‘You think no one notices’: NRIs react to Indian YouTuber’s viral post on how to get free breakfast; ‘Hence the hate from MAGAs’

An Indian YouTuber sharing tips on social media on how to get free breakfast from one particular group of hotels left NRIs embarrassed as the post went viral. Several NRIs commented that this is the reason the MAGA hate against Indians reached this stage now as Indians shamelessly rig the system for something as small as a complimentary breakfast. The viral post by Siddharth Bhimani, however, did not include any trick. The YouTuber simply said that one can put in a request for a complimentary breakfast on the app of the hotel group a day before. The man explained that he got free breakfast everywhere in India with his Gold Status which does not guarantee free breakfast but he took the chance of using his messaging trick and it worked even in Bali, Abu Dhabi etc. “STOP..JUST STOP. Buy or walk out to get your breakfast from the street corner using your own money. You are the Indians I call “Indian Bhikaris”. You game the system and boast about it. You think no one notices, they all do. We all suffer,” Rakesh Nayak, an Indian-origin American and FDI investor, said. “I will write a book how they do it in US, hence the hate now from MAGAs. They ran out of the runways with that and now trying to play victim card,” Nayak wrote. NRI professor Gaurav Sabnis recounted his experience of receiving ‘protips’ when he moved to the US. “When I moved to US I was horrified at how many “protips” I was given by desis were just how you game the system. From exploiting generous return policies. To smuggling in ghee/mangoes. To raiding Goodwill when you’re sitting on $150K job. Taking grocery carts home. Etc.Yucky,” Sabnis wrote.

‘Never about entitlement’

Bhimani reacted to the criticism from the NRI community and said his ‘free breakfast’ post was never about freeloading or entitlement. “It was simply about using a “message feature” which gets activated 1 day prior to checkin in the Marriott app to politely request a benefit — something many travellers already do. It was meant to help those who may not know about it or feel shy asking at the front desk,” he said.