They indeed have weight sensors - that’s how the mini fridge detects that something has been taken so it can charge you.
The concept isn’t evil in itself, it’s just that the pricing applied to it is predatory.
The warning is there for your convenience more than anything else and is often out of an abundance of caution. I’ve seen similar ones where you can pick up and put it back within a certain time and not be charged - I’m pretty sure all these machines have a grace period to avoid spurious charges in case it gets bumped/etc, so it is safe to pick up items and put them back within a reasonable timeframe.
In practice feel free to pick up (and even replace items, if it’s literally the same and they won’t be able to tell) and just play dumb and contest the charges at the front desk, they’ll have to waive them if they can’t decisively prove you actually took any items.
The concept isn’t evil in itself, it’s just that the pricing applied to it is predatory.
The warning is there for your convenience more than anything else and is often out of an abundance of caution. I’ve seen similar ones where you can pick up and put it back within a certain time and not be charged - I’m pretty sure all these machines have a grace period to avoid spurious charges in case it gets bumped/etc, so it is safe to pick up items and put them back within a reasonable timeframe.
In practice feel free to pick up (and even replace items, if it’s literally the same and they won’t be able to tell) and just play dumb and contest the charges at the front desk, they’ll have to waive them if they can’t decisively prove you actually took any items.