Four years ago Hilton eliminated free breakfast as a benefit for Honors Gold and Diamond members at U.S properties. In its place they offer a small food and beverage credit that can be used at any time throughout the day.
- The credit is per person, for up to two registered guests per room. Tell them you’re two people even if you’re just saying alone.
- The credit is offered at Waldorf Astoria, LXR, Conrad, Canopy by Hilton, Hilton, Curio Collection, DoubleTree, Signia, Tapestry Collection, and Hilton Garden Inn brands.
- It’s supposed to be valid at all hotel food and beverage outlets, whether restaurant, market or room service – though some hotels play games with this.
- Diamond members receive this credit and bonus points, while Golds just receive the credit. You do not receive the credit, though, if the hotle has a club lounge that you’re given access to for breakfast.
The credit is for:
- $25 per person per day at Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, and LXR
- $15 per person per day Hilton, Signia, DoubleTree, Curio, Tapestry Collection, Canopy, and Motto ($18 in Boston, Chicago, D.C., New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Key Largo and Key West)
- $10 per person per day at Hilton Garden Inn
Here’s the thing. The credit doesn’t come close to covering breakfast at most hotels. It’s really just a coupon that brings you into food and beverage outlets and gets you to spend more cash. At some hotels a small snack might be fully covered.
What’s striking to me though is that in four years – despite 20% inflation – Hilton hasn’t increased the amount of the credit. The original rate was $12 for the first six months rather than $15 at Hilton, DoubleTree at al. That hasn’t moved since December 2021. The rates at other properties haven’t ever changed this since benefit was introduced.
Prices are going up, yet how much credit towards the cost of breakfast or another meal you get has not kept pace. Hilton is well aware of inflation, just check their free night award points prices!
The Honors program hasn’t been super rewarding in the 8 years since they dropped ‘double dipping’, once their sine qua non, and now give you a smaller rebate than competitor chains (which is why generous promotions are so important in this program). And they do less than other chains for elite members – there’s no guaranteed suite upgrades, and no confirmed late check-out even. But the program was always the most generous with breakfast, offering it even to Gold elites, until this change took place.
- I love the flexibility to use a credit at any time.
- But if this wasn’t a cut, then Hilton could have offered a choice of breakfast ‘or’ the credit. Hilton’s Chief Marketing Officer Mark Weinstein once told me he was indifferent to how a member spent the amount he sent a hotel to cover breakfast, but Hilton isn’t actually giving the member a choice.
- The food and beverage credit should be enough to cover breakfast, and should be indexed to inflation.
What’s the hotel benefits equivalent of President Trump threatening to fire Jerome Powell over handling of the value of the currency? Hilton is less rewarding for stays, less rewarding of elites, and chintzier with breakfast. Their SLH partnership is good and valuable, though even that’s been devalued. I guess they figure the only need to compete with Marriott these days, so there’s no need to invest in the guest.
While there’s plenty to gripe about in the USA, thank goodness they haven’t yet done this for overseas properties. I’ve had three meals worth of complimentary Diamond breakfasts at Waldorfs and Conrads overseas that ‘got me through’ to dinner. Shoutout to Ithaafushi and Platte Island! Simply the best…
Hilton needs a new slogan. “We’re not quite as bad as Marriott” sounds appropriate.
I used to spend tens of thousands in US Hilton properties now 0 dollars so they haven’t taken anything away from me.They are my last resort
Overseas I still stay in them occasionally with nice enough results.
No guaranteed late check outs and no breakfast sealed the deal to equal no business
Did I mention 80k in points for a Hilton garden inn in Georgia?
also may have had something to do with it.
Seems like there are plenty of suckers to fill my shoes so apparently its highway robbery for Hilton as usual lol
You know its the same travelers that fly Delta and get bent over for 500k in Delta miles for a flight one way in coach somewhere and rave about the value.
I had a drawn-out battle with Boston’s Pennyweight Hotel (Curio Collection) where the terse, unsmiling staff told me “at this location we only offer $15.”
