Lazer sensors in hotel mini bars: how many people were sold the lie in their youth?
Posted by berryhagman@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 138 comments
Currently talking to my wife and I mentioned how my mam on holiday used to say we can't even touch items in the mini bar because they have Lazer sensors that detect movement and will charge you if you move an object in there
The older I get, the more I realise the 3 star hotels we used to frequent surely didn't have such technology in the 90s.
Strangely my wife said her mam used to say the same thing.
Just wondering if this was one of those pre internet folk tales others experienced back in the day or is this just a coincidence both my wifes parents and my parents came up with on a whim?
DameKumquat@reddit
They're weight sensors.
So my mum's trick, of decanting everything from the minivar and just using it as a fridge for the duration, doesn't work any more unless you get the staff to empty the minibar for you, to confirm you haven't damaged anything. And many hotels won't, though they will lock it to ensure your kids don't eat half of it.
soylent_grey@reddit
I'm told if you put in the booking notes that you're a recovering alcoholic you can get them to empty the fridge, but not sure that wasn't just a mate having me on.
FakeNordicAlien@reddit
Some places will empty it just because you ask, no justification needed. And some places will empty it for other reasons. Last time I was in Hong Kong I was so exhausted from the trip I couldn’t remember my credit card PIN at check-in (I’d already paid for the room, but they wanted some kind of minibar/damage deposit, I think because it was a big holiday weekend - 20th anniversary of the handover - and they expected a lot of revellers) so they came upstairs and took all the alcohol out of the minibar. I remembered the PIN the next morning, and let them know I could pay the deposit if they still wanted, but they just shrugged. And I don’t drink, so I just shrugged too, and let it go.
I don’t remember if they also took the snacks, but they left me free water and candy in my room each day, which was nice.
lknei@reddit
This is true, but they may still leave pop and snacks
Mac4491@reddit
My friends and I all chipped in for a fancy ass suite at the Bellagio in Vegas once and we threw a big party there.
I emptied the mini bar entirely and hid everything expertly. Someone told me about the weight sensors the next day and so I checked with the front desk and sure enough our account was going to be charged almost $800 for items removed from the mini bar.
I told them to send up housekeeping in 20 minutes and they arrived just as I had finished putting everything back. Housekeeping confirmed all was there and I wasn't charged the $800.
Livid_Distribution19@reddit
That’s a shit tonne of Pringles
cooky561@reddit
I have a feeling this comes from the same place as people who used to say it's illegal to use the in car lighting while on the road. That wasn't true either.
FormalHeron2798@reddit
I believed this so much i googled, it isnt illegal but can be used as a cause for bad driving giving you a potential fine for careless driving
Timely_Atmosphere735@reddit
It is dangerous though, it massively reduces your vision.
berryhagman@reddit (OP)
Aye my dad used to say that haha
imtheorangeycenter@reddit
Also: swimming after eating (is just so parents could have a relax after lunch).
All fall under the "Sorry Timmy, rules are rules!" blanket.
Tiny_Address_6089@reddit
I never believed that but I swam after a really heavy meal once as an adult nd it was really bad. I ended up throwing up when I was walking home.
flusteredchic@reddit
Was about to say, get wicked reflux swimming after food... Not sure why people say cramp... Maybe because you can't die from reflux?
DevilBadger@reddit
I swam after eating as an adult. Got slap bang on the centre of the pool and my stomach decided if I made one more move I was going to vomit everywhere. Had to float to one side and roll out like a beached whale.
shkermaker@reddit
Wait - that was made up? I tell my kids the same thing but thought it was legit! #iwastodayyearsold
isaac2985@reddit
No, it's because you are far more likely to throw up after eating. Especially young children.
terryjuicelawson@reddit
I was always told it could cause a cramp therefore risk drowning. It was oddly specific, something like 2 hours after food. I don't recall that advice for any other exercise.
20dogs@reddit
You're not really supposed to do any exercise immediately after eating, just most forms of exercise you won't die if you stop moving
secretlondon@reddit
No that was because at the time the advice was don’t swim after food
July5@reddit
You could get a cramp!
