Breakfasts in hotels

You pay for bed and breakfast. Not bed and breakfast and as much as you can take away for lunch. 😑

Cold, that certainly gives the message loud and clear.

I have recently been in a hotel with a coach party. All you can eat buffet included cereals, juices, fruit, croissants, toast( cook your own) and cooked items. I had a bit from each section, but tiny portions, and certainly not one of everything. A few people really piled their plates high and took items away too. There were no notices, but most people ate reasonably and took nothing away. Other than a whole fruit perhaps, I would think it is frowned on.

OnwardandUpward

We stayed at a Holiday Inn near Cadburys world once when the kids were younger and the breakfast was a help yourself buffet of all kinds of things. It was a "no frills" cooked breakfast with things on the side like fruit, yoghurt, pastries, cereal etc. It was an "all you can eat" breakfast, so we were shocked to see a large family where the kids were being sent up to get yoghurts and other food "for later".

The most recent hotel we stayed in was child free and had a really luxurious spread for breakfast. We enjoyed a leisurely
breakfast where DH opted for a full English and I chose scrambled egg with smoked salmon and a side of mushrooms, but we also went up to get croissants, pastries , yoghurt and fruit which we enjoyed at the table with pots of delicious lavazza coffee.

I dont agree with stealing . Why not enjoy a leisurely breakfast, eat as much as you want to, knowing you won't need to eat again for ages and leave with dignity?

You see to me ....this is just pure greed ....bet you don't eat like that at home.... salmon, eggs, mushrooms, yoghurt, pastries , croissants and fruit .....would play havoc with my digestive system....so who is the 'thief'..... the person who has egg on toast and takes a single pastry and a peice of fruit for later? .....or the person who stuffs their face at the table ? ...... and who is the most dignified? 🤔

When I have asked, admittedly only in Scotland mostly, I have always been told that the food cannot be put out again for others for health and safety reasons...... and that its is fine to take it for later.....!

My daughter occasionally stays in the cheaper hotels (premier Inn/ Travelodge) with her young children. Generally pay on the day for breakfast and sometimes the children’s meals are free if an adult is paying. She has been actively encouraged to take pastries and fruit by the waiter and told what is left gets thrown away (they are not early risers)

I was staying at a hotel a couple of years ago where there were signs saying that if you wanted to take food from the breakfast buffet outside of the hotel then there was a £10 pp pack lunch charge.

We stayed at a Holiday Inn near Cadburys world once when the kids were younger and the breakfast was a help yourself buffet of all kinds of things. It was a "no frills" cooked breakfast with things on the side like fruit, yoghurt, pastries, cereal etc. It was an "all you can eat" breakfast, so we were shocked to see a large family where the kids were being sent up to get yoghurts and other food "for later".

The most recent hotel we stayed in was child free and had a really luxurious spread for breakfast. We enjoyed a leisurely
breakfast where DH opted for a full English and I chose scrambled egg with smoked salmon and a side of mushrooms, but we also went up to get croissants, pastries , yoghurt and fruit which we enjoyed at the table with pots of delicious lavazza coffee.

I dont agree with stealing . Why not enjoy a leisurely breakfast, eat as much as you want to, knowing you won't need to eat again for ages and leave with dignity?

I was once at a 'eat all you can' place in Malaysia, and they charged a (very reasonable) price for which you could put what you liked on your plate, and charged again at the end for anything you hadn't eaten and had to be thrown away. I can't remember whether you could go back for seconds (probably, as the rules were to prevent waste) but I thought that was a good system.

Gin

I am amazed that posters seem to think people would eat both a continental and cooked breakfast, therefore justifying a take away lunch. Surely the hotel would expect and cater for people to make a choice rather than greedily eating everything in sight? I must admit I am always amazed at the enormous quantities eaten by some. Do they always consume such enormous breakfasts? My digestive system would not be happy if I started my day with a large meal.

We’ve just come back from a lovely break which included breakfast and dinner.

You would absolutely die and cringe if you saw the amounts of food people pile onto their plates! It’s far more cringeworthy watching this (some of which they gobble up, much of which is wasted) than seeing someone have a light breakfast and take a danish and a piece of fruit for mid morning!

Gin

I am amazed that posters seem to think people would eat both a continental and cooked breakfast, therefore justifying a take away lunch. Surely the hotel would expect and cater for people to make a choice rather than greedily eating everything in sight? I must admit I am always amazed at the enormous quantities eaten by some. Do they always consume such enormous breakfasts? My digestive system would not be happy if I started my day with a large meal.

Well actually when you stay and you pay for breakfast, it almost always covers EVERYTHING in the buffet. Like some others I eat a light cooked breakfast and like a cuppa and something around 11:00 then normally don’t have lunch at all, cuppa around 3pm, with a biscuit, then dinner between 6:30-7:30

I would only help myself to what I can eat. As I said, the cooked option is plenty. People do seem to gorge at these places. Anyway, I’ve decided not to do it so please don’t bring my character further into question 😅😳

Gin

I am amazed that posters seem to think people would eat both a continental and cooked breakfast, therefore justifying a take away lunch. Surely the hotel would expect and cater for people to make a choice rather than greedily eating everything in sight? I must admit I am always amazed at the enormous quantities eaten by some. Do they always consume such enormous breakfasts? My digestive system would not be happy if I started my day with a large meal.

