The Price of a Pint
Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 10:50AM Like many business travellers there is a time of day when you fancy a beer. Unlike many I treat expenses like I do my own money, and simply signing the slip and ignoring it is not something I have ever been comfortable with. Like broadband access in some hotels in the UK I stay in, I just will not pay £15 a night for a flaky 2meg connection the hotel, but obviously enough do to make it worthwhile for them to charge it. As regular followers will know I have found that just asking for the free broadband code when you check in is usually enough to get you the password.
And on to the price of a beer.
The hotel I am sat in at the moment sells Kingfisher beer, which is fine by me, and I fancied one, so looked at the prices... (all in Indian Rupees)
Mini bar - 330ml = 410
Room service - 330ml = 230
Room Service - 650ml = 330
Bar - 330ml = 350
Pool - 330ml = 380
Restaurant - 330ml = 268
All, aside from the big beer on room service the same bottle of beer. Also, instead of opening a fridge you can save 180 rupees by calling room service and getting them to bring it to you and open and pour it for you.
It seems madness, and I am sure most people are not as anal as me to look at all the different prices, but the differences don't even make sense to the hotel I am sure. The bottle in the fridge in the room which I nearly had, on todays exchange rates is £4.62, which I would never pay in the UK for what is technically half a pint.
So I took the easy option, quick trip to the shop down the road and bought some of the big bottles of Kingfisher Red (which is the good stuff!!) which was 73 rupees a bottle. A quick bit of simple maths balanced with alcohol content and that means the beer in the mini bar is over 12 times more expensive than the shop. Business expenses or not, no way I would pay 12 times the price for a beer. I would rather have 12 beers over the week out of my own money than one on the company.
Which also means that I am saving the company money - I look forward to my enhanced bonus.
Reader Comments (1)
Now I know a fellow pizza connisuer/maker you probably won't be shocked by this but the likes of dominos etc make a 900% profit on their pizzas once you price up what the ingredients actually costs!