Fit_Lifeguard_3722@reddit
After food poisoning?
Major_Toe_6041@reddit
It’s not overly pleasant having it on though. Can’t see out the back window which isn’t the safest, especially not on these roads.
Taken_Abroad_Book@reddit
Most people use the door mirrors, and modern cars are really well designed on the lighting front. I can have the back interior light on and there's no glare or reflections at all for me driving.
Major_Toe_6041@reddit
‘Most people’ should also be using the interior mirror regardless of if they do or not, and I don’t have a new car (as is the case for the majority of the country), so it’s more on an issue for me.
Taken_Abroad_Book@reddit
Yeah I'll use the interior mirror on the lorry here 🙄
Get a grip.
Wd91@reddit
Most people don't drive lorries mate
Taken_Abroad_Book@reddit
I'm pretty sure you can handle using door mirrors to see behind you 🙄
redds56101@reddit
Anyone nervous about an upcoming driving test, this guy is proof that you can do it.
Taken_Abroad_Book@reddit
It's amazing to know there's millions of vehicles on the road that don't have an interior rear view mirror, or that the view might be blocked.
I can't believe that so many people would just completely shut down if they had to drive a little van with no back window.
redds56101@reddit
So bizarre clinging onto this van angle when you mentioned cars in your first comment.
Taken_Abroad_Book@reddit
It's fine when it's on though? There's no glare.
Also, with the retractable dog guard up the back window is completely obscured in my car.
What an odd thing for a car sub to be complaining about. You'd think they'd know better.
redds56101@reddit
Fair enough. This isn't a car sub though!
Taken_Abroad_Book@reddit
Oh shit, you're right
Major_Toe_6041@reddit
heh. thanks!
Wd91@reddit
I'll stick to using all the tools available to me. Thanks for the shitty advice though.
Taken_Abroad_Book@reddit
Yeah, the wheelshuffler's club motto
danieljamesgillen@reddit
I used to be a big swimmer, but there is some sense to this rule. Especially for novices and young children. Near my house in Greece a young girl was diving into the pool after eating, she threw up and drowned in the water on one dive, aged 8 I think. Very sad. No-one was properly supervising.
International-Elk727@reddit
Wait what? That's not illegal? Fuck me I never thought about it before (never needed to) but remembered hearing it when I was a kid and just never thought to look that up as it's so trivial and never needed / thought about until I saw this Mind Blown
thatguysaidearlier@reddit
Nothing in the highway code is the law, it's all recommendations. So not doing it/going against it isn't illegal, per se.
Great guidelines for driving mind you. And also a good yardstick for the police to determine whether you've been driving dangerously, for example, which is illegal.
(essentially a lot of driving 'rules' are not legally binding because before dashcams / cctv it wasn't really enforceable - they couldn't catch you in the act. Nowadays it's probably more enforceable than ever - as driving without due care and attention, dangerous driving etc. etc.)
So no, the interior light isn't illegal, but it could be adjudged to be distracting which means you could get done for driving without due care and attention. (which would be pretty fricking harsh)
ComposerNo5151@reddit
I hope ypu don't drive, as you are absolutely wrong. It is certainly not 'all recommendations'. All you have to do is read the preamble to the Highway Code, specifically the section entitled 'Wording of the Highway Code' to find:
"Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. You may be fined, given penalty points on your licence or be disqualified from driving. In the most serious cases you may be sent to prison. Such rules are identified by the use of the words ‘MUST/MUST NOT’. In addition, the rule includes an abbreviated reference to the legislation which creates the offence."
I'm not sure which part of 'Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements...' you missed.
RhinoRhys@reddit
The map reading lights are literally designed to be used while driving.
sickonmyface@reddit
I dunno, reading a map while driving has got to be illegal, with or without a light.
RhinoRhys@reddit
How do you think people got around before satnav?
DoctorRaulDuke@reddit
you stopped and looked at your map from time to time.
Civil_opinion24@reddit
As someone who used to have to use a road map, we pulled over to the side of the road.....
sickonmyface@reddit
Penny Farthings?
