pinniped

An "accessory to poaching".

There is one Marriott that I visit frequently that has both a C-lounge and the unique feature that the T4B (two for breakfast) rate is the lowest publicly-available rate in their system. ($20 lower than the breakfastless rate.) Since I prefer spending 5 minutes in the lounge over a half-hour in the restaurant, I always try to give the breakfast buffet certs away to other guests.

dankyone

I stayed at the London Hilton Park Lane last year on the executive floor and had lounge access. The evening service featured much better than average lounge appetizers and free pour (Intl F style) beverages.

Guests were asked to sign in and indicate the number of guests. The second evening I invited a friend living in London to join me, and I signed in for 2 guests.

During our (boozy) stay, I overheard a man arguing with the lounge attendant over the GBP 30 (!) guest fee. I feared that I would be hit with the nearly $60 fee, but nothing appeared on my own bill at checkout.

Perhaps 2 guests per room would be considered standard and exempt from the outrageous additional charge. After paying GBP 25 for internet access at this hotel, however, I didn´t really feel guilty about overusing the lounge.

Tony_B

If they want it they can have mine! (I hate hotel buffets)

WillTravel

I'm surprised by all the people who don't like breakfast buffets. I've had great breakfast buffets at European hotels, or maybe I'm just not that discriminating. I can't think of any great breakfast buffet in a US or Canadian hotel, though. From way back, it was an interesting point about the relative deductibility of lodging vs. meals and the sometime-benefit of including complimentary meals with the lodging expense.

Has anyone been wrongly charged for breakfast? I've read many such cases.

tjl

Ordered breakfast is better. However, included buffet breakfast is faster if you are on a tight schedule (or want to maximize sleeping time).

Pizzaman

I worked at a luxury hotel in Northern Virginia for a few years. They built a retirement community not far from the hotel (just a short walk down a wooded path).

The hotel was a conference center that catered to Fortune 500 companies and other big money clients. The conference wing offered breakfast kiosks for the guests as well as lunch and afternoon snacks.

The retired folk would walk through the woods and into the conference center and "graze" on the kiosks. This was made even more humorous by the fact that the only way into the conference wing was through an exit door locked to the outside. The door was used by conference guests who needed to step outside for a cigarette. The retired folk would wait until a smoker came out and sneak in for a quick bite.

bbbb

One time at the San Diego DT Embassy Suites I was talking to three young guys at the nightly managers reception. I asked how long they were staying and they told me they lived in the condos behind the hotel and come over for drinks every night. They said they always leave a nice tip to avoid needing a room card.

echyde

I've been "poached' myself at a Starwood Property in Stuttgart, Germany. Breakfast was included with our rate, yet the system for checking relied too much on an honor system. We went to the restaurant to eat breakfast, and they asked us our room number. I was a bit miffed when they insisted that we'd already eaten (apparently someone lied and used our room number). Even though we protested, they insisted that we would have to pay for two new breakfast meals. Well, we let them charge it to our room, and then I disputed it at the front desk. Why the hell would we want four breakfasts? Besides, the original charges were from like 6:30, and I haven't been awake and showered at that hour in years.

mitchell

In Las Vegas, some of the high-rollers areas have free buffets waaay inside, where most people can't see. No need to be an actual high-roller betting $250-500+ per hand... or to use comp points.

Some London casinos have free dinner buffets.

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But back on topic...

I've poached a drink or snack at neighboring conventions, when my convention had much worse food service...but felt pretty guilty doing it...so I stopped.

Most hotel complimentary breakfasts in the US are pretty lame. Sometimes I just give the breakfast tickets away. One of the Hampton's in Las Vegas had a very nice spread though, and they didn't seem to check. Many miles away from the strip though.

Many times I've offered to pay...and been given free service anyways. The non-guilty approach to poaching. :-)

SmilingBoy

We had this problem at the Hilton Sandton in Johannesburg. We were a larger group, and had breakfast included in the rate. Nevertheless, after breakfast you had to go to the till, they would then print out the receipt on a slow printer and then you had to put your room number, name and signature. With 20 people leaving at the same time, the last one often would have to wait for 5-10 minutes. So we resorted to one person signing the bill for all people. The problem was, when it came to pay, these would all appear on the bill as only one breakfast would be included per room. I think we got it sorted out in the end. It was a very nice breakfast by the way (like most breakfast buffets in South Africa), only the payment system was poorly designed.

SmilingBoy.

Athena53

At least the Hilton Toronto posted their guest fee- and it wasn't that bad.

Like WillTravel, I've had some good breakfast buffets in Europe- the Hilton Am Park in Munich had a particularly nice one. But they're rarely worth the "sticker price". I think in Munich it was close to $30. There's also a good one in the US at the Rye Town Hilton. In general, though, I wouldn't pay the asking price but do enjoy them free as a Gold HHonors member.

deubster

I confess, though I'm not sure if this qualifies, as the meal was poached from a conference, not a hotel. I get by on lots less sleep than Mrs. Deubster, so on vacation in Boston last year while she slept in the early mornings, I'd take my laptop to the mezzanine of the hotel - nice sofas, excellent free wireless reception - and catch up on emails, plan the day, etc. On the next to last day there was a conference, financial planners IIRC, and I chatted it up with several workers setting up display & admissions tables. When the buffet tables were set up, I joined them - seemed natural as we were still in an engaging conversation.

kanebear

...as with quite a bit of the infrastructure in South Africa.

SEAUAKID

Okay. You read it here first. I will now confess to being to a breakfast poacher. When I stayed in the Barclay in NYC last year, I would go down every single morning and stroll into the breakfast area. Once there, I would peruse the croissants and muffins, grab a few, and just hang out. Not sitting down, mind you, but hanging around. Nobody even looked up, and the staff were always so busy they didn't notice. This went on for about 4 days. Then I fled New York.

the end.

pinniped

Heck, as long as they thought the had a chance of hawking you some mutual funds, they were probably happy to feed you breakfast! You should've asked them where their after-conference happy hour was being held.