I kvetched to Honors on X/Twitter and the hotel gave me another $2, claiming the credit excludes gratuity. The credit unambiguously includes gratuity, so I kvetched to Honors on X/Twitter again. On the phone, someone at the hotel claimed to have given me another $1, which would putatively hit my account in 3-5 days, and I waited two weeks – nothing. I kvetched to Honors on X/Twitter a third damn time and this time I finally got the $1 plus 5,000 Hilton points.
Other problems with the Pennyweight Hotel (Curio Collection) included refilling the shampoo/conditioner bottles with rancid, off-brand slop. The fragrance made me smell worse than a construction worker after a 12-hour summer day.
Do you want to know what happened after that debacle?
I didn’t even use the 5,000 points.
I closed my Hilton account.
For several years up to and including 2020, I was a Hilton Honors gold member. I got the free hot breakfasts, like fried eggs. I am glad I burned all my Hilton points in December 2019.
With these and other changes, I am now a free agent. It feels good. Not as much as being an airline free agent. With airlines, I have 2 slightly preferred airlines but loyalty is gone.
Love the anti-Hilton pile-on here in these comments
Please keep them coming and remember Taiwan and Tibet are the properties of Mainland China.
Yep. Hilton Diamond before the change. Not only was it annoying to receive a credit that typically covered less than half of a mediocre post-COVID buffet breakfast at a Hilton or Doubletree, but having to prepare expense reports, backing out not only the portion of the breakfast left uncovered, but the taxes (often mixed in with the room taxes) from the hotel bill took far too much of my time.
70+ nights with Hyatt last year. 1 night with Hilton. Luckily my travel patterns can be accommodated by Hyatt’s skinnier footprint.
When this insane idea was pitched to the members of the Hilton customer forum (now disbanded) to see if it was a good idea, they were told resoundingly no from just about every member but they did it anyway.
Despite maintaining gold via Amex my US stays have gone from 20/year at Hilton in the US to zero apart from the occasional Hampton where the Marriott and IHG properties in that area don’t suit me for various reasons.
I just voted with my wallet and Hilton can suck *****
Non-US hiltons still have valu. They have so many properties something works for everyone. Having said that, I prefer ihg. 4th nite free on points is nice.
I completely agree that the credit amount should be raised for inflation/cover the cost of breakfast.
Having said that, I really like the concept in general. If you don’t want to eat at the hotel restaurant and there isn’t a coffee shop on site, you can just raid the pantry for drinks and snacks which you normally wouldn’t since it’s overpriced. I don’t see the F&B as a primary reason to choose Hiltons so it’s just a really nice bonus. Like finding some money in your jeans.
Also for what it’s worth, while not listed in the select markets, I got $18 in New Orleans. Also, Mottos honor the credit too! The one in Philly has a nice breakfast taco place.
lots spelling errors….
Hilton status really is useless. I gave it up 3 years ago. Never any upgrades or much more than water as a perk. If you want a free breakfast at a Hilton property, just stay at a domestic Hampton Inn.
There’s nothing wrong with hilton properties, but trying to stay brand loyal just for status is useless.
I am a Diamond member and just stayed at the Sonoma Valley Inn, Tapestry Collection by Hilton. I received $15 per day (time two – so $30) and it didn’t even come close to 2 coffees and a bagel. Also, I did not receive any points. No other Diamond benefits whatsoever. Definitely no late checkout, not even an hour, despite several requests. No reason to be a Diamond (or stay at a Hilton) unless you are out of the US.
I really miss a certain Hilton fanboy who used to post here (his handle was three letters and he ended every post with “G’day.” He would have called all of us blithering idiots for not loving a measly $15 breakfast credit as well as all of the other non-perks of Hilton status in the USA. Does anyone know what happened to him?
@Texan@heart – You mean the guy who was insanely rabid as a fan, was rude to a fault, and absolutely never admitted he was wrong? Yeah, that was fun. Beware what you wish for.