VPackardPersuadedMe@reddit
Those and palanquins.
cooky561@reddit
The passenger can read the map...
Spank86@reddit
It's not specifically illegal but it's very distracting for the driver and if you had an accident with the lights on the police might take a dim view of it (they aren't THAT bright after all)
cooky561@reddit
If it's illegal then half the trucks I see on the road would need to be pulled over. Some of their interior lights make the headlights look dull!
Taken_Abroad_Book@reddit
Red or orange glow in the cab are encouraged though
_Yalan@reddit
People who needed to get their children to stop messing about.
FinnemoreFan@reddit
It isn’t?? I’ve said that to all my children over the years, but I believed it was true!
cooky561@reddit
Not only is it not true, but most cars have a "map light" on the passenger side that's specifically designed to be used while driving, to enable a passenger to look at a map and help with navigation.
Melodic-Lake-790@reddit
My other favourite was that of the ice cream van was playing music, it meant he had nothing left.
Substantial_Client_3@reddit
"Lower taxes for the rich and the corpos is better for the long run."
therealdan0@reddit
It is better in the long run… for the rich.
Substantial_Client_3@reddit
For da economy!
SantosFurie89@reddit
"say"
shouts with that vein thing popping out
Cuddols@reddit
They do because I closed the door hard once and the shaking tried to bill me £200 worth of stuff.
Senappi@reddit
I've spent a fee nights in a hotel that automatically charged you for items in thr minibar, but it was pretty obvious once you opened the bar as all bottles were in special holders
BigGrinJesus@reddit
I take note of everything I've eaten from the mini bar. Then before I check out, I go to the supermarket and replace everything for cheaper than the hotel would charge me.
QueenCookieOxford@reddit
Are you from Yorkshire?
berryhagman@reddit (OP)
North east. My wifes mam is from Yorkshire though, good guess!
EleganceOfTheDesert@reddit
Light amplification by ztimulated emission of radiation?
TankFoster@reddit
I had no idea "laser" was an acronym! Every day's a school day.
RhinoRhys@reddit
Radar is too. Radio detection and ranging.
AdministrativeShip2@reddit
And Taser.
Thomas A Swift's Electric Rifle.
EndPsychological2541@reddit
I had to Google this, I had no problem believing the other examples.. Laser, scuba, gif (I knew that one) but Thomas A Swifits electric rifle sounded fishy as fuck.
lknei@reddit
I'm making the poor choice to not fact check and trusting you. It gave me pause too but if you say it's true, I'll believe you!
AdministrativeShip2@reddit
I promise 100 % true, like everything I type.
Kind_Ad5566@reddit
And scuba
WasteofMotion@reddit
Doobie doo
vipros42@reddit
Self contained underwear breathing apparatus for the curious
InfiniteAstronaut432@reddit
Erm...
vipros42@reddit
I wish I could say that was a deliberate mistake
Gadget100@reddit
Surely that would be scubaftc?
vipros42@reddit
I knew some smart arse would make a comment like that
Gadget100@reddit
Happy to be of service! ;-)
RhinoRhys@reddit
And gif
sideone@reddit
PNG - PNG's not Gif
YoungGazz@reddit
And Gilf
Who-ate-my-biscuit@reddit
And LIDAR
Light Detection and Ranging
BeneficialGarbage@reddit
And SONAR (sound navigation and ranging)
h_witko@reddit
Stimulated emission was also the theory/concept that Einstein got his PhD for (well the paper he wrote presenting it).
In 1905 he published 4 papers, one of which was the special theory of relativity (E = mc squared) and another being stimulated emission. It's a great example of something that was originally not invented with the idea of applying it in the real world, but has been incredibly useful in day to day life as well as military and scientific applications.
gazchap@reddit
Not gonna lie, “stimulated emission” is sounding very euphemistic the more I read it.
Scrublington@reddit
This is why it's important to fund scientific research even when there's no clear path to profit.
h_witko@reddit
As a physicist who likes looking at the more fundamental side, I couldn't agree more.
