re: Hotel buffets at the moment

ShineOn7

Has anyone experienced hotel buffets on recent travels abroad? Breakfast buffets, dinner ones etc

I'd imagine they're breeding grounds for Covid (hands all over the fruit etc) and that sensible hotels have paused them for now?

Or, if they're still running and you've experienced one, what's changed?

Thanks

average_runner

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Has anyone experienced hotel buffets on recent travels abroad? Breakfast buffets, dinner ones etc

I'd imagine they're breeding grounds for Covid (hands all over the fruit etc) and that sensible hotels have paused them for now?

Or, if they're still running and you've experienced one, what's changed?

Thanks

I was in an Irish hotel last week and we had a breakfast buffet. Perfectly controlled, one way around, staff to hand you the food you want.

woodchuck

I stayed in a few B&Bs last month that would usually have breakfast buffets. Instead it was table service. It was fine though, they give you a menu (laminated so it can be disinfected between use) and you can order as much as you want. You just have to get over feeling like a complete glutton for ordering cereal AND fruit AND scones AND a full Irish :P

kapisko1PL

I travel abroad every week due to work, let it be Italy or the UK.

UK Novotel Stansted Hotel: buffet used to be there which was quite good actually but what they do now is they have the tables spaced out miles apart and give you a menu from which you order your breakfast. You have to stay at our table.

Italy Bergamo Hotel Orio al Serio (airport): The cheff guards the buffet like Gandalf and you can approach him and ask him to put anything you like on a plate. But you can move about a bit more freely.

Tenzor07

Stayed at a hotel in Heraklion, they call you to the buffet area and someone hands you a plate and you point at what you want and they put it on your plate, 1 room/person at a time...

NutmegGirl

Same as Average Runner
In an Irish hotel last week, both table service for a la carte breakfast/tea/coffee and a buffet behind Perspex for everything else where you asked for what you wanted
A one way system around the room
Customer touched nothing except the plate when it was handed to you
Queuing was social distanced but it was never that busy as I think they’d extended breakfast hours a lot , had to book your slot in advance of your stay, that was the only tedious part as we had to decide the week in advance what time we were going to eat breakfast each day
Staff all wore visors, lots of sanitiser
Worked well

Seamai

woodchuck wrote: »

I stayed in a few B&Bs last month that would usually have breakfast buffets. Instead it was table service. It was fine though, they give you a menu (laminated so it can be disinfected between use) and you can order as much as you want. You just have to get over feeling like a complete glutton for ordering cereal AND fruit AND scones AND a full Irish :P

I was in a place a few week where the buffet was replaced by table service which is fine as I'm always forgetting things at the buffet so I'm up and down like a yo yo. The first morning I felt like a right pig, when asking for what seemed like everything and then the full Irish on top of it.

harr

No experience of hotels over seas but have been in a number of Irish hotels and traditional buffet is gone.
It was table service or a staff member at a counter hading out your plated breakfast. All managed fine , the only thing I missed were the supplies of mini pastries which were brought to the table and I only got two.

finbarrk

Fitzsimons Hotel in Waterford had a breakfast buffet, well organised. You had your time booked.

acquiescefc

Was in Athens this weekend
Hotel basically had a menu of 3 or 4 'dishes' you ordered, fry up, porridge, fruit plate, croissants.
You ordered what/how you wanted and they brought it to you. Very safe, even had a lifeguard if you fell in the pool.

Eggs For Dinner

Seafield in Gorey always had a decent buffet. Couple of weeks ago it was table service only and scabby portions. Charged extra for pancakes an cappuccino. Very slow too.
Whole experience there no longer worth the price

grimm2005

Was in Kilkenny at the start of the month and hotel I was in had the usual buffet style but staff handed you what you asked for as you went along the line, also you had to book a time slot for breakfast rather than get up whenever you feel before it ends. Worked perfectly well but booking in a hard time slot was a bit annoying, particularly when we checked in all that was available the next day was 8am which was just a bit early for us as we like a sleep in when on hols!

scrumqueen

woodchuck wrote: »

I stayed in a few B&Bs last month that would usually have breakfast buffets. Instead it was table service. It was fine though, they give you a menu (laminated so it can be disinfected between use) and you can order as much as you want. You just have to get over feeling like a complete glutton for ordering cereal AND fruit AND scones AND a full Irish :P

Same here, stayed in Irish hotel few weeks back, no booking time for breakfast, rocked up whenever and had full table service from a menu.

Caranica

Stayed in Kilkenny last month. Got a call 5 days before arrival to book breakfast times. Table service bar cereals (individual boxes), juices/milk (individual glass bottles), fruit (individually bagged) and pastries (paper bags with mini pastries).

Would have been great if they hadn't lost our order on the first day and left us waiting almost an hour for food.

woodchuck

scrumqueen wrote: »

Same here, stayed in Irish hotel few weeks back, no booking time for breakfast, rocked up whenever and had full table service from a menu.

Yeah we were lucky that the places we stayed didn't insist on a time slot for breakfast. We went a week after hotels were reopening though, so they were still quiet enough. And I have to say, it was nice having table service instead of jumping up and down and queuing at a buffet!

Space Dog

We stayed in a hotel in Letterkenny and buffet was business as BC (Before Covid), everyone touching all utensils, juice pitchers, milk jugs, tongs, bread naskets. I didn't see many people sanitizing their hands (I sanitized my hands and used gloves as well as a napkin to touch stuff). It really put me off. We only stayed two nights and only had breakfast there the first morning, didn't go back on our last day.

ShineOn7

Space Dog wrote: »

We stayed in a hotel in Letterkenny and buffet was business as BC (Before Covid), everyone touching all utensils, juice pitchers, milk jugs, tongs, bread baskets. I didn't see many people sanitizing their hands

Fcuk that!

All of that is exactly the opposite of how things should be done by hotels now