Think twice before indulging: High mark-ups of hotel mini-bar foods

Think twice before indulging: High mark-ups of hotel mini-bar foods

Mini alcohol bottles, candies and single-serving bags of chips - these are just some of the tempting food items that we see in every hotel room's fridge.

It is general knowledge that these snacks are more expensive and you can get the same items for less - but have you wondered how much is the price difference?

In a report by Alison Spiegel of the Huffington Post, the prices of popular mini-bar food and drinks items were listed against the cost price at a grocery store.

Her report showed that the items had a markup of 77 per cent to a sky-high 377 per cent when sold within the hotels.

Are you a fan of Lay's potato chips? The average price at a supermarket is US$1.25 (S$1.70) and in a hotel, around US$5 (S$6.60) - a whopping markup of 300 per cent.

Other finger food snacks like Oreo, Planter's Peanuts and Snyder's Pretzel had a mark up cost of 119 to 300 per cent.

Alcohol drinks also saw some of the highest increases with a 375ml bottle of Skyy Vodka selling for double the price at US$30, compared to the store price of US$9.99.

wjeanne@sph.com.sg

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