I'm fortunate that my group (and more broadly, my field) spans the range of fundamental quantum physics to application in current and future technology. It makes funding more possible, but also allows the current group to at least see the possibilities.
Jacktheforkie@reddit
Taser is too
Airbiscotti@reddit
Thanks mam
DoctorOctagonapus@reddit
IMMA FIRIN MAH...!
BeccasBump@reddit
Yez.
Wickedbitchoftheuk@reddit
I assume it exists now though because a yt streamer who visits all these incredible posh hotels always checks for sensors under items in the mini bar.
Fish_Minger@reddit
They did exist, but they were contact sensors. However I have only seen them a few times, and I've spent literally thousands of nights in hotels.
NeddTwo@reddit
It's not a laser, but weight sensor that detects if you remove something and charges you accordingly. All the major hotel brands use this system.
Amazon Go shops use the same syatem too, but theirs also knows when you put something back on the shelf (after reading the ingredients, for instance) and doesn't charge you.
purte@reddit
I was definitely told when I was younger that hotel mini-bars had sensors, never heard that they had lasers though. Apparently some hotels now have RFID tags or magnetic detectors on the shelves or items within the minibar to detect movement and add an automatic charge to the bill.
Reviewingremy@reddit
Yes! My dad always said the same!
Embarrassed_Debt1186@reddit
When the ice cream van plays its song, he’s sold out.
Useful_Boysenberry99@reddit
When my sisters would feel sick & behave all uppity until they got "panadol" - my mum would fill a teaspoon with water & say "there ya go, all better now" & they'd very quickly "feel better"
Jebble@reddit
I can confirm that Caesars Palace in Las Vegas does in fact have sensors. We moved some iced coffees to put our store bough yoghurts in, and did put them back after, but they were already in the check out bill
goodmythicalmickey@reddit
My parents didn't say laser sensors but they did say you'd be charged for anything you took out, even if you put it back without opening it
Bright-Spot5380@reddit
Former Liverpool Player Craig Johnstone invented the minibar
biggessdickess@reddit
I don't know about laser sensors, but I've definitely stayed in hotels that had sensors to detect whether you removed anything from the bar fridge in your room and used this to trigger a charge to your room bill.
stuaxo@reddit
I assumed a pressure sensor.
rogue-nebula@reddit
Maybe not laser sensors - more like weight sensors, but it was about that time my daughter picked something up from a mini bar before I told her to put it back. Took quote some arguing at reception the next morning to get them to remove it from the bill.
pajamakitten@reddit
Funny anecdote but we were told this on the school trip to Paris some of us had as a reward. One room thought it was a lie and ate all the snacks. The teacher was fucking livid on the coach back when she saw the bill that room had racked up.
Obvious-Water569@reddit
Laser sensors in mini bars, chemical that turns pee blue in a pool, TV licensing detector vans...
It's all entirely real technology. It all absolutely does not get used in the contexts people believe.
berryhagman@reddit (OP)
!answer
TransatlanticMadame@reddit
In Vegas at the Venetian years ago my little one was cautioned against touching anything on the plate of snacks as there was a weight sensor. At the time Katy Perry's song "Waking up in Vegas" was popular. My little one quipped - "Well, that's what you get for waking up in Vegas. A big bill."
berryhagman@reddit (OP)
I think it must be a weight sensor thing, so at least I know it's not a complete fabrication
BG031975@reddit
TV Licence Detecter Vans! Biggest myth ever!
WeRW2020@reddit
In some luxury hotels in Dubai there are pressure sensors in the mini bar to determine what's been taken out.
My dad always made it clear that "they would know and charge us" if anything was removed from the mini bar in hotel rooms as a child, can't remember him ever going into the finer detail of the technology being used, however.
gob_spaffer@reddit
There are actually digital mini-bars that bill you though. So it's not a completely made up story, they do exist. I've seen them in the US.
LittleSadRufus@reddit
With jetlag we would get hungry in the middle of the night, eat the USD 7 Snickers or whatever, then when out the next day replace it with a USD 1.50 bar from the Walmart and tell reception we'd taken it out to read the nutritional information but then returned it when we realised how unhealthy it was. So they'd take it off our bill.
