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'?

At an all inclusive hotel in Turkey a couple filled a rucksack at breakfast with many made up rolls, apples, bananas, cakes and pastries etc. The staff stopped them on the way out and made them take it all out. It was pure greed, there’s no need for it at all.
If you eat a good breakfast there’s no need to fill right up again at lunch, just buy a sandwich if you’re outside the hotel.

It depends on the hotel and what their policy is. We stayed at a nice chain one with work earlier this year and they came
round and offered boxes to take some snacks for later away with us. Hotel in the same chain we stayed at regularly I would go back to my room to find a plate with small cakes or fresh fruit and a note saying to enjoy my stay/to let them know if I needed any of the various services every couple of days. They were always offering takeaway cups for a coffee to go at end of breakfast.
If people are openly packing up stuff for later/being handed containers by the staff it’s clearly fine. If they are sneaking stuff into bags under the table it’s probably not really but I can’t get overly worked up about it.

When I was a rep, I'd actively encourage people to make themselves a packed lunch from the breakfast buffet, esp those who I knew were on a tight budget. Hell, I'd even give them ideas, and when I was in the 4* flagship hotel, the receptionists would join in and give people sandwich ideas 😂 no one cares, a lot of the food would just be wasted anyway.

Iv never done it but as someone who doesn’t eat meat and hates most components of a cooked breakfast if the continental bit is crap iv found myself having only a couple of slices of toast and maybe a mini croissant for breakfast I do sometimes think I should take some stuff to make it feel like iv got my money’s worth!

I might pinch an apple or muffin for a snack but not a full on lunch and would feel a bit guilty

I would take the jam outs but because they are handy at work

I used to travel for work public sector and our entire food and drink budget for a 24 hour period was £20.40 , (this was only about 5 years ago) we had hotel breakfast and were often away Monday to Friday, lunch was basically whatever we took from the buffet so we had some money left for a soft drink or coffee during the day while working (not provided anything other than tap water) and enough to pay for a dinner that wasn't a McDonald's. I would take fruit, a yoghurt, a roll, maybe some cheese or something spreadable, sometimes a pastry and we'd always fill up our travel mugs with coffee before leaving. I would usually have fruit and yogurt, or porridge or a boiled egg and toast for breakfast itself and the breakfast was charged at about £14 so I didn't think I was being cheeky.

It’s really scratchy to do this.

With sandwiches you didn’t pay for.

No.
I unfortunately (prior to treatment), used to get very unwell between about 20-45 minutes after breakfast.
I used to go into hotels to use the facilities - because I have (a now diagnosed) serious bowel condition. This would take some time.
My DH was a bit CF and used to inveigle his way into the hotel breakfast room.

@OfficerChurlish we experienced this in the USA with Marriott in New Jersey with a band and they actually wrote a song and named an album about it called 'the unauthorised breakfast item'

@Cangar @AnnieMcFanny This is exactly the reason why breakfast is no longer included in the price of the hotels at Disneyland Paris. So it now costs even more money and there are extra staff in the hotel breakfast buffets watching out for this.

IMO taking stuff for later is rude. I have a 3 year old DS so occasionally if he’s picked a piece of fruit/pastry/muffin etc that he doesn’t eat but is already on his plate then I’ll maybe take it for later. But I wouldn’t take food with the intention of saving it for later.

I'm not sure he actually has any, since that's the least masculine thing I've ever heard.

Really?

@TheTripThatWasnt That's because Scandinavia is so expensive perhaps? We did the same in Sweden. Huge breakfast offered, took a few bits for lunch to save some money!

If a hotel offers cake for breakfast, I'd take some. I would never have cake for breakfast, but would happily have some with a cuppa in my room later in the day!

@littleoldme3 I was just going to reply the exact same thing about Disney.

Definitely no staff looking out at the hotel - I was there really recently. And yes breakfast not included, I paid extra.

You must stay at crap hotels if you can only eat toast and a mini croissant. As a 30 year frequent traveller I have yet to see a single hotel who would only serve those two things you would be able to eat.

Your money’s worth is just entitled bs.

Not exactly - mostly cava and Prosecco based. We'd already had breakfast.
And I wasn't 'taking a shit'. Look up IBD. I could be in there unto 40 minutes trying to sort myself out

I live in an Asian country where many people come for holidays and I also stay in hotels frequently (few days every 2 months). I have never seen this happen at any of the buffets and I can’t imagine the hotels being okay with it either.

There are quite a few hotels at DP..

True! I can’t see why some would be on watch out duty and some not though. I was discrete and was taking hardly anything but there were people making up piles of sandwiches in full view.

Absolutely, in one of the massive buffet places I take lunch. Bread, some ham or something, yogurt, fruit and cake. I could eat it at breakfast. I choose to eat it at lunch. So sue me.

Problem with buffet breakfasts is that you need to get there early to have a chance of eating anything. You can't sleep in because if you get there in the last hour, there's nothing left.

I stayed at a Premier inn & witnessed a family making rounds of sandwiches for their lunch later. They finished the remaining bread, muffins & croissants and took fruit & 6 yogurts for later. They didn't leave much for anybody else and the staff didn't top up while the family were still in the dining room.

This was extremely selfish behaviour, we had to wait until they left before the breakfast items were replenished by staff.

This seems to be the second thread recently where people have shown that they feel they are entitled to things they are not, ‘because they have paid for it’.
The other thread was about people sneaking in additional children to a hotel room.Oblivious ( or just don’t care?) to the fact that hotel costs are based around things like insurance, and countless other costs. The main thought seemed to be either entitlement or ‘it doesn’t matter because they won’t know’. Depressing how people try to justify theft to themselves so casually.

Hmmmm depends. If its already things we have brought to the table and was unable to finish, then yes I would take it with me.

Also, if it's perishable food and ghene end of the buffet, things that will be thrown away. Then I don't seen anything wrong with it.

Things like jam and yogurt pits etc I wouldn't as they can be put back out.