Taking food from a hotel breakfast buffet- cheeky??

I often ask the hotel to make me a bacon sandwich to take with me, as I leave early and don't like to eat that early.

Oh actually I remember a time, when my roommate and I had sandwiches made for us because we slept in and missed breakfast completely!

We were 18 and 20 respectively, and were in Thailand as part of a large group of around 15.

I think someone twigged that we must had slept in as we didn't appear for breakfast and were due to leave in around 10 minutes.

Anyway, when someone from our group knocked furiously on our door, we panicked and got ready as quick as we could. Locked our room and dashed to the lift down, and were greeted with a round of toast and jam sandwiches by a lovely member of our group, as we'd missed our breakfast and had to get on the coach.

I don't think they were being cheeky at all in this instance, but I'm sure if some of you were there, you'd have thought they were making sandwiches because they were cheap, tacky, grabby, greedy CFs!

Ill be honest me and my mum have took made up cobs for later but that was on an cruise an was all inclusive meals so we was only eating what we would had done for lunch if we had stayed on the cruise.

I am loving the replies which begin with "Oh lord no, it's scummy behaviour, I would never take anything from the breakfast room!" and then proceed on with "apart from that one time when I did exactly that <insert spurious reason which usually doesn't make much sense>".

I mean I genuinely don't care if you do or don't, but you don't get to take things and still have moral superiority, particularly when it's for a DC who usually get free space in hotel room and free breakfast under a certain age.

No, I don’t think taking portable food items from the breakfast buffet to eat later is particularly cheeky, especially if you can’t eat much at breakfast time, like me.

They will have catered for the numbers of people booked into the hotel so it won’t affect their budget and the uneaten food will be thrown away which IS a dreadful waste. They can hardly save it and put it out the following day, can they? 😂

I’ve taken pastries before and the odd piece of fruit if they’re decent enough, but there isn’t much else you can reasonably take from these types of buffet. Presumably, you’re not taking the cooked fried food?

there are a significant number of posters that worry WAY too much about massive billion dollar corporations…..

I don't know about the UK, but in the US quite a few hotels that are near the interstates and that cater to road trip travelers are franchisees run by smaller business owners.

20 years I'm the hotel industry, I've seen some sights at breakfast.

By far the biggest cheeky fucker move I've ever seen was from a German tour guest who went to the artisan bread area picked up a 3 foot baguette, split it down the middle - filled it with a selection of cheese and meat before sticking it in his bag for later. I was too shocked (impressed) to interrupt.

Letting your kids make super size adult portions just to leave it all over the table is by far my biggest hatred. Much prefer the families who take a yohgurt, fruit and muffin for later than do that.

I've often made a sandwich and taken it with me if we've had an early start as I'm not good with eating shortly after waking up. On these occasions that was all I took from the breakfast buffet, I didn't eat there and take extras on top. That being said, this is in the Holiday Inn Express (we always book these for UK breaks), and they provide paper bags next to the baps, so I assume they expect some people to grab and go.

We were at Butlins last week, and I wrapped an entire meal for DS in a napkin to take back to our accommodation. He plated up a meal, then something happened to upset him and he no longer felt like eating (ASD). The food was already on his plate, and would have gone in the bin otherwise. He hadn't eaten anything prior to that plate, and I didn't take anything extra, so I don't feel that was cheeky, but others may disagree.

I think it’s fine. Only because I’ve used toogoodtogo, and seen that all the hotels have offerings from breakfast buffets so otherwise it’ll be wasted. I mean I wouldn’t be making a packed lunch in a boutique hotel, but to make a cheese and ham roll to take at the premier inn is alright I think. They used to give you a little cardboard happy meal type box especially for this in days gone by iirc.

When we've stayed in Norway we booked what they called 3/4 board, which was the hotel providing paper bags to make up sandwiches from the breakfast buffet - it was a really outdoorsy place and the expectation was that no one would be back for lunch, but we did pay extra above half-board for that. Maybe that's what they were doing?

From a foreigners point of view, the exchange rate of the US dollar is rubbish. The last time I visited there in May 2008 it was almost $2 to £1. Purchased some rare CDs on my credit card and one exchange rate was $1.9854. Now its $1.29. Something that cost $20 in 2008 was about £10.40. Now its probably $28 - £21.70.

I have taken a few pieces of fruit before
I don't eat breakfast but often go on minibreaks and have had work trips in the past, with those who do and if the room and breakfast has been paid for and all I am using up is black coffee, I don't see it as doing any harm for me to take some fruit with me for later on-it still costs the hotel less than if I'd have ordered the full english (or whatever) that I was entitled to.

Some UK hotels use the app TooGoodToGo (TGTG) and can get a magic bag of either hot food or continental bits.

