beachdreams

You can count my husband and I among the ones who bring in goodies into our hotel room. Again, it is not a cost factor for us either, although I can understand those that do not want to pay a fortune for breakfast. For me, I drink diet sprite and often. I can not have caffeine and actually hate coke/pepsi type beverages anyway. I havce rarely, if ever, seen diet coke in a vending machine.

Also, I am a huge addict of snacks on my vacation and really do not care to purchase those from a vending machine because a) they do not always have what I want, b) they are not always the freshest, c) sometimes I might want to snack on more than that bag offers (HA).

I am not the least bit bothered if someone stares. That same person may do something I find to be odd before the vacation is up so it will all equal out in the long run. Oddities are very subjective.

I dress up each and every work day in business suits. I also have to eat out and fine restaurants very often for business. Due to this, my ideal vacation requires little dressing up. When we eat out, I rarely eat at the hotel's restaurant, unless it is suppose to be fabulous. We usually opt for casual fare someone else. If on an island, we go to the local dive and eat.

Lori

This post is a riot As for me, we go to London every year (yes, I know this is a US forum) and we rent an apartment. It's a wonderful solution to eating in (and going out when you want). We always have breakfast in and an occasional dinner (easy to prepare stuff, altho we do have a full kitchen in the apt.). We've been to Hawaii about 14 times and always rent a condo. Again, it's convenience, as well as getting more room you can have a kitchen for breakfast and/or any other meals/snacks. We usually rent a nice ocean front condo and never feel deprived that it is not the Four Seasons!

On a few occasions we've stayed in 4-5 star hotels and do enjoy the breakfasts, even if they cost a small fortune. I think of it as part of the vacation, but if it is not for you jump in the car and head for Denny's or something. We just returned from Paris and stayed in a nice 4**** hotel, we had a good buffet breakfast every a.m. in the dining room, it was expensive but worth it. (the hotel also had coffee/tea maker in the room)

I have to agree with the poster who said maids in hotels have enough to contend with in most cases without cleaning up meals and leftovers, however if you are neat about it why not eat in your room.

As for someone staying in a luxury hotel that does not provide a coffee maker .. if it is that important I'd simply pack a small one and take it with me. That way you can have your tea/coffee on demand and not mess with room service.

When traveling I do like a room with a fridge, it comes in handy for snacks, etc. and if a trip a car one with one-nighters on the road a place like Hampton Inn fits the bill in most cases.

E

Well, thanks to dfo, this thread is not long for this world, so for what it's worth...we always bring one or two liter-size bottles of water with us to a hotel, to avoid drinking the tap water or subsisting on soda. No cooler, but we are often seen swinging a plastic grocery bag through the lobby, and I couldn't care less how it looks, however fancy the hotel may be. We also rarely eat dessert immediately following dinner, and so occasionally carry in a small take-out container from a restaurant with a treat for later in the evening. I'm not so insecure as to worry what others think of me, as long as I'm not inconveniencing anyone else. I feel that the only really relevant point in this thread is leaving food mess in the room for maids to contend with...as long as you tidy up after yourself as if there had never been food there in the first place, there's no problem.

Katherine

I personally think it depends on the type of vacation that you are going on ....
1) Family road trip where you stay in a La Quinta, Holiday Inn etc...those places do not serve food. Often we bring a cooler with various snacks. It is convenient and a way to have something to eat when you want it.

2) The vacation to relax - We stay at properties that are service oriented. We want to relax and will spend the money for the convenience of relaxing. Now even on these types of vacations I will still perhaps go to a store and get my favorite snack. Sometimes I get cravings for something the hotel does not serve or sell..so there it is very handy to have something that I like.
So even then a snack can come in handy when you get the munchies late at night...
I would not rule out the occasional room service..sometimes it is just nice to treat yourself.

ChristieP

Last year, I did a government contracting job that was 100% travel, and ALL my coworkers and I kept tons of food in our rooms! We'd even hire a cab, or give a generous tip to the bellman if he'd drive us in the hotel van, to the grocery store once a week to stock up! Even though we were on per diem, we still couldn't afford to eat the $12 hotel breakfast buffet every day, and there were many days when a pop tart and a banana were just fine.

