The hotel minibar: convenient, consistent, reliable. But minibars don’t always have to be your standard snacks and shots. They can also be innovative, sustainable and unique. Hotel Business spoke with Fatiha Babou, global head of hospitality, Dometic Group; Bruno Agrario, VP, sales, Bartech; and Walt Strasser, EVP, Minibar Systems Worldwide, who shared some minibar trends they’re seeing and some new offerings their companies are bringing to the bar.
What are some of your latest offerings in the hospitality space?
Babou: We have introduced a completely new set of premium minibars—the HiPro series. The new series features less energy consumption even with a full glass door and elegant illumination. We also extended our popular outdoor mobile bar series, Dometic MoBar, to the hospitality industry. The elegant outdoor beverage centers help hospitality businesses to stylishly entertain their guests in outdoor spaces like patios, terraces and balconies.
Agrario: We now offer cloud solutions, which are available for all the services we offer (Minibar+, BarTouch, semi-auto and fully auto units).
Strasser: Our latest offerings include a newly redesigned SmartCube automated minibar product line, including a new Dual Unit (minibar and guest fridge) and a sustainable thermoelectric cooling system. Also new to the market is the SmartFridge Eco, a WiFi guest fridge which turns on and off at check-in and checkout via a PMS interface for maximum energy savings.
Fatiha Babou Dometic Group
What are some minibar trends you’re seeing?
Babou: Sustainability is a top-of-mind subject for every hotelier because that is important for every traveler. Defined by its sleek, Scandinavian minimalist design, our products are created with sustainable energy consumption at the forefront of every design and boast reduced consumption compared to other minibars on the market. Our minibars are also 100% chromate-free, meeting the latest EU legislation. We could keep the performance with our research and development effort and replace it with an environmentally sound substance that would have the same anti-corrosive effect as the well-proven chromate.
Agrario: We are noticing that hotel guests are consuming much more than usual from the minibars. Some of our clients have indicated they have seen an increase of as much as 50% in revenues post-pandemic.
Strasser: I’m seeing more in-room consumption by guests as a post-COVID trend. Sales per occupied room for minibar items has increased over historical averages, and hotels are upgrading their in-room minibar retail offerings to capture the increase in utilization.
How do your hospitality minibar offerings benefit hotel owners?
Babou: All of the above and our absorption cooling technology for minibars is completely silent, making it ideal for guest spaces from suites to lounges, spas and more.
Agrario: Hotel owners enjoy lower labor costs, since staff need to visit only 30% of the rooms each day. Using automation, they can also capture almost all their potential revenue, instead of losing about 30% in pilferage or guests not paying for the items.
Strasser: Our company has always strived to provide an amenity that provides incremental revenue and profit to hotel owners. Our revenue share and outsourcing programs provide turnkey and no-capital outlay for hotels with good potential for success.
Bruno Agrario Bartech
What are some innovations/products you’re currently working on or hope to bring to market in the future?
Babou: We want to talk all about our next innovation, but that is something we can’t share just yet. But, as said, we put a lot of effort in our research and development, and I hope you can see it in our future products.
Agrario: We are working on a flat minibar. This is far from being released but since cabinets are getting smaller and smaller, we need to adapt to new room designs. The unit is likely to be only 9-in. deep.
Strasser: The newly redesigned SmartCube automated minibar product line, the new Dual Unit and the sustainable thermoelectric cooling system. Also new to the market is the SmartFridge Eco WiFi guest fridge.
Walt Strasser Minibar Systems Worldwide
How have hotel minibars evolved post-pandemic? How are you keeping up with
new demands?
Babou: The hotel industry was wisely preparing for the future during the COVID period. So have we, and we are working closely with our customers to meet their demands.
Agrario: The demand has never been higher. I would estimate we receive at least twice more requests from potential customers than we did before the pandemic. We have increased our production capacity in order to meet this new demand. We also receive a lot of requests for standalone wireless e-trays, since they don’t need a minibar to function. In fact, I would say it represents about 35% of all our new RFQs.
Strasser: As I mentioned earlier, I’m seeing more in-room consumption by guests as a trend coming out of the panemdic.
