When all 1,946 rooms in the Marriott Marquis were occupied, it took 20 housekeepers seven hours to check the minibars, whether guests drank a Pepsi or not. So about a year ago, the Times Square hotel yanked the little refrigerators, leaving an empty space in the armoires.
For Marriott, eliminating the labor-intensive room food came down to fattening its bottom line: It brought in too little revenue to justify the labor cost.
Other hotels, however, are finding more creative ways to get guests to plunk down inflated sums for a few sips of whiskey. Some minibars have become mini stores.
Minibars have "gone beyond traditional food and peanuts and liquor," said John Fox, a senior vice president of PKF Consulting, all in a continuing search for "anything to make a dollar."
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Source - Indianapolis Star
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