due to be vacated by the guest for days - luckily he was at the reception at the time I checked in!!!

Florence...Hotel Aprile...charming hotel a bit on the grubby side but thats very much a part of its character and charm; nice modern bathroom though.

venice.....San Clemente Palace Hotel....Ah, now this hotel has already been mentioned above, and once again, when in Venice you must give this place a try!!

I'm interested to hear more about the location/convenience of the San Clemente. How long does it actually take to get to Venice proper? Do you feel isolated there? Is there any place to eat on San Clemente island besides the hotel? Thanks for any info rikki.

san Clemente....
Takes about 15 minutes to get to the hotel by the hotel's own launch that runs from san marco (st. Marks) every 20 mins, then every 40 mins during the night..its a 24 hour service and what a way to arrive at a hotel!!!
I definitely didn't feel isolated there atall as its so easy to get to the centre of Venice. If you take san Marco as being the centre, then it is just as quick if not quicker to get there from san clemente - I didn't see it as a drawback atall; in my opinion it enhances the experience by far.
The hotel is the only building on the island except for a church - so you have peace and tranquility when wanted or the hustle and bustle of san marco when wanted too; best of both worlds.
The hotel has 3 restaurants. I didn't eat at any of them. I do remember one of them had minestrone soup for 18euro's so its not a place to eat on a budget.
There is also a swimming pool, tennis court and golf course on the island for the use of guests.
their website is at...
http://www.thi.it/english/hotel/san_clemente/index.htm

I experienced the mini-bar hassle upon check-out at the Hotel De Fleurie in Paris several years ago. We went back and forth on this for quite awhile before the desk clerk would remove the charge. It was one of several negative incidents related to the hotel.

Linda

I refuse mini bar access upon check-in!
M

I guess I'm lucky but I've never had a hotel charge me for something I didn't take from the minibar. I like having minibars, I wouldn't refuse access (not sure what that means, but I guess some have locks and you could return the key?) because I use them for my own stuff (drinks, cheese, etc.).

I've never stayed in a hotel that has these systems that register when an item is removed, which I've heard about. Too bad about the Casa Marcello, as I've stayed at the Maximilian across the way a couple times and they never did that to me.

I'm glad you posted this problem and the names of hotels that have mini bar scams. I would not knowingly stay at places that do this and you probably saved some people some aggravation by warning them that this can happen. I did not know that this was a common occurence. I feel forwarned. Thank you.

I'm glad that I don't stay in hotels that have minibars.

At Atlantis in the Bahamas if you lift up a mini bar item it automatically registers on your bill.That's technology.

I have to agree with Ira. We no longer stay in places with mini-bars. They tend to be big hotels with high prices. Still, I remember a place we stayed n Puebla, Mexico with mini-bars and we thought like one of the posters above, how nice to have some place to store some yougurt and chill some drinks. At that time, my husband carried some medicine that needed to be refrigerated and the mini-bar was a real asset.

It isn't that uncommon in France for 3* hotels to have minibars (all I stay in do), and even some 2* hotels. It isn't true at all nowadays that only big hotels that are expensive have them.

So is one to gather that if you put your own water bottle, coke, or cheese in the mini-bar, then remove them it may (via technology) think you are using mini-bar items? I think we used to do this in Mexico and Seattle but I don't remember being charged for it.

As with Ira I don't stay at places that have mini bars. They are just yet another example of overcharging you for something that you can walk into a supermarket and get at a much cheaper price.

Some hotel minibars are set up so that any jostle of the items results in an instant electronic charge. Or at least lots of people have complained to this effect.

Hopingtotravel:I said Atlantis,not Mexico etc.

Please tell me how you like the lancelot hotel otherwise.

Location,etc.

thank you.

HI--to those of you who say they do not stay in hotels w/mini-bars, I have a question. Do you write ahead and inquire and then reserve accordingly? We recently went to France and stayed at two different smallish hotels in Paris--Hotel Au manoir Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Hotel and Left Bank St Germain and also went to the Rohan in Strasbourg. All were nice--not luxury hotels by any measure--and *all* had mini bars, something I would never have thought to wonder and/or ask about. So I guess I am left wondering how you can state with such certainty that you don't patronize hotels w/mini bars. The person who suggested refusing the key had a good idea, but at the Left Bank--a hotel often mentioned on these boards, some of the "mini-bar" items were out in the open in a basket on top of the little fridge!!

I prefer to have a minibar for storing items, and occasionally taking out a cold soda if we haven't made it to a store. Have never had any problem with erroneous charges. We stay at 'budget' level hotels and they certainly don't have that technology.

Some hotels are getting very aggressive (spell that dishonest) about extra fees. At a convention at the Kansas City Airport Hilton last month, every person staying in the hotel was charged $4.50 for a bottle of water that was left sitting out in the room. If they had used it or not.

They took it off if your reviewed the charges and caught them.

Not to mention those daily "room safe" charges that some of the Comfort Inns have been slipping in.

Keith

PS: I guess I was lucky. None of the hotesl I visited in France had minibars.

Has anyone experienced hotels with signs posted on the mini-bars telling guests explicitly that you may NOT store your own items inside? I've seen this twice here in the states at conference-type hotels. I guess they're putting the kibosh on buying your won drinks and snacks to try to make more money. I wonder if they charge you if you put your own things inside? Perhaps through the weight-sensors? I wonder how they handle medication that needs to be chilled? A surcharge, perhaps?