When my family stays in a hotel, we regularly bring our own food and drinks to help keep our traveling expenses down. I have always naturally assumed that if a hotel room has a minibar in it, it is available to the guest who rented the room as part of the room price. Evidently, this is not always the case. In the future, I plan on reading everything before placing my items in a hotel minibar. I will not be very happy if I get stuck with a $50 fee and I can guarantee that if I do, I will not be revisiting that hotel chain ever again.

This minibar fee is posted at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. I also saw a similar minibar fee at The Aria hotel in Las Vegas, a 4 star hotel. It is frustrating - all you want is to store, for example, your cream for your coffee. Why is it that when hotels have higher stars, they also have more higher hidden costs - and less amenities?