I think the Ops thinking is wise. Unfortunate that we must think so defensively and over zealously but these days, everyone else is too and often times THEY are the ones doing the billing, so why not protect yourself!

In most cases, a dispute such as this would end up in your favor and they'd eventually take it off your bill when you argue the point, but if stuff like this happens enough and hinders even a little of your trip, you get kinda bummed out or bogged down with minutia and details in life that really shoud not have to happen.

i also find that the ACT of going thru the effort to take pics and then show them to someone can often prove in itself that you mean business and could not have committed the thing they tried to charge you for.

On the same type of thinking, I have been known to make a photocopy of not just the recript and paperwork of a rebate application I may fill out for something, but also the envelope with new stamp on it that i am sending to the company before I mail it out. I also copy the info i am sending because often times that has more stuff on it than the stub you are supposed to keep. When push comes to shove and you have to mail or fax something in to some obscure department to prove you completed the rebate properly, this often does the trick hands down.

That said, I have learned that in hotels, one shouldn't even OPEN the minibar AT ALL. I used to put something in there like, say, if my child were currently taking an antibiotic that needed to stay cold (like some of the toddler liquid ones they prescribe) but once you open some of these fridges, they bill ya!

In one case in a Hilton NYC, I took out one Heineken. The next day I went and bought one bottle at a local store and replaced it. I got a bill for $8 but showed them the full fridge. They took the amount off the bill but explained someone must have moved or removed and replaced one of the bottles to trigger the charge, so no more of that! (I just really needed a beer upon check-in the night I arrived)

If items like Fiji water are left out on the counter, one could always call downstairs and ask to just have them removed permanently from your room during the entire stay. That way, there's no dispute nor any fear that someone with ill will who works in say, housekeeping will screw you up. Just mark your bottles you leave around in the same way people do when they bring such things to a gym. Ultimately, although not always practical to fully accomplish, we should all be using non throw away bottles for drinking water anyway. Whoever invented the small plastic ones our entire society now blatantly uses and tosses into the trash was a A hole. And we are too for buying them and being sucked into the marketing. Oh, I dunno...

MM