For travellers who’ve just checked in, the hotel minibar is a handy facility for a swig or two to smoothen the rigours of the journey before preparing for the next stage of their stay.

 In Dubai, it is more than likely he will be helping himself from a Dometic unit. So overwhelming is Dometic’s dominance that some 80 to 90 per cent of all five-star properties have installed the company’s brand. In the rest of the UAE most hotels of that rating also have a Dometic piece.
One of the Dubai establishments to have the big D is the Madinat Jumeirah Development, where no quarter has been granted to other firms’ minibars. With as many as 900 installed there, the competition has taken a hit.
And now with introduction in the region of Dometic’s new improved product, the HiPro, the competition is set to get more scalding for the rivals.
HiPro has taken in a mix of progressive industrial design and a host of innovative details. “So unique,” the company says, “it has introduced a new name for the series as well as the related technology: HiPro technology.”
According to company literature, HiPro minibars feature the latest developments for absorption cooling technology such as Fuzzy Logic II with CUC (cooling unit control), LED interior light, further reduced energy consumption and a range of interior design variants from Basic to Premium. HiPro minibars come as HiPro3000, 4000 and 6000.
The new product arrives after more than 30 years’ experience the company has had in the hotel industry and more than four million minibars it installed
The HiPro range outperforms its predecessor models RH 4xx with 15 per cent lower energy consumption. In one of the attractive features, an optional control door system signals whether a minibar needs to be checked or refilled.
Sweden-based Dometic, formerly Electrolux Leisure Appliances, is a leading supplier of special refrigeration and other products and systems designed and manufactured for use in leisure applications including recreation vehicles, pleasure boats and hotel rooms to meet specific needs for increased comfort away from home.
One of the significant features of that year was its acquisition of American Taylor Made Environmental (TME), the world’s leading manufacturers of air conditioners for pleasure boats.
Electrolux was credited with developing in the 1920s the groundbreaking silent absorption technology that made possible the fist compact household refrigerator in the world.
The Dometic brands installed in the Madinat Jumeirah were not HiPro, as the new unit was launched only in October 2003 well after the complex was completed.
 For Dometic, hotel products are not the only potential growth area in the UAE and the region.  It is viewing with much optimism another important segment of special refrigeration systems - medical refrigeration.
It has been a frenetic participant at medical expos and conferences dealing with the supply of blood and vaccination programmes.
Dometic offers truly professional medical refrigeration solutions that meet the highest international standards, including WHO, for safe storage conditions, says Lund.
The Cold Chain line of products comprises an entire series of equipment adapted to various stages of the cold chain and taking into account climatic and technical constraints. These are transport boxes for transport between 24 hours and eight days with refrigeration provided by frozen ice packs; absorption or compression-type refrigerators using different energy sources and ensuring constant operation even in the absence of reliable electric power; absorption or compression-type freezers for ice packs and multifunctional equipment provided with ice linings to ensure constant temperatures even with intermittent power failure.