That will cost me HOW much???

[pen_grunt]

I usually exaggerate (well, okay, round up) the prices on travel food. My point has always been: when traveling, food is expensive because you're at the mercy of what's available. Typically I shrug this off and chalk it up to a rare splurge of necessity. This hotel, however, has upped the ante on overpriced food.

We're given $60/day per diems to pay for food and drinks. This seems like a lot at first blush (I mean, who normally eats $60 of food a day?), and on a trip to a normal hotel/location it would be more than enough: ~$12 for breakfast (buffet), ~$7 for lunch, and ~$30 for a nice dinner--sometimes more, sometimes less.

I blew a full half of my per diem before 9 am this morning. The breakfast buffet was $27. Considering ordering the items I wanted alone (some fruit, a little scoop of eggs and maybe a slice or two of bacon) would have cost me approx. $36, I broke down and vowed to stuff myself as full as possible just to get my money's worth. The sad part about it is that the food wasn't even above standard hotel fare in taste or quality. For $27, it better be spectacular--and it wasn't.

In-room service is even more ridiculous. I could order a bowl of oatmeal (yes, just oatmeal):

$9.50 Oatmeal
$3.50 Delivery Charge
22% Automatic Gratuity
---------------------------------
$15.86...for plain oatmeal

A HALF of a grapefruit is $7.50.
Funny thing is, there's a grapefruit tree outside my room (along with a fig and an orange tree), and the resort encourages guests to pick the fruit so it doesn't rot on the tree.

I just saved myself $22.57 by dragging a chair over to the tree and climbing it to get a grapefruit. No room #244, I wasn't trying to look in your windows, I was being thrifty.

I've also taken to swiping the complimentary apples in the lobby whenever I walk by.

It's a good thing I like fruit.

Comments

[sarcasma.livejournal.com]

Holy crap! Those are some brutal hotel prices. Are you in an area where there's a chance of a cheap cafe or diner nearby?

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

There's nothing terribly close. Alas, we have the means (a van with no seats--driven by our voice guy) to go, but not the opportunity/time to seek out alternate eating options.

[irishsbuffy.livejournal.com]

$16 dollars for oatmeal?????

This comes with a hot male model to feed it to you while his friend is massaging your feet right?

Outrageous