It wasn't unhealthy, it was delicious.
Important_March1933@reddit
Yes lot in the usa
CheeryBottom@reddit
The mini bar at our Disneyland resort hotel room automatically charged our account everytime the kids picked something up out of the mini bar. None of us ate/or drank anything. They put everything straight back. They were simply curious.
When we went to check out, the guy on the desk said we owed over €300 in mini bar fees. We explained we never had anything out of the mini bar and the guy on the desk explained we’re automatically charged just for taking something out. Luckily he cancelled the mini bar fees as I think our looks of shock convinced him we genuinely hadn’t consumed anything out of the mini bar in our room.
YahYahPapaya@reddit
some hotels did automatically charge you if you took stuff out of the minibar even if it was just to take a look.
I'm pretty sure that became a big fear for most people when they went to a hotel.
Pedantichrist@reddit
I have 100% had minibars which charged based on sensors. It was not a lie (although there were not lasers involved).
mypostisbad@reddit
Might not be lasers but I've been to a couple of hotels where we had a few drinks, with the idea of replacing them the next day.
Got up in the morning to find that they knew what we'd had and had already charged us.
annedroiid@reddit
I thought these days the fancy places have weight sensors inside
Greg-Normal@reddit
I did go to a new hotel in Newcastle that had pressure switches for the minibar items. Clearly underestimating the female habit of having to 'look with their hands' and pick everything up to have a look and trigger the sensors. Cue a queue of worried people at check-out insisitng they hadn't eaten/drank anything - I wonder how long before they deactivated it !
tlvv@reddit
I was told they had weight sensors so you got charged as soon as you picked something up and couldn’t just replace it with an identical product from the store.
-_-___--_-___@reddit
It's not a lie it's just a misunderstanding of the technology used. But they were definitely able to detect what you took from the Mini Bar using either weight sensors or Infrared sensors.
Also no such thing as a "Lazer".
Visible-Management63@reddit
Unless it's a Major Lazer.
Coconutpieplates@reddit
There are sensor minibars that bill you as soon as you move the drink from the fridge, but no idea how long they've been about and definitely not found in the 3 star hotels in the 90s.
I think this was one of those parenting tip/ lies they shared amongst themselves like telling your child the ice cream van tune means they've run out.
Suspicious-B33@reddit
We ran into trouble with one in the 80s, so they were definitely about. The room had a vibrating bed too, maybe that's a hint about the type of place we were in.
RaspberryJammm@reddit
My mum told us the ice cream van sold vegetables
Thedrunkenmunki@reddit
I don't think you're allowed to call them that anymore.
Coconutpieplates@reddit
Lol if you lived in Glasgow she might not have been lying.
Suspicious-B33@reddit
We stayed in a hotel in Reno or LA (can't remember which it was) in the 80s and my cousin and I spent the night taking the little bottles and packets out of the fridge and playing with them with our dolls (innocently, lol) then putting them back. When checking out the receptionist told the adults there must be an error as we had a $200+ mini bar bill although the items in there wouldn't amount to that much. So they definitely had some kind of tracking system in there.
jimmywhereareya@reddit
I actually believed that there was a sensor on the shelf in the fridge, as long as the item was replaced within a certain timeframe, no charges would apply. But hey, I'm almost 60, so.. whatever. I never took anything from a minibar unless I knew it was included in the price
fiddly_foodle_bird@reddit
*Laser
Martipar@reddit
Laser, stimulation is not spelt with a Z.
dth300@reddit
FYI it’s spelt laser:
Light
Amplification by
Stimulated
Emission of
Radiation
Projected2009@reddit
Tag
wardyms@reddit
Maybe not the 90’s but definitely experienced a mini bar knowing what we’d taken in early 2000’s.
I remember taking a small bottle out to look at it and there was an obvious mechanical thing going on. Instantly contacted reception to explain and they took it off the bill.
Dry_Action1734@reddit
Never stayed in a room with a mini bar until I went abroad.
Also it’s Laser. Stands for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.”
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