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$18.00 continental breakfast


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My wife, Godzilla, and I spent our holiday in London this Spring for our first time in England. We stayed in a three star hotel and could not believe the prices for food.

A continental breakfast, featuring bologna, bread, dry cereal, cheese, some fruit, cofee and tea was $18.00. If you also wanted eggs and ham/sausage the price was $23.00 per person.

Why?

Martinis don't come from vodka and bacon don't come from turkeys!

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Times are tough and hotels (and other operations) either can't put up their prices or have to discount heavily to attract custom. This means you can get some very eye catching headline rates through your discount broker of choice. But on that the hotel is making no money. So the easiest place to insert the profit is at breakfast, the customer is almost captive unless they want to get fully prepared for the street just to go and get a coffee and carb infusion. In the evening it's much easier to find alternative eating arrangements, so breakfast gets the price hike. It's not quite as bad as the car rental business where your $20/day headline rental ends up costing more like $80 when you've added the assorted insurances, waivers, fees etc., but that's a different story.

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Hotel Breakfasts have to be the most over priced eating experience there is, as a rule you are talking High volume (So it should be reasonably priced), low quality and high price. I don't know how many people actually pay separately for breakfast though, Hotels are nearly always on a B&B basis. I can't imagine anyone having breakfast who isn't stopping there.

Also, a huge amount of the trade in 3-star accomodation in London must be corporate. And if the companies paying, who cares? (Same thing that drives up air fares).

I love animals.

They are delicious.

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It's not quite as bad as the car rental business where your $20/day headline rental ends up costing more like $80 when you've added the assorted insurances, waivers, fees etc., but that's a different story.

It's off-subject Britcook but speaking as an ex-manager for Holiday Autos this is not so true now. At HA our policy was always no extra surcharges.

Good explanation of high breakfast charges though.

:smile:

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Most of the time you're forced to take breakfast (it's included in the price). But in London, given the choice, I'd almost always go somewhere other than the hotel.

Simpsons in the Strand for traditional full English, Charlotte St Hotel for fantastic American breakfasts (wonderful pancakes, french toast, etc), or for a cheap bite either a greasy spoon (traditional cafe) for a bacon sandwich and cuppa, or coffe bar for croissant and froth-coff.

Some of the poshest hotels do good breakfasts, but they cost a fortune. But I can't imagine anyone would choose to go to 3star hotel for breakfast, unless they were staying there.

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Bologna.....aka baloney.

It was a luncheon meat that tasted just like baloney. Why? I don't know.

Martinis don't come from vodka and bacon don't come from turkeys!

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