Hotel Tips #1: Mini-Bars

Basic mini bar set-up - at the Asia Hotel, Bangkok

This series is primarily for those who have not yet visited Thailand and "newbies", so seasoned visitors may wish to look back through some of the older posts they may have missed in the past. I'd suggest you try the "Stories" link in the right hand column, but I'm admittedly partial to my own writings!

Visiting Thailand (or any new country you've choosen to explore) can be an adventure. This series will hopefully help you avoid "re-creating the wheel" as we'd say in the US, which means learning from the mistakes and experience of others. I'll try to cover some of the basics that may save you precious time - and all vacation time is precious. First up today are the hotel mini-bars that have been a problem for some friends on their first visits there.

As you enter almost any chain hotel room in Thailand you're bound to notice a mini-bar set up of one form or another; if there's a mini-refrigerator it's usually close to it. This is also true in a high percentage of independent hotels and guest houses, but they're all basically the same: liquor, glasses and a few snacks. The picture up top is a set-up at the Asia Hotel in Bangkok. Usually your refrigerator will also be nearly full with sodas, beer, "label" waters like Evian, chocolate bars and the likes. Trust me - you'll rarely have room for much of anything of your own.

Before you launch into the things on display (or in the refrigerator), be advised that the only things that are available for you without a charge are the napkins and stirring sticks (and the plastic bags the "sanitized" glasses are in - which can actually come in handy). You'll find a price list for everything else, and since the mark-up on things varies by what the market will allow, you're wise to check it out before raiding the supplies. I don't overly skimp when I'm on vacation, but I don't want to pay three or four times as much for something I can buy myself at the 7-Eleven store a block away.

I don't drink alcohol and prefer to stock my own water and snacks so I usually ask the bell boy (or whoever it is who helps me to my room) to ask housekeeping to remove it. You can request this at registration when you're checking in, but you'll more than likely have to call again to remind them to do it. Housekeeping will give probably give you a puzzled look when they arrive, but they'll do it. It's something outside of their normal duties, so I thank them and tip them for coming to haul it away.

I've never stayed anywhere - nor would I want to - that didn't provide you with two free bottles of drinking water on a daily basis, so don't send those away, naturally - but everything else you'll be able to buy within a block or two from where you're staying for a fraction of the cost, and you get to be as safe or adventurous as you like with your selections.

If you're going to be staying at one place for more than a few days I recommend buying a larger bottle (or two) of water at a nearby store when you're returning from your first trip out. They're available in gallon/multi-liter sizes, usually with a carrying handle at the top, and you can use it for drinking, making tea or coffee in your room, washing off fruit and vegetables you purchase on the street, brushing your teeth if the hotel recommends not using your tap water, etc.

I'm repeating an image below from an earlier post about the Regency Park hotel, because their mini-bar set is a little different and included an additional selection of items:

It's actually more of a selection of "extras"; the sodas, beer and alcohol were in the small refrigerator below. You can see, however, the printed price list to the left of the basket - and again, everything here but their own branded bags of nuts (and maybe the map) can be found within a block for far less.

For those of you who - ahem - "entertain" guests in your room you may want to have some of the above items pre-purchased and available to offer them, and be aware that they may wish to help themselves, and in the case of name liquors that can get expensive.

By keeping some fruit and other snacks on hand you're also likely to eat a little healthier when you're just too tired out to go anywhere and want to just stay in. If space and weight in your luggage allow, bring a favorite regional favorite along with you. Sometimes the comfort of a familiar thing from home really hits the spot.

[As a PS - I got to thinking after posting this that I'd forgotten to mention that if you use a basic beverage from the refrigerator (say, a Coke) and you time it right, you can replace it with one from the 7-Eleven before the next housekeeping visit and avoid the overcharged item. I also should have mentioned that if housekeeping takes the items away for you it saves them inventorying them on a daily basis, so it's actually a help to them, too.]