Paging @ DCS…
Serious question for the group: I have the Hilton Amex card in order to be Diamond (because of the breakfast) but Hilton is a back-up (Hyatt lifetime Globalist; just not enough Hyatts).
I am being pitched actively by IHG and I like the couple of InterContinentals I stay in. Should I terminate my Hilton loyalty and will IHG match my Diamond?
Corporate should mandate that the breakfast restaurant include a well-defined continental offering (e.g., pastry, yogurt, fruit, coffee, and juice, at minimum) that’s completely covered by the credit.
@Solucia — Food for thought: even if you leave, at the very least you can keep the card for nothing else but leverage the annual free night which can be worth much more than the AF at a deluxe property.
I know DCS personally. Offline, he is gracious. His online character painted him in a negative light and he has reached an agreement with online travel bloggers, including Gary Leff, to stop posting comments. His comments were wholly contrary to the prevailing wisdom that Hilton points were less valuable than others and that Hilton’s upgrade policy was less generous than others.
He will not be posting any comments on this website but on his behalf I send his best wishes! G’night!
@Erect — Ah, so that just about confirms it; you are also @E. Jack Youlater, @Un, and @Unintimidated. Sure, Tibet is under the CCP’s control at the moment, but not Taiwan; Republic of China remains a free, independent country, and should remain that way, forever. You forgot the Tiananmen massacre, Uyghurs, and the farce of the nine dash line. Try… ‘harder.’
The state of the hotel points market is depressing. Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and now Hyatt are increasingly not worth the squeeze. It’s becoming cash back for independent hotels more and more these days, when I started comparing the pricing versus the big chains I was shocked!
No question that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is an independent country. It is the mainland who are the separatists, not vice versa. Who broke away from whom in 1949?
The UK (then GB) did it all wrong in 1776 and 1783. They should have continued to claim that the U.S. was part of the UK. One UK Policy, they should have called it. Have an embassy in London and you could not have an embassy in Washington. The UK in 1812 could then have invaded and said it was a domestic matter!
I’m always amazed at how attached to breakfast, particularly free breakfast, many here are. I pass on about a month’s worth of free breakfast at hotels every year. Since the evidence doesn’t support the advertising claim on the importance of breakfast, I just skip it (except in France, where I’ll skip the €17 hotel breakfast and grab a <€2 pastry on my morning stroll). Of course, I'm an each-to-their-own kinda guy, so I do commiserate with the lousy deals noted here. It sounds like some MBA decided that, if we give then $15 for breakfast, we can get them to spend $25, netting us $10 on a meal with total food costs of $3-$4.
Of course, I'm an outlier. With all my travel for pleasure, I choose to visit city X over Y because X has a centrally located hotel that won’t nickle and dime me.
When this happened, there were people out on some of these very same travel forms trying to justify how this is a good thing.
Hilton cannot mistreat people outside of the US is because of more competition. We should’ve never let all these megamerger of hotels ever happen, but then again who cares about the poor consumer
@derek — Bah! You had me in the first half. Is it too much to ask for people to self-determine their own governments, live stable, peaceful, prosperous lives, and not have to live in constant fear of dictatorship or invasion? Oh, sorry, I temporarily had amnesia and forgot nearly all of human history for a moment. If you want it, you gotta fight for it. ‘A republic if you can keep it,’ some guy said once or whatever.
It’s not quite as bad for me because I’ve simply dropped the amount of stays I do with Hilton. It’s nearly zero in the us not just because of breakfast but no room upgrades, lack of lounges etc. Diamond in us is nearly the same as someone staying at a Hilton for the first time. I’ve completely eliminated Marriott. So no more brand loyalty for me
@Bob — You’re not wrong. Gotta look out for yourself. Hilton is unique how they dish-out top-tier Diamond status for those merely able to get approved for and willing to pay the $550 annual fee on the Amex Aspire credit card. For the free night certificate alone, I get more than $550/year on that card. Everything else (breakfast/credit, etc.) it’s a wash, but sometimes it does work out (occasional upgrades, early/late checkout, spa discount/extra 30 mins. massage, etc.) However, if all you do is stay at airport and highway hotels in random parts of the United States, then, no, sir, none of that is worth it. Pay as you go. Never look back.
