Breakfasts in hotels

LauraNorderr

Btw I haven’t done this myself because I don’t eat lunch if I’ve had a cooked breakfast but have never frowned upon anyone else. Their business not mine.

I'd frown, because I'd be cross if they took all the pains aux raisins and left me the pains aux chocolat. I can't stand them!

We had (rich) friends who used to do this and I found it very embarrassing.

LauraNorderr

If anyone clutches their pearls just smile sweetly while inwardly hoping they choke themselves with them

🤣🤣🤣

I do remember we were told it was very cheap to eat out in that particular country but when we got there, there was hyperinflation, they'd devalued on the Foreign Exchange and it wasn't at all cheap.

Personally I wouldn’t do it, and have stayed in a hotel where there was a sign expressly forbidding it. (Not in the U.K.)

At a fairly expensive hotel in Prague we were once 😱 to see at a nearby table, 4 very well dressed and affluent looking middle aged people, endlessly on the lookout for any staff watching - as they slipped masses of stuff into their bags - fruit, yoghurts, rolls (buttered and stuffed with ham etc.), pastries, you name it.

At a hotel in Greece we did once ask whether it’d be OK to make ourselves sandwiches from the breakfast buffet, since we were going on an all day sailing trip where lunch wasn’t provided.
They were fine with it, but I wouldn’t do it otherwise.

When we had a holiday in Switzerland, there were notices not to take away food, and the manager used to hover around watching all the guests!

Witzend

Personally I wouldn’t do it, and have stayed in a hotel where there was a sign expressly forbidding it. (Not in the U.K.)

At a fairly expensive hotel in Prague we were once 😱 to see at a nearby table, 4 very well dressed and affluent looking middle aged people, endlessly on the lookout for any staff watching - as they slipped masses of stuff into their bags - fruit, yoghurts, rolls (buttered and stuffed with ham etc.), pastries, you name it.

At a hotel in Greece we did once ask whether it’d be OK to make ourselves sandwiches from the breakfast buffet, since we were going on an all day sailing trip where lunch wasn’t provided.
They were fine with it, but I wouldn’t do it otherwise.

PS, I was relieved to hear from their conversation that they weren’t Brits!

Witzend
PS, I was relieved to hear from their conversation that they weren’t Brits!
🤣🤣🤣
The guests in Italy bagged their sunloungers before breakfast!
The egg collector in my post wore loud checked clothes.
But then all-you-can-eat places in the UK has told guests that you can’t take food away, so Brits are not innocent.
If the hotel is relaxed about it, I don’t see a problem.

My sister does this and it makes me cringe, she also clears the tea tray of any biscuits, tea bags etc and any toiletries that are left.

Those I have seen doing this at breakfast are rather covert about it, I think if you feel you are entitled to it then do it openly or even ask if it is ok.

Ask the restaurant/hotel manager ( l bet noone does) that's the only way to make it legitimate.
Having worked in hotels staff generally find it despicable, l certainly do and would never do it.

Cossy

I certainly don’t think it’s an issue!

Lots of the leftovers are simply thrown away.

Go for it!

Most hotels don't have lots of leftovers to throw away - budgets are tight, staff often get their meals provided (often at a discount - not free). Hotels budget for food provided to eat at that sitting, not including free takeaway. Any stolen food results in increased costs, passed on to future guests. If you haven't asked if you can remove food for later then it's theft.

I certainly wouldn't do it either. I would ask if I really wanted to take something away from the breakfast. I admit however I do take the odd toiletry away if I've previously used it.

For me it’s a no no. Having worked in food and beverage management the food margins are very tight, especially now.
The amount of food put out for guests is based on the number of guests staying, so if everyone took extra for their lunch then there would not be the same choice available for those who arrived later and as someone pointed out earlier, which they had paid for !!

At the risk of a ton of bricks coming down on my head, people I have seen doing this surreptitiously, give the impression that they are stealing and can’t afford to buy a sandwich at lunchtime. Why not just ask the staff if it’s OK ?

One hotel I stayed at in France a few years ago had a notice on the wall ( in English) saying that anyone seen taking food out of the dining room would be charged extra for it.

NotAGran55

Never.

For those who feel it is OK to take from the buffet, why don’t you ask before you do it? You probably know what the answer would be!

I have asked before and been happily told yes! I also have been known to take a cuppa and a croissant back to my room to eat too. Never a second glance.

Crossed posts OldFrill I couldn’t have expressed it better!

OldFrill

Ask the restaurant/hotel manager ( l bet noone does) that's the only way to make it legitimate.
Having worked in hotels staff generally find it despicable, l certainly do and would never do it.

As I said in my earlier post, my MiL always used to ask and was always told it was fine.

I certainly wouldn't do it and think the worse of people that do.
On our last river cruise, after all the guests had been fed, the staff descended on the buffet and cooked eggs for themselves too. The manager insisted that all staff had a good meal and there was no waste.

OldFrill

Ask the restaurant/hotel manager ( l bet noone does) that's the only way to make it legitimate.
Having worked in hotels staff generally find it despicable, l certainly do and would never do it.

But if there is a continental choice and a cooked choice and both have been paid for, but only the cooked food eaten why shouldn’t you take the continental part for later?

We have lots of mini breaks in this country and the amount of waste (mainly on people’s plates) at buffet meals is astonishing.

I must admit we prefer to order and have everything freshly cooked.

This is what I don't understand, Cossy - presumably someone could sit there and eat a massive cooked breakfast and help themselves to lots of stuff from the continental section too (if they wanted to). What's the difference between doing that and someone taking a few items for later? The same amount of food is being consumed whether it's at the breakfast table or not.

I wouldn't do it. The last time we stayed in a hotel we were going out for lunch (meeting people), so just had a croissant and coffee each for breakfast. It was disappointing in a way, as hotel breakfast buffets have far more on offer than I would have at home, but it didn't occur to me to compensate for having paid for a breakfast we weren't eating by bagging up fruit and pastries (surely people don't pinch bacon and eggs?) for later.

The nearest I come to that is that I sometimes put one of the little packs of biscuits from the bedroom in my bag to eat in the car if there is a long journey home and we're not stopping for food on the way. Usually I don't, though. If the journey is long we stop for food, and if short we wait till we get home. It's those '3 hours or so' ones that might need a biscuit to stave off rumbly tummies.

I was just thinking along those lines.
Instead of two rolls for breakfast, maybe eat just one, and take the other?
I dontsee that as particularly despicable.

I’ve never done it but went away with a good friend who asked staff sweetly if she could filch a pastry or two and a banana for later. They were quick to say yes.
I suffer from GERD so after eating a big brekkie I generally don’t eat much till much later anyway so tend to grab an early dinner.

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

But if there is a continental choice and a cooked choice and both have been paid for, but only the cooked food eaten why shouldn’t you take the continental part for later?

I'm not sure where this idea comes from. 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. It'll be averaging it out somewhere. Or charging for them individually.

I think that asking if it's OK is a perfectly reasonable way to go about it. Smuggling food out looks so bad😆

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.

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.