Deckard

Going on a business trip in a few days....assuming that a minibar with those stupid little bottles may be greeting me at my destination. I'm not going to drink, but it kind of pisses me off that this is the set up. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

wanttobepure

You can ask them to remove the liquor from your room.

Midlifecrisis

I would ring in advance and asked for them to be removed.

Talana

When i first stopped drinking I called the hotel ahead of time and explained my problem, they had no problem removing the alcohol from the fridge. In fact they said it was more
common than people think.

Deckard

Thanks... I really didn't know they would accommodate such a request!

Lenina

Deckard,

The hotel staff don't need an explanation. Many folks ask to have the mini bar emptied. Sometimes to avoid misunderstandings at the Corpprate level, sometimes because folks like to use the fridge for personal items, like yogurt, milk, juice, salads. There might be a "restocking" charge, usually about $25 last I knew but most staff are accommodating. If for some reason they can't empty the alcohol, see if they can keep the fridge locked.

good job thinking ahead and taking care of your sobriety! If you're an AA person, see about local meetings. The AA hotline is 24-7!

love from Lenina

amtx29

Is your last name Deckard? Or did you get the name from the movie Blade Runner? Hopefully they'll empty out the fridge for you

Talana

I owned a hotel and we had rooms that had alcohol in the fridge and rooms that didn't.
Our regulars knew that and they would reserve rooms accordingly.

Nighthawk8820

The hotel is there to serve you. There is absolutely no shame in calling ahead and asking them to remove them for you. They hear it all the time, my friend who works in guests services in a Hotel told me its a pretty standard request, especially among the business crowd. Dont be embarrassed, just remove the temptation and enjoy your trip.

ElegantlyWasted

Watch the Mini Bar scene in Flight (the Movie). You'll get through it. Can you request a room without one? If not, as suggested above and you feel better sans booze in the room tell them to take the s*** out.

Rennet

The movie Flight is a bad example of getting through it with a hotel mini bar :P

bigsombrero

Hey Deckard, are you going to try to ring ahead? If so, let me know how it goes! I am also going to be spending some time in a hotel shortly and would be very interested in seeing how it goes (of course, do whatever works for ya!)

Deckard

Hey guys, thanks again for all the great support and suggestions. I did call ahead today and they said they would empty the minibar, no problem at all. The guy on the phone treated it like a perfectly ordinary and reasonable and everyday request, just like you all said.

I think this is a good object lesson for me. I still tend to think about my sobriety as something very much against the grain of normal life, so that, in this case, it did not occur to me that this minibar issue comes up for people and hotels on a regular basis. Good thing I have SR to get some good perspective.

Deckard

Amtx29:

Good catch! "Deckard" is a cool last name, but I lifted it from Blade Runner. Great movie, isn't it?

MythOfSisyphus

Nice sci-fi reference, Deckard!

ElegantlyWasted

LOL.. I don't think the scene quite glamorizes partaking of a Hotel's mini-bar contents. The scene freaked me out in a good way... Especially when Goodman's character show up to errrr, sober him up.