@ 1990 — Do you force yourself to use the Hilton Aspire free night and credits because you “have to”? I find myself doing this 2-3x per year. It does force me to visit a US beach or two, which otherwise I would never do. I guess that’s a good thing? Ceratinly makes me feel thinner. 🙂
Grown adults shouldn’t be chasing Monopoly money (points, miles, coins, stars, smiley-faces, etc). Its value is determined solely by the issuer, so it’s a fool’s journey
Congratulations to all who celebrate! I don’t miss my nearly-worthless Hilton Gold status.
Hilton hotels in Europe and Asia are absolutely fine – you can expect a good quality full breakfast. My last stay was 5 nights at Double Tree Nice during the end of June and I paid 200k points – an excellent value considering the nightly rates of 465 Euro and up. As a long time Diamond – previously from stays now from Aspire card, my two other stays were in Carte San Diego ($15 diamond credit + $15 from the mandatory destination fee; barely cover breakfast) and Hilton Carden Inn in JFK paid by American Airlines due to flight cancellation. The sign said that they charge for breakfast either $20.99 or $22.99. I simply headed to Soho lounge because I was flying from overseas.
I used to work for the airlines (NW) and we would get crew rates with Hilton brands. This was back in the 2000s, well before the days of having to pay to for parking or resort fees. I was in my 20s and was satisfied with Hampton Inns. Fast forward prior to Covid and I did some traveling and once Covid hit, Hilton lowered the threshold to be Gold and Diamond. I was able to hit both and thought my crap didn’t stink. When Hilton went back to normal requirements to be elite, there’s no way in hell I would pay thousands of dollars in nightly rates to retain Diamond status. I took the easy way and got the Aspire CC. The $550 seemed hefty but paid for itself with quarterly airline credits, Airport Clear and free night certificate.
The Executive Lounges are pretty much non-existent stateside. The F&B credits are joke. Never say you’re traveling alone. Always say two people are in the room. What I typically do is order a dinner at the restaurant that will cost less than $30 (including the tip). If I’m meeting people later that evening, I’ll just order a drink and give the bar tender the remaining credit as a tip. They’re happy when they get a $20 tip off of a $10 drink. I’d rather give the worker the money instead of giving it back to Hilton.
I’ve also traveled in Canada and overseas. I try to get hotels with Executive Lounges. The breakfast offerings are amazing, and you get treated like royalty. Unfortunately, the room upgrades still are stingy. The upgrades are generally one level up. The only true suite upgrade I’ve ever received was to the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu
Luckily outside of America, Hilton works pretty well. Lesson of the day: When everybody’s elite, then nobody is.
@Gene — Oof. As far as ‘US beach’ goes, there aren’t too many ‘great’ options, though, if you must, Hawaii, for sure, but then, with Hilton, honestly, I’m at a loss, because they aren’t really in the US Virgin Islands, and Florida’s beaches aren’t what they used to be. There once was a Waldorf in Key West, but it was baaaad. As for the certificates, I’ve been using them overseas at luxury properties, or some of the newer SLH locations, specifically, which are great for maximizing value. Hyatt’s loss is Hilton’s gain there for sure!
@ 1990 — There are some half decent Hilton beach resorts in VA, SC, NC.
@Gene — You know, you’re not wrong. I actually do very much like the intracoastal waterway near Wilmington, NC; reminds me of what Florida used to be like before all the development took over (at least in SoFla). The water there can be a bit colder, but, you can’t have everything. If you’re lucky, you’ll see dolphins, a good sign of a healthy ecosystem, too. Anyways, you’re right, there’s still some decent beaches elsewhere!