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 😬

Rubbish!

The continental breakfast includes hot drinks , juice , cereal and toast. In many places it also includes fruit,
Yogurt and pastries . Occasionally cheese and ham.

The cooked breakfast includes whatever is provided as continental plus an English breakfast/ veggie option .

Loads of places you need to fetch your own toast. Those shitty hotel toasters where the bread goes along a wire rack drive me bonkers.

So if you clearly didn't order both the continental and the cooled buffet why didn't she discreetly tell you that the items you took weren't included when she saw you. Sounds to me like she was trying very hard to catch you out or charge you twice.

I've been to both types of places, ie places where the hot breakfast I cluded the continental buffet style and places where it doesn't but usually it's quite clear and if the cooked breakfast doesn't include drinks from the buffet I've always been asked what I'd like to drink.

Tea and toast is part of a cooked breakfast!

Hams, cheeses, yoghurts, fruit salad are continental breakfasts.

Did they expect you to have your breakfast without a drink?

She should have asked if you wanted tea or coffee when she took your order. Poor customer service if it wasn't clear to you what was included, and it's crazy if it's only included if you DON'T help yourself! Most places have a cold buffet, then either a hot buffet or hot breakfast cooked to order. I'd have been pretty fuming if I'd been charged for two breakfasts because of a bit of toast.

Totally agree with this. Am also someone that spends a lot of time in hotels with work. I've never seen it not be included.

hmmm… I would have assumed the continental buffet was off limits, but that I would be able to order tea coffee juice as part of the cooked breakfast.

If tea coffee juice weren’t served as part of the cooked breakfast then I’d have assumed I was meant to help myself, and done so. Wouldn’t have helped myself till I was sure they weren’t coming though.

Me too, everywhere I have stayed I have been told to help myself from the cold buffet and the cooked breakfast. Paying for the Continental and the cooked breakfast would make it an expensive breakfast.

I would ask the waitress tomorrow what items are included in the cooked breakfast. Are any drinks or toast included and if so request them. If no drinks or toast are included, are they more expensive than the continental price?

in my review, post stay, I would explain that the breakfast costs do not include tea or toast, so when people look for somewhere to stay, they will know that the breakfast cost is significantly higher than what it may first appear.

I wouldn't have thought juice, hot drinks & toast would be the 'continental' breakfast either. I'd have also presumed it was part of the cooked breakfast price. It's not like OP filled a carrier bag with meats, cheeses, pastries, croissants, yoghurts etc.

Absolutely this! Madness that the cheaper breakfast included drinks and the more expensive option didn't. Also her fault for not actually asking if you wanted drinks once she knew which breakfast you picked, as you would then assume you help yourself

In my experience there are hotels that provide buffet breakfasts hot or cold, sometimes there is a premium for the hot. There are then hotels that have full waitress service for breakfast which usually means a hot breakfast cooked to order in which case tea/coffee/toast is also brought to the table. If I am paying for waitress service I.would not expect to have to get up and queue for teas/toast etc.

It’s one or the other, not both. You were being a cf, IMO. Coffee/rateable have always been options when I’ve ordered a full English.

Oh don't be so fucking stupid. I've travelled and worked abroad my whole life and stayed in a huge range of hotels from £1 a night in the Khao San Rd to 7 star in Dubai.
Everywhere is different. There is no universal rule for hotel breakfasts. In this case the OP was asked which breakfast she wanted, continental or cooked. She chose cooked. It really then goes without saying that they don't expect you to help yourself also to the continental buffet. Otherwise what would be the bloody point in asking everyone whether they wanted cooked or continental 🙄. So it might not be how the breakfast works in the Premier Inn or wherever you usually like to stay but this pub made it clear that it was one or the other.

When you ordered the cooked breakfast the waitress should have enquired if you would like juice, and to choose tea or coffee. She should have also asked if you wanted white or brown toast. So the waitress was at fault, you were not! She owes you an apology. I would have a word with the manager and suggest some staff training.

Whenever I've stayed at the premier inn I've paid for the full breakfast and always helped myself to things like croissants, muffins, toast and fruit and yogurt off the continental section. It includes everything. It's if you get the continental breakfast and then go up and get the stuff off the main one that's wrong

Of course YANBU! Everywhere includes the juice, fruit, pastries and cold cuts with both breakfasts. Except, I recently stayed at a hotel where they didn't have a buffet, and you had to ask for fruit, pastries etc. Only they didn't tell us, so we didn't order any with the hot plate. We did the second morning though!

Maybe it's a post-Covid thing?

I accept places such as that exist where you have to make your own toast, they’re just not the kind of places I usually stay in.

That’s it what has been said. Of course the more expensive option includes drinks, toast etc! But you don’t go and help yourself. The waitress asks you what you want to drink and the sort of toast and then brings it to you, as well as the cooked breakfast.

But the waitress didn't ask what drinks were required, so it was reasonable to think you were expected to help yourself!

YANBU - I've never stayed anywhere, from cheap chains to very expensive hotels, where if there was a cold buffet this wasn't also included in the cooked option, and I'm really surprised that so many other people on the thread have.

Another one, who in many decades of staying in hotels, has always been able to access drinks, cereals, toast etc in addition to a cooked breakfast option.

I'm starting to think there must be a parallel universe somewhere, where other MNers' hotels are.

In this case the OP was asked which breakfast she wanted, continental or cooked. She chose cooked. It really then goes without saying that they don't expect you to help yourself also to the continental buffet

I disagree, it doesn't go without saying. If the hotel had hot drinks/juices/toast etc out on the side, then I can absolutely understand why the OP thought it was ok to help herself. I don't think I've ever stayed in a hotel where the cooked breakfast option didn't also include the continental buffet (assuming there was a buffet). This has been true in expensive hotels, and budget hotels.

Most places start with asking if you want tea or coffee. I’m surprised that wasn’t the first question.
They should have worded it differently when they asked you.

Toast and tea/coffee are considered a standard part of a cooked breakfast in the UK.
The waitress should have asked you what drinks you wanted when she took your order (and I'd expect juice to be offered as an option for a child). If she didn't, you were not unreasonable to help yourself, especially as buffet breakfasts are the norm in many establishments so the setup here was confusing.