ESPECIALROB

First, I hope this is the correct place to start this thread...has anyone ever witnessed a non-guest of a hotel walking in and helping themself to that hotel's free breakfast buffet?

Once I did witness and knew for a fact that this man doing so was not a guest of the hotel. It was in Orlando, and I was attending a convention there, and knew the man in question was not staying in my hotel, as he was staying at the one next door. I did not say anything to the hotel, as this man was a competitor of mine, and saw me there, and surely would have known who blew the whistle, so I let it go.

I personally would never do such a thing, as its certainly stealing, but it amazes me to watch people I suspect do this, and wonder where they get the cojones to do such a thing.

Of course, such breakfast poaching occurs mainly at middle to lower end properties, like Hampton Inns, Holiday Inn Express, La Quinta, etc. I was staying at a Hampton Inn with regard to the Orlando poaching I mentioned. I've never been challenged at any of these types of hotels when arriving for these self-serve buffets.

A few weeks ago, I stayed at an Amerisuites (soon to be Hyatt Place), and witnessed what I highly suspected were poachers, and these folks really took advantage with their second and third helpings!

On a similar note, I once stayed at a Hyatt Regency with several of my co-workers, one of whom received a complimentary upgrade to the Regency Club Level. He invited everyone (including myself) to join him in the RC lounge in each morning, to take advantage of the free breakfast. I declined, but everyone else accepted, as I thought to do so was tacky, since I'm not on the RC level.

Anyone else witness similar situations? Ever see anyone get busted?