– There was a lot of waste, the guests were creative, says housekeeper Helle Hamann, who has worked for 46 years at the Quality Hotel Maritim in Haugesund. The contents of the beer and wine bottles were drunk and replaced with water. Chocolate was replaced with cotton to make it look real. The hotel gradually scaled back the minibars a few years ago, and kept the offer for the longest time in the most expensive rooms. Finally, the contents of all minibars were completely removed. The reason was wastage and extra work for the employees. Helle Hamann has worked for 46 years at the Quality Hotel Maritim in Haugesund and experienced both the birth of the minibar and its death. Photo: Gisle Jørgensen / news But dropping the minibar is not unique to the hotel in Haugesund. Several hotels have taken the same decision. Sharp decline The trend in Norway is that the number of minibars has been reduced sharply in recent years. This is shown by a round of checks news has taken on the three largest hotel chains in Norway. The Scandic chain has reduced the number of minibars, among other things, due to wastage, says director of food and drink in Scandic Norge, Morten Malting. Photo: Scandic Norge – We have fridges available in most of our hotel rooms, and minibars in some hotels and hotel rooms, says director of food and beverage at Scandic Norge, Morten Malting. Nordic Choice Hotels and Thon Hotels also have fewer minibars with contents in their hotels in Norway than before. The reasons are several. – Minibars are not profitable. It requires daily follow-up, and manual adaptation if, for example, people under the age of 18 live in the room, says senior communications advisor Geir M. Økland at Nordic Choice Hotels. At Thon Hotels, only the largest hotels have minibars in the rooms, says CEO Morten Thorvaldsen. Photo: Thon Hotels At Thon Hotels, only the largest hotels still have minibars. – The demand has changed. There are also costs associated with wastage, says Executive Vice President Morten Thorvaldsen. Children’s food and alcohol Henrik Holm is on Easter holidays in Haugesund with his family. He doesn’t miss the minibar. Henrik Holm and his family think it is good that the minibar is on its way out of Norwegian hotel rooms. They are just as happy to shop at the kiosk in reception. Photo: Gisle Jørgensen / news – It’s perfectly fine as long as there is a kiosk at the reception instead. There we can buy what we need. But it’s nice that the minibar itself is not gone, then we can use it as a fridge, says Holm. Because although the contents of the minibars are gone in many hotels, the refrigerators are often left in the rooms. They come in handy for guests. – The guests have medicines in the old minibar. At the weekends, a lot of alcohol is consumed. In the summer, there are many families with children among the guests, and then the minibar is often used for children’s food, says Helle Hamann in Haugesund. At the hotel where she works, the selection in the minibar has been replaced with a small kiosk at the reception. Here there is coffee, snacks, drinks and other more necessary goods. All the major hotel chains have introduced this move. Differently abroad In hotels abroad, the minibar is still an important item of furniture for sale in the hotel rooms. And will continue to be so, believes a Norwegian hotel and tourism expert. Minibars are still common abroad, especially in hotels with four and five stars. Photo: Frida Tønsaas / news – Especially four- and five-star hotels will probably keep minibars as part of their offer. Personnel costs are significantly lower than in Norway, and in this segment a minibar is simply expected, says Kari Hasselknippe, who runs a consulting company that specializes in the tourism industry. She finds that several chains abroad are actually going in the opposite direction to the hotels in Norway. They are upgrading the offer in the minibars. – Bringing commerce into the hotel experience is a trend we are seeing more of abroad. More local products are used, and there is a larger range on offer, says Hasselknippe.
ttn-69
Loss and theft make hotels stop using minibars – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