Have you seen the amount of food which gets wasted at places which offer this? I've seen people load up their plates with stuff from the continental section, pick at bits and pieces then leave the rest - and then go and do the same from the hot cooked selection. I can't eat big meals - I would only eat a small amount, but I hate to see food being wasted.

We were staying in a hotel in Toledo and the manager was always checking on people leaving, in case the had stocked up with food for lunch.
Someone got caught stealing a banana and an orange. It was so embarrassing for them.

I would say it is a no!

The amount of food consumed at each meal is monitored, so if the apparent consumption of food in a particular meal rises then ultimately the price of that meal in compiling the overall bill will rise also.
And don't think the staff don't notice.
I wouldn't do it.

Gin

I am amazed that posters seem to think people would eat both a continental and cooked breakfast, therefore justifying a take away lunch. Surely the hotel would expect and cater for people to make a choice rather than greedily eating everything in sight? I must admit I am always amazed at the enormous quantities eaten by some. Do they always consume such enormous breakfasts? My digestive system would not be happy if I started my day with a large meal.

Course they do ....stuff themselves stupid do some people ....why do you think staff in a b and b take your cooked brekkie order then say help yourself to cereal and fruit....then come back and ask how many rounds of toast you want ?

The toiletries are reusables in order to cut down on plastic waste. They don’t serve lunch only afternoon tea which is expensive and tbh I couldn’t eat it after a cooked breakfast with evening meal later

This discussion is very divisive 😂 I think it will be less stressful to walk to M&S and get a sandwich or maybe we could buy a pasty to share from the Cornish bakery.

It’s not a b&b or a budget hotel or family run affair, there are no signs up. I think the breakfast is quite a bit on top (£25 maybe each) I was quite literally thinking of just taking something ‘light’ but I don’t think I’ll be able to live with the cringes 😂 I’m up for being dared to ask….

Do you think this is a British thing? The manners, the worrying about stuff that doesn’t make sense. My Mother always hated a car very as she said people were greedy and would pile their plates higher than their heads, so I’ve never actually been to one, even though I like the idea..

I am amazed that posters seem to think people would eat both a continental and cooked breakfast, therefore justifying a take away lunch. Surely the hotel would expect and cater for people to make a choice rather than greedily eating everything in sight? I must admit I am always amazed at the enormous quantities eaten by some. Do they always consume such enormous breakfasts? My digestive system would not be happy if I started my day with a large meal.

Aveline

Would you do it in someone's house? In a private B and B? Or are only hotels fair game for this greed?

Yep done it in a B&B loads...take a peice of fruit and a pastry...if on offer ...always ask never been told no...I eat scrambled eggs on toast for brekkie so I'm still eating less than the 'greedy' person who sits at the table to eat cereal...then full English....then toast and pasties ....don't see why people are getting their knickers in a twist 🤷‍♀️....I've never been in someone's home and had a buffet breakfast 🤔.... but if I did and I wanted to take something for later I wouldn't think twice about asking....I only stay at the homes of family and friends and could not imagine anyone being offended at that request .....maybe some peoples friends are different tho

Never. Completely bad form!

I wouldn’t do it, it feels a bit shonky to me. However, when we stayed in Barcelona we used to have breakfast and then around 3 pm go for free coffee and cake because they were still serving breakfast so I guess that was the same thing really.

Going back to the taking away of food from breakfast.

If the hotel is hoping you buy lunch there, I expect they aren’t too keen if you make do with breakfast rolls, pastries, fruit etc. instead.

I see nothing wrong with eating or taking away the biscuits in the bedroom. They are there for your specific room. The same if bottled water is provided, (not in the mini bar).

DH and I always avail ourselves of those.

As for the toiletries, more places have bulk items of those which they (rightly) refill.

Having said that, I remember the Hotel Inspector (Olga Polizzi?, can’t recall exact name) once saying it was perfectly reasonable to take the little containers of shampoo, body wash etc. But not the bathrobes and suchlike!

The hotel won't be costing their breakfast on the premise that all guests are going to eat a continental breakfast and a full English at one sitting.
No, that's what I thought. My son could eat a lot as a teen, but even he would baulk at that. He's manage cornflakes before the hot food and toast with it, but not the pastries, yogurt, fruit etc.

I wouldn't do it now, I may have done quite a few years ago as I prefer to eat later. I've just finished the first food of the day now and it's 12.30ish. I'm a coffee person in that time before 11.a.m. so those early breakfasts don't really suit me. Hotels these days seem to make it clear they don't like guests spiriting food away from the breakfast table. I do remember seeing one woman a few years ago in Spain with a carpet bag Mary Poppins would have been proud to own, carefully load it up with an amazing array of whatever was going, hard boiled eggs, rolls, cheese, fruit Going back to the OP, a couple of pastries in a zip lock bag doesn't sound too excessive, I don't see what the difference is between eating them at the table and saving them for later, but it's down to the individual hotel I guess.