Johanna1

I tend to agree with Katherine's post. It does depend on the kind of trip we're on. With budget-type trips, when we are staying at off-interstate motels or the like, we're definitely packing a cooler. With many motels, room access is from an outside breezeway, so no traipsing through lobbies is required. With nice hotels, we may still bring a cooler, but may leave it in the car and bring up enough stuff for the evening or day or whatever. I usually scout around for a side entrance too and will park as close to it as possible, whicht makes it easier to go back and forth from the car without attracting too much notice. Toting food bags or not, I hate crossing a fancy lobby if I'm not "dressed!"

theladyjess

My husband and I take along our own meal replacement bars and protein bars when we travel. We do this because we don't eat a lot of junk food and vending machines don't stock them. We also bring our own juice boxes, fresh fruit, and bottled water. We often travel in our car and it is just more convient that way. Also, neither one of us are big breakfast eaters.

When at a resturant with bread service I will ask for a loaf to go for snacking on in our room. Most resturants don't have a problem with this and I'm willing to pay extra for the bread.

J_Correa

I usually bring some snacks and beverages into my hotel room - I don't like to pay the marked up prices for stuff in the mini bar.

If we are on a car trip and staying in motels, then we always have a cooler stocked with food.

If we have flown to our destination and are staying in a city, I will buy some food at a local store, but usually not more than fits in a bag, maybe 2.

Cassandra

Perhaps people on the US board were unaware of Wes Fowler, who often posted on the Europe board with a great deal of information offered in an endlessly helpful, genial, and hospitable way. We lost him to a brain tumor earlier this year and there were hundreds of fond condolence posts from Fodorites in his honor. I would like to think he represents what is best about participation in these forums. Take note, dfotravels.

Scarlett

It would really be nice if some people did not attack each other here and I for one am really offended by anyone bringing Wes Fowlers name into this.
Maybe this thread should end now-since it has lost it's original pleasant and humorous tone.

buttercup

On one of our first trips to Chicago, we wanted to order pizza at a nice Michigan Ave hotel (we were traveling with an infant and didn't want to go out). We asked about it at the front desk. The clerk told us that people did it all the time, produced some menus for us to order from, and offered his own recommendations.

I think people probably worry too much about what others are thinking. I was worried we were being terribly tacky; it was nice to be assured we weren't.

LN

This may be construed as ridiculous but since we're all travellers I thought you might enjoy it as I did.

Olive Oyl - hope you're feeling better now.

DFO - life's too short - enjoy it!!





Author: wombat
Date: 02/21/2001, 04:23 pm
Message:

When I'm a Fodorite I shall wear black
With white sneakers which don't go, and don't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on souvenirs and rolls of film
And mini Eiffel Towers, and say I've no money for haggis.
I shall take off my Eccos when I'm tired
And gobble up space in the carry on bins and press my luck
And run my stick along the public transportation
And make up for not traveling in my youth.
I shall go out in my Burberry in the rain
And pick the pockets of Gypsy gangs
And learn Italian.

You can wear terrible shirts and hide them under blazers
And eat three pounds of pasta
Or only French bread and Le Big Maques for a week
And hoard soaps and napkins and matchbooks and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that dry fast
And pay our credit card bills and not sweat in coach class
And set a good example for children on long flights.
We must have friends to dinner and share our pictures.

But maybe I ought to practice my Italian now?
So fellow travelers are not too shocked or surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear crispy pink running suits.

Cassandra

Scarlett, I apologize if my mention of Wes offended you, and perhaps it was indeed a degredation to mention him in the context of this particular thread. When I posted, I had just reread one of the Europe threads devoted to him and was wistful for the tone. The contrast between that and some of the language here and vitriol here was just too striking, but you're right, it was probably a bit tasteless to invoke him, personally. And I agree, this thread needs to be edited or to disappear.