Am I a CF to expect free lunch for my DD?

[jasminemaya]

Booked a two week holiday with DP and DD (3).

The hotel has advertised 'kids stay and eat for free'.

We have booked half board. Me and DP won't need lunch but obviously DD will.

Am I a CF to assume she can have a little plate from the buffet at lunch time? Or do I need to budget an extra fiver or so a day to buy her lunch?

I take a couple of boiled eggs for a snack.

just take some teabags they dont do them in hotels and if they do theyre awful

No zzzz most people wouldn't think that at all.

Take a few bits from the breakfast buffet if it's a big hôtel. Lots of people do.( If its a little b and b then you probably shouldn't). Some of the family resorts have ice creams and sandwiches free for the children all day.

Do people really sit at breakfast monitoring what other people take from the buffet?? If you are then you're doing holidays wrong!

And why the horror over not having lunch? Not everyone needs to have 3 meals whilst on holiday.

OP - just ask the question of the hotel.

Well when you stayed in Disneyland Paris, I saw kids being positioned by the bread, making up sandwiches and putting them in bags. My kids were, quite rightly, horrified and asked what those other children were doing. No wonder it costs so much bloody money to have breakfast in a hotel. And to those saying, they only bin it anyway, yes they bin it if they have to open extra stuff up, but if they didn’t have to open extra stuff up, they wouldn’t have to bin it.

Anyway, back to op, I think you already know the answer!

By all means take some breakfast stuff for lunch.fill a bag.i do
Take plastic ziplock bags pop fruit,croissant, wee yoghurt in the bag.
And yes I know it’s considered terrible manners,cue pinched puce faces at the very thought

Holidays for me are about having treats and enjoying yourself. Old soggy breakfast food does not feature in this.

If you ask the Rep you’ll probably find someone will sort out a Lunch for a Child, they throw mounds of food away. Have a lovely Holiday.

In fairness I don’t think anyone thinks,oh yippee I’ll have ole stale breakfast food
I do think, couple bananas, yoghurt and some bread rolls that’ll do nicely

To note I do ask waiting staff,can I take some food away for my kids
I’ve never been declined. On more than one occasion I’ve been given paper bags

But asking the hotel or booking agency or a rep to sort out a free lunch for a child every day is mad. Just because you didn't want to spend money on their child's meal why should the hotel?

Yes you are very unreasonable. Your DD can (obviously really) only stay free for the nights you are staying & only eat free for the meals you are eating.
How much she eats isn't relevant. Crockery, somewhere to sit, cleaning up etc. all costs money which cannot be recouped if there are no paying adults.

Yes very cheeky to take her into the lunch buffet, but fine to take some fruit and a roll from breakfast imo

Fgs, discreetly make a cheese roll at breakfast and grab a bit of fruit, job done. As someone said it will go in the bin after service anyway and a 20p roll is not going to put the hotel out of business! I can’t believe how many people are kicking up a fuss about taking something from breakfast. What’s the difference between doing that and those people with eyes too big for their bellies that load up their plates and then leave it to go in the bin! At least it’s not going to waste!

Thats cheeky and the reason hotels end up punting prices up

UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername completely agree about DLP.

Breakfast used to be included but was stopped because there were so many people making up lunches at breakfast. I saw many Cast Members felling then they were not allowed and they were laughed at.

Why not bring a couple of packets of granola bars and healthy toddler snacks with you? I’m sure there will be somewhere nearby the resort where you can pick up some fruit and yoghurt. Most places will have something.

This tread is depressing reading.

No, stealing food for lunch from the breakfast buffet is not ok. The serving staff won't care because they get paid the same whatever, and they won't want the hassle of an argument. The hotel will, as margins are small in the industry, and theft erodes them further. It just results in a reduction in quality of the breakfast buffet, a drop in standards as costs are cut elsewhere in the business, or a rise in room rates.

I've worked in hotels. It amazes me what people steal. Towels, bathrobes, art work, ornaments, crockery, cutlery, books, hairdryers. Pretty much anything that isn't screwed down.

OP if you were staying at a hotel on a room only basis, and the hotel also offered full board holidays would you expect your child to have all her meals free?

The free child places mean on the same board basis as the paying adults.
So if adults are paying bed and breakfast- child gets free bed and breakfast,
If adults are paying for full board- kids get free full board.
Adults are on half board then kids get half board.

The free child places are on a like for like basis as the paying adults.

See I think those people at buffets who put put a bit of everything on their plate just to taste it are wasteful, yet that's fine because it's 'paid for'.
I frequent a forum where buffets and photos of them come up fairly often and I'm quite horrified at the waste, yet someone dares to take an apple, or muffin for later and all hell brakes loose.

How about walking out of the hotel and buying a little snack? Food does exist outside of hotels. Maybe, just maybe, think about eating out yourself one lunchtime, purely for the fun of it.

I am completely clear of conscience if I take an extra apple from breakfast after my fruit, yogurt and museli when I've paid for others' several helpings of fry up. I have sometimes taken something for lunch, more to save the bother of having to get something later than to save the cost.

That said, I can't imagine enjoying a holiday where the budget is so tight no one can have a snack during the day, I'd rather stay at home and plan some days out.