zzap

I rarely consume soda at breakfast time, but occasionally after a big night I have a craving for a Sprite or 7up during my breakfast. On these occasions, whenever I order a soda at the buffet breakfast at Starwood properties, they have always attempted to charge the soda back to my room. This has happened across continents (Middle East & Asia) and hotel brands (Sheraton & Westin).

This morning I was physically stopped from grabbing a Sprite out of a fridge at a Westin in Taipei, and was lectured on how soda is not a part of the offerings at the breakfast and I will be charged if I take it. I, of course, politely and succinctly articulated how ridiculous a notion it is that I can go up two floors to the Westin Executive Club and grab a Sprite for free and bring it back down to the breakfast, but to take it out of the fridge directly at the breakfast I would be stung with a room charge.

I don't fully understand the logic behind this move. I don't have any experience in hotel operations, but to me it just seems really stupid. Does anyone have an insight into why I can get free sodas if I have breakfast in the lounge, but it costs so much more for the property to offer this at the restaurant breakfast? Am I to pre-emptively go to the lounge breakfast purely to grab a soda prior to heading down to the restaurant breakfast going forward?

Maybe this is SPG's way of telling me I shouldn't be drinking a soda prior to 10:00 (or 10:30 on weekends at most properties )? Thoughts appreciated.

clublounger

The experience and the food offerings in the lounge are different from the restaurant's breakfast buffet.

Not everyone in the restaurant is entitled to go to the lounge. A nightmare for the restaurant staff to have to cross-check each soda grabber.

You're being self-absorbed to think that exceptions should be made for you, because you're too lazy to fetch the soda from where you are entitled to one.

This isn't SPG's way of telling you anything. Any hotel chain that offers both a lounge and restaurant option to certain guests would not have time for such silliness.

zzap

The last part was tongue-in-cheek.

I understand the food offerings different between the lounge and the restaurant's breakfast buffet. Why not just comp the sodas at breakfast? I can't imagine too many people would be consuming these. It's frustrating for guests to trundle from the restaurant breakfast up to the lounge to grab a soda and then back down to the restaurant breakfast again.

jerry305

If you're wondering why they haven't come up with a special rule for this instance, I think you've answered your own question.

justforfun

I always like a soda with breakfast. I've encountered so many issues around the globe with this simple task, that now I just bring my own. I have no problem paying for one, but often at breakfast many hotels aren't even equipped to serve one.

KENNECTED

I find your actions rude and "entitled". You had no right to GRAB anything. The restaurant is not the Executive Lounge. You arguing with a staff member, no matter how polite you say you were, is wrong. If you wanted a sprite, for free/no charge, you should have gone to the lounge. PERIOD.

Perhaps if you had explained the situation prior to grabbing a soda, the staff may have been understanding.

zzap

Perhaps it's my Australian lexicon. What I meant to express was that there was a fridge in a section of the buffet breakfast area containing sodas and so, like any other items at a buffet, I selected a beverage from it. It's not like I went behind the bar and helped myself.

PayItForward

I know of lots of restaurants that have a strict no outside food / drinks policy especially if it is something they sell / charge in the restaurant.

@zzap, something else to consider. A Plat / Club room guest has unlimited access to the Club lounge for drinks. That does not translate to the ability to walk into the hotel restaurant during lunch for just a coffee which you can also have it free at the lounge.

justforfun

Very true. But my experience has been that hotel breakfast buffets are pretty lax about it, especially since soda is usually not offered.

gengar

Um, at a buffet in Taiwan, you can pretty much assume anything behind the register is fair game unless a sign indicates otherwise. Taiwanese take their buffets very seriously so there is usually a ton of variety, and Taiwanese tend not to segment breakfast/lunch/dinner nearly as much as some Western cultures, so don't assume that traditional Western notions apply at all to the types of food/drink that you'll have available at different times of day.

I'm really surprised at the OP's story because I've never seen or heard anything like it in Taiwan. Sometimes at breakfast, Taiwan buffets will not have the ice cream section open, but it'll be clearly marked as such or draped in a cover or something like that. No reason to yell at a customer just because they took something off a buffet that wasn't covered / signed as not for consumption.

travelswithmyself

Actually in the lounges I've been in there is usually a sign which says "all beverages and food are meant to be consumed in the lounge" or the equivalent. Whether it's enforced isn't the point; the providing of free soft drinks is something specific to the lounge.

Most "main restaurant" breakfast buffets do not include soft drinks - at least the ones I've been in. Milk, juices, smoothies etc yes, but not soft drinks. So if you want the full buffet breakfast spread, then you forgo the soft drinks you would have gotten had you had your breakfast in the lounge. If you want the soft drinks, then you have to have the more limited breakfast spread in the lounge.

I do agree they should have just put a cloth over the 'fridge.

miamiflyer8

I've heard service is friendly in the ME and Asia and breakfasts are usually very good so I'm also amazed that soda ain't free.

In my book a complimentary soda is a reasonable expectation along with your breakfast.

SHLTP

Huh? For same reason plats can't raid the minibar... I am not a fan of Westin Taipei service but in this case they are right. Club lounge benefits are for, let's repeat, for while one is in Lounge. Some places nicely let guests take stuff out but how does that equate w grabbing sodas from a separate restaurant??!!

MSPeconomist

I would expect a breakfast buffet in a *good* hotel to be willing to provide a soda in place of coffee or tea at breakfast for no additional cost, but if one is asking for the soda in addition to the usual breakfast beverage, I would expect to be charged the standard restaurant price (not the room service price).

Grog

If you make the argument for sodas, the next person will make the argument for beer and wine. If they make the argument for beer and wine, the next person will make the argument for rum and gin.

What if the craving was for premium nuts at lunchtime? or for hors d'oeuvres at dinnertime in the restaurant?

I agree with the assessment of your actions being a bit rude and fully entitled. You admitted from the start that you've universally been charged for sodas at breakfast. But, knowing this, you still tried to sneak one instead of asking (admit it to yourself, you did) and got busted. Most of us have done similar at some point, and it hurts to get busted. But, while that's an ego bruiser, it should be considered a wake-up call (to either wake up to or to just tap snooze to) rather than a reason to argue with hotel employees.

You ask, "Am I to pre-emptively go to the lounge breakfast purely to grab a soda prior to heading down to the restaurant breakfast going forward?" Yes, if you drink it in the lounge, too. Otherwise you're just asking for the next conflict situation.

As previously mentioned, asking kindly may have gotten you somewhere.