Please help with an argument about hotel buffet breakfasts

[Toffeesgirl]

If the Breakfast times are say 7.30-10am, does that mean:

a) you have to have finished your breakfast and be out by 10ish or

b) you can arrive and start your breakfast up until 10am

This causes a long and mostly! lighthearted discussion with friends.

I stay at a lot of hotels/b&bs and agree with the others..in my experiences.if you turn up at 09.55 there will be less food as they would have already started clearing away.they wouldn't expect you to leave tho

It will depend on the hotel but it's a bit of a risk turning up after about 9.45 and expecting the full selection available and the time for a leisurely breakfast before hotel staff want you to have left so they can get on with setting up for lunch or whatever other tasks they have to do (or to leave work because they're on split shifts and not paid after 10/10.30 am).

Agree that at 10 they start taking away the food, switching off the coffee machines etc, you need to be finishing off yourself at that point. Not turning up at 9.55 expecting a full service. Like cafes etc, if you go in in the last half hour they will normally tell you they are closing soon and it is clear you need to be finishing off at the closing time.

I’ve worked in many hotels. Usually it means that food stops at 10. So you can order / take food right up to 10am but at 10am we’d stop producing more food and gradually clear up around everyone.

They stop serving at 10, so no buffet refreshers or extra tea and coffee served at table. They will normally ask before clearing away.

You can usually sit and finish eating up till at least 10.15, maybe even 10.30. But grab whatever you want to eat by 10. If you arrive at 9.55 you'll get whatever is left and make sure you get a coffee before they switch off the machine.

From experience (not an early riser but worse in my younger days) it means you can help yourself until 10 but then they'll start clearing away while you sit and eat. Also for the last half hour there tends not be much more stuff coming out so there is likely to be less choice and it's a bit less fresh.

We used to roll in about 9.45-9.50 and were never turned away though I always made two cups of tea to drink one after the other in case the hot water urn was switched off by the time I wanted my second. We aren't big breakfast eaters though so a quick pastry and cup of tea is all I need and then I clear off. Would never turn up that late and sit there for ages munching through multiple plates!

We got rather earlier after having children but I assume things are generally the same these days.

They stop serving at 10am but most places allow you to stay long after that. Me and my friends have been known to still be chatting as they start serving lunch

Remember they usually check room numbers off as you arrive for breakfast so they'll know roughly how many people haven't yet rocked up. There will always be a proportion of those who are booked for breakfast who don't show. You can't expect a full selection at a couple of minutes to 10. I suspect that very high end hotels wouldn't want to disappoint customers so they will be more likely to prep items cooked to order shortly before breakfast officially closes. That said, they may not do a buffet but offer food made to order at any time.

No food served after 10.00am unless they're kind enough to let you have what's left over.

I would say you can't add anything further to your plate after 9:59, nor can you expect to be brought tea or coffee after that time, but would be able to sit and eat drink what is already on your table between 10:00 and 10:25ish. If you are still there at 10:30 you are being rude and unreasonable stopping them getting set up for lunch, and they would be perfectly reasonable to wheel all the food back into the kitchen on the dot of 10 so if you arrive at 10 you'll be lucky to swipe a banana from the trolley as it passes.

Agree, but from 9.30 onwards I think they stop stocking up and options are sometimes limited

They stop serving at 10am.