To have assumed this about breakfast?

[YouWhatLove]

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 😬

I stay in hotels about 70 nights a year for work and hot breakfast has always included the continental buffet wherever I've stayed so I vote YANBU.

I've seen it both ways so would have asked when ordering if tea and toast were included or not

@Scarydinosaurs its a pub with a lot of rooms. They must have at least 20 odd rooms judging by the size of the place and the number of tables set for breakfast this morning

Toast should be included. YANBU on that part. I've always paid extra for juice and tea if breakfast wasn't included, like I would at a cafe.

You obviously are not well travelled.

YANBU about the tea and coffee but you are about the toast

Agree.

Yes you were cheeky, but fur £19.95 I would expect everything to be included.

I can’t help wondering what sort of (crappy) hotels you must have stayed at. This is not how it usually works.

I would have done the same as you.

You are 100% right to have assumed this, OP.

Surely the beauty of staying in hotels etc is eating 10 x more than you normally would at breakfast!

I travelled a lot for work pre-covid as well as for holidays and I can't think of anywhere I have stayed where the cooked breakfast didn't include helping yourself to the buffet too.

I’ve never, ever, anywhere in the world, stayed in a hotel where a cooked breakfast included the continental option!

Then again, and thinking about it, I’ve never stayed anywhere with a buffet-style breakfast. But if it is buffet-style, don’t you have to pay to access the buffet?

Then again x2, I would have expected the cooked breakfast to include tea/coffee. Toast too if it goes with the breakfast (Eg boiled eggs, omelette - not with eggs Benedict or pancakes etc). Juice would always be an additional and extra drink.

I think the mistake was saying “continental breakfast”: this implies croissants, pastries, coffee, freshly squeezed OJ all brought to you. What they should have said was “buffet breakfast”.

If I were paying for a cooked breakfast I would expect the waitress service to bring tea or coffee and toast to the table. I would not expect to have to get up and help myself.

Well we already know that the hotels that do have the buffet included with their cooked breakfast are “chains like Premier Inn” so I rather think it is the other way round with the “crappy” budget hotels working the way you are used to.

I’ve never had a cooked breakfast that didn’t include juice, a hot drink and toast . OP didn’t help herself to yoghurt and a croissant.

Depends what you mean by well travelled.

Ive lived in 5 countries, and visited 72 since childhood. But I haven’t ever Eg stayed in a caravan, or tent or on a campsite. Lots of countries, probably quite similar experiences in all of them though.

Exactly so.

Even the bloody Beefeater next to the premier inn does a continental buffet for £7.50 or the hot cooked buffet plus the continental for £9.50.

Everywhere I've stayed, from Britain to south Africa to South Korea that has buffet style breakfast has a cheaper option of cold buffet only plus a more expensive option of cold buffet plus cooked food. Never seen them separated.

Obviously a la carte breakfast menus are different. You order the meal you want and pay. But for buffets, cheaper option for continental or more expensive option for continental plus cooked.

You obviously don't stay in many hotels

I think you were cheeky. I would expect a cooked breakfast to include toast, tea, etc, but the waitress should ask you about that as part of your cooked breakfast order. It may be in some hotels, they might say that the juice and tea is help-yourself, but I wouldn’t just help yourself without being told to.

I didn’t say anything about what was or was not included in a cooked breakfast. But whether juice/toast/tea/coffee is included with breakfast or ordered a la carte, I would still expect the wait staff to bring it to me. I would not expect to have to go to a buffet and help myself.

All of the places I've stayed at, the cooked breakfast includes the continental, which is why it's a higher price. I would have done the same as you OP.

Continental is normally included in the price of the cooked, so I’d of made the same mistake as you. Normally you have cereal/ juice/ pastry as you wait for the hot stuff?

Honest mistake. Even if it is objectively cheeky, you didn't mean to be and that's fair enough. Next time just clarify and ask at the time. I'd have likely done something such as "I'd like coffee now, do I order that with you or can I get it from the buffet? Is it cheek to pinch a bit of toast or shall I order that with you?"

Just to be sure like. Mind you if I was hungover that could easily change to "I'm going to take this toast and fight anyone who tells me otherwise" so....