A guest at the Hyatt Regency Tulsa Downtown says a family of five turned the hotel’s Regency Club into a grocery pickup order. According to the eyewitness account, a mother arrived with four children. She and the oldest child were carrying reusable grocery bags and the family took most of the Dr Pepper and all of the muffins, then filled reusable Ziploc-style containers with Gardetto’s and Goldfish from the club’s “snack towers of sadness.”
When he asked them to leave something for other guests because staff were unlikely to replenish the lounge that night, the mother responded with profanity saying she had paid for club level and the snacks were hers, too. He called the hotel’s management from a courtesy phone in the lounge.
Club Access Isn’t A Deed To The Pantry
Hyatt advertises club rooms at this property including complimentary nonalcoholic drinks and snacks. It does not how much a guest can consume, and doesn’t publish a rule against taking items back to a room.
This creates the Potter Stewart problem. There’s a huge difference between taking away a drink or muffin and showing up with grocery bags and food storage containers. But where, exactly, is the line? It’s hard to articulate, but we ‘know it when we see it.’
- A family with four children may prefer to eat in its room rather than occupy the lounge and other guests may prefer this, too.
- Taking one item per person is not the same as clearing out the entire lounge inventory.
- So I guess one simple test is whether the lounge continues to function if every guest behaved the same way (Kant’s Categorical Imperative).
The hotel may share some responsibility here. A one review this summer complained that paid club access produced only cheese sticks and no milk for cereal. A family of five can make a poorly stocked room look ransacked even without behaving badly.
Is This Why We Can’t Have Nice Things?
Here’s a report from the Hyatt Regency Waikiki where a couple filled Ziploc bags with cookies and loaded bananas into backpacks. At the Hilton Diagonal Mar in Barcelona, an employee was photographed stopping a guest who tried to leave with containers of lounge food.
We see this repeatedly in airport lounges:
- At the Miami Admirals Club, a member was photographed loading snacks into a Hefty bag.
- An influencer advised Delta passengers to bring Tupperware and fill it to the brim.
- A couple at the Chase Sapphire Lounge at New York JFK filled two duffel bags and ordered six burgers to take away.
Sapphire Burger - Two British Airways lounge guests were caught on video taking more than 20 cans of beer and five bags of chips.
Some people think taking anything at all is inappropriate, while others feel like one piece of fruit, one drink or a wrapped snack for later is fine. Once you’re bringing in specialized equipment you’ve crossed the line.
But Bad Guests Aren’t Why Hotels Have Ditched Clubs
The original poster from the Hyatt Regency Tulsa argues that incidents like this are why Regency and Grand Clubs are disappearing. That’s not the driver.
Hotel owners have openly discussed eliminating club lounges as “amenity creep”. Lounges require labor, occupy valuable space and don’t usually generate enough revenue – they’re a cost center serving elite guests.
Elites like them, but that’s a benefit to the chain itself which then spills over into future stays at other hotels. It’s a public good for the program but a direct cost to the hotel. So properties convert them to guest rooms or meeting space, generate revenue, and save on food costs and staffing.
The articulable rule is simple. You can’t put food in or on anything not provided by the lounge. Can even claim it’s for sanitary reasons.
“It does not how much a guest can consume, and doesn’t publish a rule against taking items back to a room.” Ok, then, why are you complaining that the ‘free market’ has decided… gluttony.
This type of behavior is shameless and selfish. These snacks are meant as a convenience, not for taking 4 days worth of snacks for your kids. Some people’s sense of entitlement and outright “cheapness” just makes me wonder if they ever had any home training at all…. Obviously not. I don’t usually take any of these items except the occasional bottle of water or coffee service if offered. I simply marvel at people who see something simple like this for free and take it to the “shopping spree” level. If you are that cheap, perhaps you should leave some of the free stuff for others to enjoy, just a thought.
Generally speaking the public is trash
Which is why in Asia, guests are handed a sheet of paper highlighting Club Access information. In it includes the phrase ‘food from the lounge is to be consumed in the lounge only’. I like that rule along with ‘children below 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. We reserve the right to limit Club Lounge access should we deem necessary.’.
Yes, the general public has become trash. People screaming in cell phones, on calls without headphones, children running amuck, shoving food and numerous cans in their bags (more than five) and walking around in pajamas, wifebeaters and prostitute clothing. I’ve seen it all in lounges, even the upper lounges.
@John T Burkholder — And, in an ironic twist, the trash is also ‘public.’ Bah!
I saw a family who had finished eating in the breakfast area of a Fairfield Inn load up from the buffet into takeaway containers and bags and then depart. Little was left afterward.
At the other end of the spectrum…This is going back at least 10 years, but I got reprimanded at the Kimpton Hotel La Jolla for taking two 2×2 inch squares of pizza at the same time to go with my complementary glass of $5 wine.
