BEFORE HOTELS SOLD branded bathrobes and scented candles, there was an in-room amenity that always required a top up: the hotel mini bar. There was a time when they were indistinguishable: a uniform handful of small bottles of booze, packets of crisps and nuts, and a bar of chocolate alongside the water, tea and coffee. When you’re peckish, these morsels seem very appealing—until you see the price.
As guests, we’ve wisened up, and, thankfully, savvy hotels have overhauled this amenity to become a signifier of their identity. The mini bar is now the ultimate showcase of curation—a way for hotels to make you feel at home, share parcels of local knowledge, and display their generosity.
Open your fridge at Soori Bali (from US$1,100) and you’re awash in local elixirs. The Island of the Gods is a grower-sourced artisanal-product heaven, but much thought was put into compiling the bounty of beverages in this particular hotel mini bar. To start, Balinese craft beers 1945 pilsner and Stark IPA will take the edge off. There are two HIRO Drinks: softly caffeinated Hirofocus made with coffee fruit, dragon fruit, and butterfly pea tea flower; and soporific Hirosleep brimming with nutmeg and cinnamon. Ginger-, turmeric- and guava-forward JWU Botanicals, and Kore Culture Lab’s kombucha and natural root beer will make you forget about hydrating with boring water—though, all of these do make creative cocktail mixers. Then again, for purists there’s even local tonic by Sasha’s Farms.
The Rosewood “sense of place” ethos also extends to their styled and stocked mini bars. Properties like the newly opened Rosewood Munich (from US$950) feature a custom-designed bar cabinet filled with crystal wine glasses, swan-neck kettles and cocktail paraphernalia that take pride of place in stylish living rooms.
“Each bar is carefully tailored to its destination, offering our an authentic, artisanal and locally sourced product selection,” says Ivan Suardi, executive vice president of product and concept development at Rosewood Hotel Group. Rooms come with a fully equipped bartender set and a collection of cocktail books, so you can DIY at your leisure.
Over the coming year, the group will also roll out an Honesty Bar concept launched at Rosewood São Paulo (from US$725). An extension of the in-room mini bar, the Honesty Bar offers guests an extended range of local artisanal products: snacks and chocolates, premium spirits, and low-ABV drinks. As the name suggests, the Honesty Bar is unattended, leaving guests to pay as much (or as little) as they please.
There’s still something comforting in finding familiar items in your mini-fridge, and this happy medium is the direction of Edition Hotels. Their Tokyo properties place crowd-pleasing Haribo gummies alongside Japanese red-bean sweets ogura yokan, as well as a Krug Grande Cuvée Brut NV side by side with Umenomi plum liquor. The Singapore Edition (from US$375) offers favourite Singaporean snack Irvin’s Salted Egg Potato Chips next to Nanyang Kopi flavored Fossa Chocolate, made by a sustainable local chocolatier. Like the specially produced Le Labo toiletries across their properties, Edition collaborates with local breweries to craft exclusive beers such as The Golden Fox Ale for The Tokyo Edition, Ginza (rates from US$865), and the Lioness Session IPA for The Singapore Edition.
Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok (from US$245) takes a similar route with a cool (and occasionally rotating) mix of local and global finds. Craving refreshment? Try homegrown Zuza sparkling water. Or do you want something stronger? Full Moon beer and Chalong Bay rum—both Phuket brands—pair perfectly with made-in- Thailand Banana Joe Sriracha chilli chips.
Back in Bali, Desa Potato Head (from US$225), has gone all-in with a free “maxi bar,” inspired by a desire to create something extraordinary from an underutilised amenity. These include freshly ground coffee delivered every morning, house- infused spirits like Balinese arak, and an ice box filled daily. If you don’t want to do any work, they’ll send up a mixologist to make cocktails for you. I guess that’s just the trick when you’ve exhausted the mini bar—there’s always room service!
BOOK YOUR STAY AT KIMPTON MAA-LAI BANGKOK VIA BOOKING.COM
BOOK YOUR STAY AT KIMPTON MAA-LAI BANGKOK VIA AGODA.COM
Lede and hero image courtesy of Rosewood.
The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
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Written By
Kissa Castañeda
Kissa Castañeda is an editor and lifestyle journalist based between Europe and Asia. Her love for travel ..Read More
