ALL-INCLUSIVE HOLIDAYS:
A CAUTIONARY TALE
FOR
AD LIBITUM SERVICES
The man entered in the main restaurant and hang his coat on the back of a chair. The waiter came and asked him if he wanted coffee, tea or orange juice. “I would like a glass of orange juice and then a pot of Earl Grey tea” the man said and went to get his breakfast.
He came back with a plate full
of various kinds of bread, two sausage, two poached eggs, two rashes off
crisped bacon and a bowl filled with baked beans. He had some fried tomatoes, mushrooms
and cheese too. He drank the orange juice and ate about half of what was on his
plate and pushed the plate aside. He got up and brought two more plates, one
had few slices of melon and pineapple each, a kiwi, an orange and a banana, the
other plate had a big slice of double chocolate cake, two pieces of Baklavas
and a big muffin. There was also a bowl filled with strawberry ice cream. He
asked the waiter to get a fresh pot of tea as the previous one had gone cold.
After finishing a cup of tea, he left. There was at least half of the food left
on the table.
This was not unusual though.
All around me on many of the tables it was the same story, more or less. We
were also guilty of this gluttony and waste, perhaps, not to that extent.
Why were we all behaving like this? Just because we were on vacation and yearning to have a jolly good time does not explain this indifference to wastage of food and drinks. I am very sure most people did not do this at home.
When back at home I kept mulling over it.
There were hundreds of varieties of food and drinks on display in the main restaurant at the breakfast, also at the lunch and the dinner times. There was even champagne for breakfast! Apart from this main restaurant there were many snack bars specialising in different cuisines and cocktails, scattered all around this vast resort on the shore of Aegean Sea. The presence of so many enticing dishes from different countries and cultures induces one to explore as many as possible, What a pleasure! If one is not up to your taste, just bin it, what a waste!
Another factor is peer
pressure and imitative behaviour. Seeing other's overflowing plates, one just
does it without a second thought. Soon it is accepted and becomes the norm.
The last but I think, the most important reason is this. When one does not have to pay at the point of use, the wastage does not impinge on one’s conscience as much. People in general, care less about things which come free or seem to come free. Sense of entitlement without immediate association of pain (cost) dims the moral inhibitions on wastage and misuse. Air and Water are vital commodities but because they are free, people do not hesitate in polluting or wasting them.
The National Health Service in
U K is a prime example. Because people do not have to pay at the point of
delivery, many do not care to protect it and to use it carefully and prevent
waste. Everyone feels entitled and wishes to have the best treatment, whatever
the cost. But just like all-inclusive holidays we all have paid a price. The
government is paying for it from what it has collected from us through taxes. It may
seem free, but it is not.
An all-inclusive holiday resort could not keep on giving best foods and drinks ad libitum without charging an appropriate price, taking the running costs, price of raising capital, inflation, taxes etc into account. They have to think carefully what level of service and quality of food they can provide with the money they have collected in the first place otherwise they would go bankrupt.
Without rigorous audit and strict governance by the provider no ad libitum service can be sustained because the customers will consume it as if it is free and unlimited service.
