If I want to use a minibar in my Paris hotel room for my own soda pop, wine & cheese, may I ask the management to remove all of their very $$$ stuff?

I've stored medication and a couple of bottles of water in the minibar. I take out (non-perishable) provided items and leave them stacked on top of the minibar or next to it.<BR>I also mention it to the front desk.<BR>Only once did one hotel mistakenly bill me for "used" minibar items, and they corrected the charge as soon as I explained that I hadn't consumed anything.<BR><BR>You can certainly ask if they will remove their items themselves.

There was no problem doing this when I was in Italy. I removed practically everything and those items which were perishable were removed from my room after I contacted management.<BR>I stored medicine, sodas, water and food in it. It was very useful to say the least.

I am interested that they would remove their things. I have read somewhere that some new mini-bars have some sort of sensor so that if things are even moved you can be charged for them.

I've encountered one or two that have a plastic snap-thru tag that you have to cut off to get in. They know if you've been fiddling with stuff in the minibar then - whether they'd charge you if it was still all there is another question.

I'd ask the hotel first---some see the minibar as purely a way to make additional money, NOT a convenience for you. If you're buying soft drinks and wine at the market down on the corner then you're not buying their stuff. Lots of minibars deliberately compress the space so that only their items will fit. <BR><BR>You could get around this in the past by just using the fridge at night, taking out items as needed and chilling your orange juice or whatever for the next AM.<BR><BR>But now a lot of hotels are using fridges equipped with sensors---you've got something like 20 seconds to replace an item you've removed before it's billed to your room. We recently stayed at the Millenium Gloucester in London, and this sort of system was in use. I didn't bother to test it.

Yep - Gretchen is right...<BR><BR>Haven't seen this in Europe yet, but the minibars at the Parker Meridien in NY have the sensor thing - thought the sign on the fridge door was a bad joke till the family in front of me at check out was hit with over 100$ in minibar charges because their young daughter had played around with the little bottles! Obviously the charge was cancelled though.<BR><BR>Andre

Great - so this new lunacy has made it across the pond as well...

The Relais Bosquet in Paris is the only hotel I have run into that anticipates clients' use of the minibar by leaving it half empty—thoughtful, I thought. The Radisson in Acapulco was obviously not happy with my using it—put my yogurt on the counter and took the minibar key. Needless to say, I got it back.

"so this new lunacy has made it across the pond as well..."<BR><BR>Hey is someone talking about me on my trip to Europe again?<BR><BR>US<BR>

In the Hotel Balcon de Europa in Nerja, Spain, there is a sign saying that any private use of the refrigerator will result in a 1.95 euro charge per day.

The Kensington hilton had the sensor thingy and moving an item caused a charge, but they did leave some space open for personal use. Just got back from Hotel MAjestic Cannes and they also left some space for personal use.<BR> The strangest minibar experience was at the Hyat Regency Casablanca Morocco. Was there in 92 during Ramadana and half way inot my stay they removed all teh liquor as it had something to do with Islamic Law. This was great for me. <BR> Most parisian hotels that have claimed to have mini-bars when i made reservations actually never had tem. The refer to the availability of drinks in the lobby as a mini-bar. Hotel La Bourdonais in Paris had a whole where the mini-bar used to be.