alt Hacker NewsIf hotels do a virtual buffet and other nonsense I'll just opt out and grab some bits from a local supermarket, which I imagine is what they really would like - to eliminate breakfast entirely.
Just like making room service opt in - they can claim it's available but obviously a lot of people just don't bother because they pick up on the signal from the hotel that they don't want to do it
Personally I've never seen wasteful people at breakfast buffets in the UK. Greedy yes but not plates of unfinished food.
It's also good to remember how much breakfast regularly costs now. £15-20 is quite common at mid range places - £10 of yesteryear is exceedingly rare
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> It's also good to remember how much breakfast regularly costs now. £15-20 is quite common at mid range places - £10 of yesteryear is exceedingly rare
There exist hotels where breakfast is still very cheap (but the rooms are accordingly more expensive). The reason is that business travelers, the budgets for meals are really tight (you have to pay anything above by yourself), but the maximum allowed costs for hotel rooms are typically much less tight.
To accommodate such business travelers (though these are not the only guests), the hotel makes the breakfast really cheap, but the room accordingly more expensive (but still within the typical budget of business travelers), so that such customers can deduct more travel expenses to the employer.
They did a "virtual" buffet to model behavior, nobody said anything about hotels "doing a virtual buffet"?
When I traveled to Spain, I had a layover in London on the way in and the way out. So I had a bit of time to sample the local cuisine.
Straight off the plane at Gatwick, I boarded a train into London, and ended up at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, which was some kind of import from New Zealand and had some decent grub.
On the way home I had an overnight layover, and I stayed in a rather nice hotel in Westminster. The staff was Eastern European Slavs. I asked about places to eat, and it turned out that the entire street offered restaurants, so I grabbed some fish & chips and a ginger beer, and some fruit from a convenience store.
In the morning, the hotel offered a "continental breakfast" as we call it in the States, so it was complimentary and basically all-you-can-eat.
It featured delicious fare and was quite satisfying. There was melon and cereal and milk to drink and tea. I was happy with that and it was a a good send-off before the airport. I am very thankful for meals like that, which are included in the cost of the hotel room, because it definitely saves time and expenses from going to find a restaurant.