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What's really behind the rulesHotel breakfast: Are you allowed to secretly pack food for yourself?
Taking small snacks with you at breakfast to take with you on the go is usually against the hotel's rules.
picture alliance / dpa topic service / Christin Klose
Fortify yourself at the buffet and stock up for the day – paid is paid, right? What a travel law expert thinks about it.
Quickly pack a roll or an apple: Have you ever done that at a hotel breakfast? What is common practice for some vacationers usually violates the hotel's rules, which are set out in the house rules or in the accommodation's terms and conditions.
As a rule, only the consumption of breakfast on site during breakfast times is booked, explains travel law expert Karolina Wojtal from the European Consumer Center. Some notices in the breakfast room pointed this out.
However, according to the consumer advocate, hotels often turn a blind eye to small quantities – if you take an apple with you, for example. However, for larger quantities, additional fees may be required. In extreme cases there is even a risk of being banned from the house.
For holidaymakers, this means: If they are caught and warned about taking provisions, they should take it seriously – and not do it again. Ideally, of course, you stick to the rules of the house from the start.
Keyword: take things with you. Towels in the hotel room are the property of the hotel. Likewise, slippers and bathrobes if they are provided. According to Wojtal, anyone who finds them so beautiful that they take them home without asking is committing theft.
In principle, you are not allowed to take anything with you from the hotel room – because everything in it belongs to the hotel. Of course, the guest has the opportunity to use things provided by the hotel, for example soap. And if there are shrink-wrapped bathing shoes in the room, you can take them with you after your stay – if you use them, they cannot be made available to any other guest. But if, for example, there is a large dispenser with liquid soap hanging in the bathroom, you cannot take it with you. It belongs to the hotel. The situation is different if, for example, care products in the bathroom are marked accordingly so that you can take them with you.
If in doubt, you should simply do what is always appropriate in such cases: ask politely whether take-away is permitted. Maybe the hotel slippers can then end up in your suitcase without any worries.
Sources used: awi/dpa
