Abstract: The hotel vending network includes a central control at the hotel main desk and a vending unit in each hotel guest room. The microprocessor controlled vending units include a display arrangement for displaying prices of articles to be rended and a user allocatable keyboard for use in article selection and final purchase from the vend unit. Each purchase is a cooperative action between the central control and a vend unit and is completed by an acknowledgment signal from the vending unit which signal is required before actual billing of a rended article occurs. The keyboard is also used to control service access to the vending unit by means of passwords assigned from the central control.

Abstract: A vending apparatus for use in a hotel to vend a plurality of articles comprises a housing having vertical, substantially cylindrical access doors providing access in each of a plurality of vending units to a vended article. The vendee will actuate a handle for the vending unit to turn an access door for that unit from a closed position denying access to the article to a vending position to allow removal of the vended article. The preferred system is cashless and a control device in the form of push buttons is operated to cause the vending operation of the selected vending unit; and a signal is sent to a computer to record the transaction and/or add the price of the vended article to the guest's hotel bill. After recordation, an electrical signal is sent to the vending unit to enable the manual actuation of the vertical, substantially cylindrical access door selected.