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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Travel
Rita Sobot & Andy Rudd

Holiday hotel breakfast buffet rules - picnic-sized portions and no sharing ketchup

The days of the hotel breakfast buffet look to be over with picnic-sized portions for the post-coronavirus era.

Gone are the days of helping yourself to mountains of food and returning time and time again for top-ups.

Guests won't be able to lean over counters to get their portions or pile their plates high with puds.

And there won't be the usual stampede to get to the buffet first either.

VisitBritain's director of strategy and communications Patricia Yates said holidays will "look very different".

She told BBC Breakfast: "I love hotel buffet breakfasts - they are a thing of the past.

"And hotels will have to have social distancing so they won't be opening at full occupancy and businesses will have to look at the sort of services they provide and really pruning those down to make sure that the infection control, that the cleansing regime is right and that they can have social distancing.

"Be prepared for some things not to look quite as you normally expect them."

Jonathan Smith, from the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta), said things like eateries only offering table service and new rules on flights will be different, but they should make the experience "safe and enjoyable".

At the Madrid Marriott Auditorium there will be direction markers so that diners follow a set path, rather than deviate from one counter to the other (Madrid Marriott Auditorium)

He told the same programme: "It's very likely that people's holiday experience won't be the same as they had expected.

"There'll certainly be rules in place around airports and on airplanes, and if they're going on a package holiday there might be changes around buffet-style restaurant systems and there'll be table service in place so there will be slight changes in place, but it's all about making sure that the holiday experience is safe and enjoyable."

One of Spains' leading hotel chains has revealed its safety measures.

The food will be served by chefs wearing masks and will be in ready-prepared "picnic" portions (Madrid Marriott Auditorium)

Everything will need to be sterile , protective screens have been installed and there won't be bottles of tomato sauce or vinegar to share.

The Madrid Marriott Auditorium hotel, due to open in September, has taken the wraps off the new-look buffet restaurant where customers will be "nurtured" to ensure the greatest possible safety against coronavirus.

Social distancing will play a major role and huge spots have been marked out on the floor where guests will have to wait until it is their turn to get to the food stations.

Throughout all of its hotels, the chain has brought in experts to design and implement hundreds of new measures to ensure the safety of guests (Madrid Marriott Auditorium)

There are also direction markers so that diners follow a set path, rather than deviate from one counter to the other.

The food will be served by chefs wearing masks and will be in ready-prepared "picnic" portions.

This will cut out unnecessary handling and any possible cross-contamination.

"People are thinking of travelling in a different way. Us too. So we have raised our rigorous and demanding standards to create a new normal, ” said a Marriott spokesperson.

Throughout all of its hotels, the chain has brought in experts to design and implement hundreds of new measures to ensure the safety of guests.

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