Hotel minibar offerings are evolving beyond traditional snacks and alcoholic beverages, with some establishments around the world curating unconventional items designed to cater to a wider range of guest needs and interests. These evolved minibars now feature everything from intimacy kits and sex toys to pure oxygen, health-focused snack banquets, and even musical selections.
New York's Equinox Hudson Yards is among the hotels offering sex toys, including wearable vibrators, lubricants, and wellness kits. Similarly, Virgin Hotels have offered a 'Lovers' Intimacy Kit' since 2015, containing condoms, lubricant, and a small vibrator. The company Mini Bar Products also supplies hotels with a 'Simply Miniatures Kit,' reportedly popular with guests, which includes condoms, lubricant, dice, and a feather tickler.
Altitude and Wellness Amenities
In China's Shangri-La region, the Banyan Tree Ringha, situated at a high altitude of 3,300 meters, provides disposable oxygen tanks and oxygen machines in guest rooms to help visitors acclimate and prevent altitude sickness. Guests can use the machines twice daily for free, with additional hours incurring a charge. Portable oxygen cylinders are also available for purchase.
Equinox Hotel in New York has introduced its 'RoomBar,' described as a "healthiest in-room snack banquet." This offering features over 80 items, including nutrient-rich snacks, vitamins, supplements, and signature tea blends. The RoomBar also includes items such as vitamin B1 hangover patches, magnesium muscle cream, adaptogen cookies, vegan probiotics, and a 'Regeneration Tool Kit' with resistance bands and foam rollers for an additional cost.
The Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles has introduced a 'beauty minibar' concept. This offering, valued at $142, includes items such as SmartGoggles, an infrared blanket, and an LED mask from SkinAct, all housed in a mini-fridge. The kit also contains a travel-sized skincare set and eye masks.
Entertainment and Novelty Items
For guests interested in games, The Beaumont Mayfair in London includes playing cards, dice, and a custom hotel games booklet in its minibar. The hotel's branded playing cards have been noted by guests.
The Thompson Nashville hotel offers a musical twist with a selection of vinyl records from Jack White's Third Man Records. Guests in suites and the Penthouse can play these records on in-room Victrola players, and all guests have access to a complimentary vinyl library in the lobby. This initiative aims to reflect the creative spirit of Nashville.
In Sydney, the QT Sydney hotel offers an "emergency bowtie kit" as part of its minibar selection, catering to unexpected formal wear needs. Other unusual items reported include a 'love voodoo kit' at the Omni Royal Crescent Hotel in New Orleans, which allegedly contains a doll, pins, and instructions.