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Original poster

To have assumed this about breakfast?

295 replies

YouWhatLove · 02/06/2022 22:02

Staying in a country pub with rooms for a couple of nights away with my dc. We went down for breakfast this morning and the waitress asked if we wanted the continental breakfast for £7.95 or the cooked breakfast for £10.95 (slightly cheaper for dc but can’t remember the price). We all had the cooked breakfast, she took our orders and went off.

I then went to the continental buffet bit and got juice for dc, a cup of tea for myself and 2 slices of toast to go with our cooked breakfast. She delivered the cooked breakfast, it was all very nice and then she presented us with the bill that charged us for 3 x continental breakfast and 3 x cooked breakfast. I said she’d charged us twice and she said that she’d seen me go to the buffet so had to charge me. After a bit of a fuss she agreed to only charge for the cooked breakfast but said to not do it tomorrow and that if I wanted tea/ juice/ toast I had to order it with my breakfast.

I haven’t stayed in that many places that offered a continental and cooked breakfast at a separate price but was I being cheeky to assume the cost of a cooked breakfast included juice and toast from the buffet bit? I’m sure when I’ve stayed in Premier Inn or similar that’s been the case or maybe I’ve just been nicking stuff without realising it 😬

OP posts:
wiglay69 · 04/06/2022 23:36

Hardbackwriter · 04/06/2022 23:19

I genuinely think that some of these 'I've never been to a hotel where the cooked breakfast includes the cold buffet' people have themselves misunderstood, and have been missing out by not taking what they had paid for!

This is what I’m thinking too. Would love to know the names of some to check, I imagine they are mistaken 😂

FictionalCharacter · 04/06/2022 23:36

DadBodAlready · 04/06/2022 21:33

The poor serving girl clearly not up to speed, all it needs is a bit of clarification for future reference. Why does everyone have to complain all the time.

Show quote history

Why complain? Because it's the company's responsibility to make sure that the customer is given the right information and that staff are trained properly. If we keep being all British and say nothing, the company won't fix it. I didn't mean complain about the waitress.

oviraptor21 · 04/06/2022 23:39

Tea/coffee/juice/toast are all part of the cooked breakfast.
Sometimes the other breakfast items are included too, eg. pastries, cereals, fruit.

Mfsf · 04/06/2022 23:53

You are right a cooked breakfast includes everything? Is this a very small place ? And why didn’t a cooked breakfast have toast anyway ?
personally I would be leaving them a very bad review .

whatwasyournamesorry · 05/06/2022 06:43

So they charged you £17 for your breakfast! Bloody rip off

Valeriekat · 05/06/2022 07:04

Iloveartichokes · 02/06/2022 22:13

She’s wrong, you’re correct - I’m very well travelled. If this is the pub’s policy they should be named and shamed in your review.

Exactly. Any one replying that OP was being cheeky is wrong.

BruceAndNosh · 05/06/2022 07:12

I really want a cooked breakfast now...

threatmatrix · 05/06/2022 08:42

I think you need to stay at mor upmarket places.

Original poster
YouWhatLove · 05/06/2022 09:13

@threatmatrix why do I need to stay at more upmarket places? I stay at a variety of places and generally just book wherever is closest to the activity that I’m doing if I’m in the UK. The place I stayed was perfectly nice.

OP posts:
SmartCarDriver · 05/06/2022 09:17

threatmatrix · 05/06/2022 08:42

I think you need to stay at mor upmarket places.

Why?

DameHelena · 05/06/2022 13:57

YANBU and she was being a jobsworth. And they’re stingy: a couple of drinks and some toast is hardly a slap-up continental feast.
They also clearly don’t train their staff to communicate properly; if she’d asked you if you wanted drinks, as she should have, it would probably have become clear that they weren’t included in the price.
Actually, thinking about it they probably do it on purpose so they can make people pay for two breakfasts. It’s very odd not to ask you about drinks when taking a food order. I think they’re being fly.

csigeek · 05/06/2022 18:47

In a chain hotel yeah probably, country pub/b&b unless it explicitly said includes both I wouldn’t assume.
Premier Inn type one is either continental or an all you can eat type thing isn’t it?

starlingdarling · 05/06/2022 19:08

They also clearly don’t train their staff to communicate properly; if she’d asked you if you wanted drinks, as she should have, it would probably have become clear that they weren’t included in the price.

I think this is a good point. I said before that I probably would have asked if I was supposed to help myself to the coffee but I don't travel that often in the U.K.. If you travel a lot and it's standard for cooked breakfast to include continental I can see how you'd assume since drinks weren't mentioned.

budgiegirl · 05/06/2022 19:20

It's definitely either / or globally unless you have an all inclusive buffet breakfast, you stick to what you pay for!

Rubbish! As shown by this thread, the vast majority of places include the buffet in the price of the cooked option. It may be, on occasion, that some hotels may be either one or the other, but it's certainly not 'either/or globally'. In fact, I'd say that's actually very rare, I've been to lots of hotels over the years, and I've never come across a hotel where a buffet (assuming there is one) isn't included in all breakfast options.

Original poster
YouWhatLove · 05/06/2022 21:37

@csigeek it was a country pub that is part of a chain. Someone linked one of their breakfast menus earlier that specifically stated the cooked breakfast included the continental. The place I stayed had personalised the menu and it didn’t explicitly state it but the items and prices were otherwise the same.

OP posts:
sootysmum · 05/06/2022 21:41

Different places have different rules and it should have been made clear to you what you should do when you arrived. I would expect tea and toast to be brought to the table and not to have to go to get it.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 05/06/2022 21:56

Tbf, if they wanted to be clear, she should have said "I'll be over in a moment to take a drinks order" and the menu should have stated if the breakfast included toast. 99% of the time it does (I never want the toast so always have to ask for it to not be brought over).

Did she take a food order or did you get a standard full English? I'm just wondering how many times she spoke to you before adding that onto your bill.
If she sat you down, took an order, delivered the order, cleared the plates all before bringing the bill and you had got the drinks and toast before the food had been served, she had plenty of opportunities to tell you that the continental was extra.

Just seems like slightly crap customer service. She probably caved in on the bill as she knew if you complained it would have been her fault for not explaining the process to you fully (also I'm sure the company wouldn't see it as worth their time arguing lol)

csigeek · 05/06/2022 22:31

That’s different then! I was thinking you meant something like a quaint country inn. Odd they’d have different menus at different locations, maybe the waitress didn’t have a scooby!

Lovely13 · 06/06/2022 21:32

Sounds an exhausting way to start the day. And a very weird hotel. Tea/coffee are not included with a full breakfast?!

Annonymiss123 · 07/06/2022 13:53

Your thread has made it to the tabloids @YouWhatLove. www.irishmirror.ie/lifestyle/travel/holidaymaker-stunned-after-hotel-charges-27163184

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