They are usually available to pick up 10am-10:30am.

Have bought a magic bag and collected it from a hotel on the rare occasion where I have done a group litter pick near or the way back from one of these hotels. Just the job for when I have worked hard.

I find it very grabby and tasteless tbh. It's not the deal, it feels like stealing.

I feel the same about people who take sachets etc. It's just this attitude of "I want more". I feel like it's entitled, selfish and greedy. I'd be a nightmare if I worked in a place this happened.

For me I'd maybe keep a condiment, but that's it.

On the other hand, I recently went on holiday with my baby & did take a wee bowl with me to fill with fruit for her to snack on later.

🙄🤣

I’m quite happy to take some fruit and pastry for later, if I know I’m going to eat them. And normally at least two visits to the buffet…

I also work in a hotel where any breakfast that isn’t eaten just goes straight in the bin, so may as well eat what you can.

If you do it on the sly.

On my final breakfast before I leave the hotel to go to airport to fly back home, I have made myself a cooked meat and cheese roll, wrap it in a paper napkin and slip into my bag. Sometimes I do this with a pastry or cake - not flaky pastry like a croissant. As from my experience, some foreign airports' choice of foods is piss poor. Rhodes Airport is a classic example. One poxy cafe with horrible looking burgers for €10 - that was 10 years ago. I was glad to do this as my flight was delayed by 1.5 hours and the cafe had ran out of food.

Have done this on tour holidays - I travel alone but on a tour with fellow singles and if got a lot of traveling to do to the next place we are staying and if the country has limited places for coaches to stop. I remember going on a Latvia and Lithuania holiday and the coach driver knew a farm shop with cafe about 20 mins drive from the motorway that had coach parking and more importantly, loads of toilets. Couldn't remember which of the two countries this farm shop place was. Sometimes, on these coach tours, we can only stop at petrol stations with ONE female loo. From my experience of these holidays there has never been more than 20% of the touring party who are male. Out of a tour of 25-28, 4-5 are men and the rest are ladies. 20-24 ladies using one loo takes time. I always visit the loo when we have a loo stop as no idea when the next opportunity will be.

Personally I wouldn’t. Yes, a piece of fruit/muffin, maybe some mini Nutellas for DC 😂 but not a packed lunch! My mum & dad would think nothing of it though; they’d definitely do it. In Disneyland Paris last year, I saw numerous families sitting at breakfast tables merrily making piles of sandwiches from the cooked meat & cheese! Maybe it’s acceptable there to counter the extortionate on-site food prices? I couldn’t bring myself to do it!

Most of them are not worth taking - low cost food dressed up to look like a spread. I avoid buffet food wherever possible due to the poor quality.

Another thing to consider is that the carb elements of breakfast are usually the cheapest- so cheap sliced bread, croissants/pastries which they presumably buy in part baked to control food waste and fluctuating volumes and say things like hash browns.

Your sliced ham and cheese and sometimes smoked salmon if lucky are going to be much more expensive per portion, ditto a hand chopped fruit salad. Therefore someone tucking into a big breakfast is not necessarily costing the hotel the most.

DH and I don't eat loads at breakfast ( despite my not being a teeny weeny size 8 with the appetite of a bird) but as we try to follow a low carb diet we will be eating the more expensive things on offer, particularly if there is an omelette bar available.

No food should leave breakfast room outside the body. But years ago we robbed Disney Paris hotel and stuffed our rucksack with croissants because the park food was so unhealthy and unbelievably expensive. But in normal circumstances, its wrong and a bit embarrassing if caught

"Well I'm still entitled to eat one - whether I sit down and eat it there and then, or eat it later I am still taking one from the later risers."

Yes, 1, not taking extra for later, which is what the OP is about.

"And if hotels don't have enough food for everyone, that's the fault of the hotel."

But they do have enough for everyone - it's just that some people take extra so that's not the fault of the hotel.

Anybody advocating for wasting food is living in the past. If it effected the hotels bottom line they would simply have breakfasts made to order but they don't. The food doesn't magically saving the company money by going in the bin, that is some very old fashioned thinking. These are large corporations with very carefully balanced books. They don't care and they don't lose money for you take some toast with you

well said @Anotherparkingthread there are a significant number of posters that worry WAY too much about massive billion dollar corporations…..

I'm sure they will be able to get plenty of bookings from people who can actually afford the holiday without expecting the hotel to subsidise their lunch

Actually it was in the news headlines last week that Disney shares have fallen, specifically because they’re not getting enough visitors to their parks. So I’m pretty sure they’d be happy to accept the 3-4k it is to holiday there for the sake of 12 croissants they would have legally had to throw away….