Keith, what that KC Hilton is doing is illegal. Do you know if the hotel is independently owned but just carrying the Hilton name? All it takes is one complaint to stop what they are doing.

My daughter's wedding reception was held at an Omni hotel and we had a large block of rooms reserved for family and out-of-town guests.

The next a.m., we checked out of our room, went to the lobby, remembered we had forgotten something, went back to the room, and the maid had uncapped and was pouring the large bottle of water in the sink. I did a quick check of my family as to who had/had not opened their water (none had), and then went down and asked at the reception desk to check the room charges.

Sure enough, we all were charged for the large bottle of water. I told the clerk what I had seen and said I would not pay for any of the water charges and they were immediately removed.

The reception was nice and fun, the rooms comfortable, but I would NEVER stay there again after shenanigans like that.

If they need the money that badly, then they should just raise their room rates.

Sandy (in Denton)

I routinely stay in hotels with minibars, in the U.S. and in Europe, and have only been mistakenly charged for an item once that I can remember. I pointed out the error and it was promptly corrected. I do occasionally use minibar items, particularly something like a beer if it's not outrageously priced, as I'm travelling alone and it's not always convenient to venture out.

I stayed at a Mercure in a resort area in France this spring. I asked the maids if it was alright to store a few things in the minibar fridge (there was enough room) and they said that it was perfectly fine, and that I could even take things out to make more room if I'd like.

So it varies quite a bit.

socialworker,

I can state with certainty that I don't patronize hotels with mimi bars because I stay at B&B's. Like overpriced hotels, mini bars are not part of my travel plans.

I checked in at the Hotel W in New York this winter, and after coming home from dinner, decided to check my room tab on the television thing. I had only been in the hotel two hours and had already been charged $30.00 on the minibar. Of course I complained, the charge was removed, but that was only the beginning of a series of phantom charges that appeared during my four day stay.

Re- to Mackie17 & Lancelot Hotel..
Rooms are a nice size and standard, modern bathroom and helpful staff at the front desk all who I met spoke English very well and were very helpful. All in all a decent place to stay with a great location being so close to the colliseum Roman forum. Would definitely stay there again (unless otherwise tempted by somewhere else), however it's the only time I've stayed in Rome so have nothing to compare it with

I, too, generally stay at B & Bs or very small hotels and I have not seen mini bars since I began doing this around 6 years ago. None of the small hotels or B & Bs I visited in Brittany, Scotland,New Zealand, Fiji or Australia had mini bars. Had they been there we probably would have used them for cooling water or something. ( P.S.I guess I was wrong to conclude that mini bars only appeared in high priced places.)

My favourite B and B - Church Gates in Cranbrook, Kent (www.churchgates.com) - just a couple of miles up the road from stunning Sissinghurst Garden - now has little mini fridges in each room (well they only have two rooms actually) with complimentary fresh milk for tea and coffee. I do so hate those little sachets of creamer or those pots of sterilised/synthetic milk. The owners even leant me a corkscrew and let me store my smelly french cheese and bottle of bubbly in their own fridge - all at no extra charge of course. Now thats what I call service!!