So American!
Listen, I know the Hyatt Regency Tulsa lounge. They should be happy for this publicity.
Pigs, all of them. The same people that take pictures of dirty airplanes that probably live in horrendous conditions.
@Coffee Please — *oink* … *snort* …
Unless something has changed, this is a fake club lounge. It has soda, granola bars, and the like. Nothing more and nothing else.
@George Romey – Speakerphone use in public spaces is a species of nuisance we have simply declined to name, and the remedy is neither novel nor severe. Codify it as an infraction. Attach a penalty stiff enough to deter, modest enough to survive any objection of disproportion, and enforceable on the spot by ticket. The gentleman conducting his quarterly earnings review at Gate C14 would learn quickly enough.
@Mike Hunt — Ya know, for a fella who likes to tell others to ‘lick (his) taint,’ you gave a fairly measured and balanced response. *slow clap*
(Oh, and that’s real; check the other recent posts and comments. Fun!)
@1990 – I come in many different flavors; only one of them is taint. Enjoy!
Crazy.
Yes, I sometimes take a little something to go – a can of juice/soda, cup of coffee (which, by the way, are usually in to go cups) or maybe a handful of snack mix or M&Ms or a single muffin. Heck, even been encouraged by staff somewhat to even when it is for lounge consumption only. but I would never even think of ‘let’s bring grocery bags of Tupperware to take everything the lounge has out’.
No etiquette in this world anymore, and yes, it’s why we can’t have nice thing. The subject of this story doesn’t only just take, but has. no respect for fellow humans, who by the way, are ‘as special’ as her because, surprise, she isn’t the only one with lounge access.
On another note, whoever had at it with the bag full of Chase burgers, what do you actually do with those – can’t be very good about 5 minutes after they’ve been in there.
Another “elite” who makes 40k a year in a crappy job flying around to exciting places like Tulsa to present powerpoints while their corporate overlord doesnt even feed them so they have to scavenge in the lounge.
With cyclosporiasis outbreaks, imagine a family of five loading up in the hotel lounge on ham and cheese wraps made with tainted diarrhea lettuce, and then seeing this family on your flight the next day.
The public is trash. Need to raise entry costs into lounges. No dogs.
And no kids under 6 allowed on first/business class sections!
Really wish lounges were what they used to be, only for true elites. Not for anyone who can pay for club access or get a credit card. Maybe they can start handing out coupons. One muffin per person. And that’s it.
Lounges need to revoke access and ban passengers/guests who do this. It’s utterly insane that people think this is acceptable behavior.
Sensible people won’t take more than one standard size restaurant Togo box worth of food out per person and 1- 2 drinks. Anything else is instant firing squad.
@Mike Hunt — For once, I’m grateful there’s no ‘chocolate’ involved. Speaking of chocolate (and tossed-salads), I see @Ken A has provided us with our weekly *explosive diarrhea* outbreak update. Thank you for ending the ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ of ‘woke/DEI’ public health funding… thanx…
I figured this was either going to be an import from a third world subcontinent or a 13/50. Not surprised it’s a 13/50!
These are the same people that need “extra time for boarding” or “wheelchairs” and then run like thieves when the plane lands. Latest scam is the number of “service dogs” and the passengers having to be reseated because of all the dogs. People don’t want their dogs in the hold (and I don’t blame them) and are too cheap to board them.
@Tired of Bad Behavior — Surprised you went with “13/50” instead of using a hard-r. *smh*
Should club lounges go by the wayside, hotels should just provide elites with credit to be used in the restaurant, lounge, or marketplace (as many already do).
The only other draw of a club lounge is the somewhat exclusive space that can be used to relax, work, etc. however I rarely see that if at all when visiting such lounges. People come in to eat the free food.
I feel guilty even taking a small cup of cheese back to my room, especially when others appear to be treating the club as a full family dining option. It is disappointing to see this kind of excessive behavior, because if it continues, it may ultimately affect the availability of these amenities for everyone.
Common courtesy is just not common anymore. Oink.
I have seen many times over the years saying “Food and beverages are for consumption I. The lounge only” is this a concept lost in the minds of Hyatt and Gary?
Ok, it is wrong to take too much. Two points: First; what are they taking? I am sure it isn’t filet mignon, caviar and fois gras. 12 cans of soda is maybe $8. 8 hot dogs and buns maybe $1 each, or another $8. A half gallon of milk is maybe $6. Second; is there any way that these people are just down on their luck and need the food? Does anyone ever approach them and ask if they need the food or not? If they really needed it to feed the family, is that ok? Being truly hungry often makes for some really bad judgment. In some places, there sections in grocery stores for free food for people that need it, is this all that much different?