Taking food from a hotel breakfast buffet- cheeky??

[Nannyogg134]

Was chatting with Brother and SIL about their upcoming holiday. They've got a long drive with 2 young DCs, so they've booked a chain hotel with free buffet breakfast part way along (to break up the drive.) DM said "Oh good, don't forget to make sandwiches for the drive later.".
This led to a whole family breakdown of what it is/isn't cheeky to do at a breakfast buffet 😂...

• DM would happily take tupperware with her and fill up because 'it's been paid for' (I don't think she does take tupperware, I think it was a figure of speech!)
• DH said he's too embarrassed to take anything more than a banana for later.
• DSIL confessed that she can't resist taking pots of jam

I just wondered what everyone thought- Is it unreasonable to take from the buffet breakfast for 'later'?

We did it everyday at Disney it's so expensive otherwise for food.

It isn’t, but it is a debate about whether or not it is cheeky to do this. I didn’t see anything suggesting superiority in the poster’s reply?

Taking more than one item for later would be very freeloader-ish, imo. It is totally inconsiderate for the people who come afterwards and find there is little to no food left because some greedy selfish person has arrived with Tupperware and carrier bags beforehand.

@Lynus theres nothing cheapskate about wanting what you’ve paid for. I would happily pay a reduced rate for my coffee and fruit, but that’s not an option. So I’m going to take my £15 breakfast, but I’ll eat it later.

Why is it OK to eat 2 slices of bread at breakfast, but not OK to take 2 slices of bread for later instead?
Also, we usually come for breakfast towards the end of the time (I have teenagers) and they’ve never run out of anything.

They always have ridiculous amounts of food a couple of slices of bread or a couple of pastries isn't going to mean others starve. Nobody is talking about taking carrier bags worth of food their talking about enough for a small lunch.

So people don't have to wait for food to be cooked and served, less staff needed I'd imagine.
Why does the presence of a buffet make you think of 10 plates of food? You don't have to try something of everything.

Yes I did exactly the same recently, the breakfast buffet was plentiful, we had paid a lot of money for it, we had a long train journey and didn’t know if there was a buffet car. I made some cheese and ham rolls up but did feel guilty… but contrary to what others are saying, they were delicious (maybe that’s the German bread for you, doesn’t go soggy). But I wouldn’t do it normally.

However, the hotel did provide takeaway cups for tea and coffee, and the waiter encouraged my DD to fill a takeaway cup with fruit juice to take away (to save money, he said)!

Eating out with my kids is a roysl
psin in the ass do on our lady uk stay I made sandwiches to have while out and about. I could have bought sandwiches but they wouldn’t have liked them

As I said though iv never done it so I don’t know why the need to be so rude especially as you have no idea of my hotel experiences.

A lot of people who have issues with sandwiches etc, you realise those bread rolls won't be put back out, and depending on the type of deli meats and cheese and how it's displayed, those won't be put out again, if you're staying in a hotel that has a European TO in anyway (British, Irish, French, German, Dutch etc) Do you happily eat the food thinking that the leftovers from each day that arent pre packaged, will be put out until they're gone, or showing visible mold?

I'd expect some on here are the kind of guests that would have gone upto reps and ask if they eat free or if their holiday money is covering the food 😂

I worked at a hotel breakfast as my first job and honestly I was more mortified at the amount of food that we throw in the bin after than someone sneaking an apple in their bag (sure we might notice and chuckle - but I would feel so bad at the massive tray of beans, bacon, bread that ended up in the bin).

My mum has no shame - I’m embarrassed when I go to hotels with her as she makes herself food for later. Very visibly.

I usually go up with a croissant and maybe a pot of yoghurt which is usually to get us through the next few hours with kids until we reach wherever we are going.

In the UK there is more shame around “take-away” whereas some cultures wouldn’t mind taking one or two items.

We do this. Make sandwiches for lunch if there are decent supplies. I wouldn't bother if it was a budget offer though. But somewhere that has nice meat and cheese and bread for a tasty sandwich. Staff never care.

I’m staying at the Hilton in Bristol next week (it was cheaper than premier inn I promise…) and they have always provided waxed containers and tubs, little card lunchboxes and paper bags to take fruit, yogurt etc - and I will happily help myself to a few things to nibble on as I sightsee and make up a travel cup of tea. They actively encourage it so I happily oblige. If they didn’t I think I’d still take a pastry or two to scoff as I set off into town.

Of course not! You have paid for breakfast. You haven’t paid for as many meals as you could carry away. Can you imagine trying to fill takeout containers from an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet? Wow.

I might possibly grab a piece of fruit, but sandwiches is absolutely CFery.

I stayed in a hotel in Disneyland Paris with breakfast included. Everyone was making sandwiches for lunch!!

Everything I hear about Disneyland Paris makes it sound a bloody miserable holiday 😄

@Meanwhile33

not everyone else was doing it and even if they were why would you want to be like them.

We stayed at an airport hotel recently and watched a pilot make 3 or 4 baguettes with scrambled egg, spinach, sausages and bacon from the buffet. No shame involved, was very open about it.

We were inspired to do the same and had a lovely bacon butty on the plane a few hours later. Much nicer (and cheaper) than the Tui offerings!

Everything I hear about Disneyland Paris makes it sound a bloody miserable holiday 😄

Over the years Ive had some lovely times there with my son who’s severely autistic. He’s 33 now and still asks to go but declining health means he can no longer travel.

But that said - it’s great breakfasts are no longer included in a hotel stay because the melees I witnessed at breakfasts the last time we were there were disgraceful. You couldn’t even get near the buffet the throng were so feral and people who had decided to stand back and let them get on with it had to ask staff for help getting breakfast.

I'll sometimes grab a muffin, yoghurt and a banana. Only when I'm not in the mood for breakfast so I'm not actually taking more.

@HunterHearstHelmsley if you haven’t seen a melee at a Disney hotel breakfast when people have their own containers to fill with food to top up on throughout the day you haven’t lived. 🙈

I take 2 mini Nutellas if they have them as a present for my kids.TBF I don't eat full english so I've usually paid the hotel £10 for a croissant banana and coffee.Bit I still would even if I did.

It would have been specifically baked into their pricing. I've stayed in a lot of Austrian hotels and they're either the way you describe, or they are very strictly the other way that if you're caught taking from the buffet, they'll add €20 pp (or whatever) to your bill. They'll all happily give you materials to make a packed lunch, it's just that some will make an explicit charge for it.

Unacceptable. Hotels cater for x amount of people having breakfast.

That can easily leave some guests without some of the breakfast items or none at all.

By all means go last and take what is left 2 min before end, anything else is greedy and selfish.