I sometimes try to share news that is travel related, and I just had to share this one. Police in Dalton, Georgia are looking for someone that they are describing as the hotel “breakfast bandit”
The hotel “breakfast bandit”
Now I certainly will never be accused of being a spendthrift and I will admit that it has at least crossed my mind to wonder if hotels would notice if you just showed up at the free breakfast buffet without being a hotel guest. Answer: probably, and to be clear, I’ve never tried it – the closest I’ve come is booking our family of 8 into a room with an occupancy “suggestion” of 6 and all having breakfast.
The breakfast bandit went into the Holiday Inn Express in Dalton (I assume it’s this one) and ate breakfast (mmmm cinnamon rolls). The agent at the front desk thought something didn’t look right and got her manager involved. When the manager approached the bandit, he said he was “just checking how easy it is to get into hotels and get free stuff.” (emphasis mine, and also, LOL)
A few days later, he went to the Quality Inn and went into a room that was being cleaned and hung out for an hour (umm why?)
Finally he went to a Super 8, left his cell phone in a room and then asked hotel employees to let him in to get it back. They called the police, and that my friends, was the last we’ve seen of the hotel breakfast bandit.
He was last seen in a black Nissan Altima…. be on the lookout!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Maybe he just had a hankering for some made-from-powder scrambled eggs, lukewarm sausage patties or a nap on a notoriously luxurious Quality Inn mattress.
I worked at a 165 room Hampton Inn about 7 years ago while going through school.
I had this one guy come in every Sunday for 6 weeks. He would grab our free local Sunday paper, grab some food (piled high), and then sit and eat. He would then grab a second plate to go.
My hotel was slow on the weekends (sold out during the week) unless there were sport teams/special events, so I started noticing him and tracking names. I finally confronted him (with GM approval) and never saw him again. His excuse: “Oh, I thought the free breakfast was for locals too.”
We notified the other hotels in the area and the next week, he visited the Fairfield.
One of my memories of the hotel business.
That is an epic response – “Oh I thought it was for locals” !!!!!
Employees, vendors, friends all rip off the free crappy breakfasts. Reap what you sow
Dan, if you paid for a room for 6, but brought in 8 people, AND 2 of those people ate the breakfast without paying, then that is the same as 2 stolen breakfasts. Plus, 2 more people in your room definitely increase the costs to the hotel, more use of hot water, more wear and tear. I own a small hotel and it’s really frustrating how some people do think that they should be able to bring as many people as they like without paying for them.