Free breakfast is a common feature of many hotel brands, especially in the limited service category. You’ll find it at Hampton Inn, Best Western and Holiday Inn Express among numerous others.
Here’s the thing: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hotel actually check that you’re a guest before giving you access. If you look like you belong there, you can park in the lot, walk in, and eat.
I stayed at the Aloft near Dallas Love Field and selected breakfast as my Marriott elite member amenity. Breakfast was served in the Element hotel next door. I simply walked into that hotel and no one checked that I was a guest or eligible for breakfast. I could have taken the elite check-in bonus points and still had breakfast!
In a sense, I’m surprised that so few people show up at these hotels and have breakfast! Then again, maybe people do?
Here’s a woman on TikTok explaining and millions of people have watched this: “They make it so easy to get the free hotel breakfast when you’re not staying at a hotel.”
@itssofeeyuh
Most limited-service breakfasts, though, aren’t going to be so good that you’d show up for it if you aren’t already on premises. But if I was nearby, and hard up, maybe I’d go for a meal justifying it like hero Jean Valjean steals the bread in Les Miserables.
It’s likely that I could get away with this, as a middle-aged white business traveler who knows his way around hotels. I simply feel comfortable in a hotel lobby, like I belong. But if you stand out, and don’t look like someone who stays in the hotel and knows your way around the lobby you might get questions. So a free breakfast hack only for those who don’t need the free breakfast?
Some hotels – notably Hyatt Places – have tried to verify eligibility for free breakfast. Hyatt keeps changing who is entitled to free breakfast, and to which items at breakfast. Though when they made breakfast only for loyalty program members booking direct properties didn’t actually seem to enforce it much.
Our local Hilton, about a half mile away, has a first-rate breakfast for guests. We go on bacon days. We just pay the $15 they charge for non-guests. For this, I get unlimited coffee and juice (good ones!) toast with PB, scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon, greek yogurt with fruit and nuts. Plus a bagel with cream cheese to go. I’m set for the day. They also have make your own waffles, hot oatmeal, a variety of cereals, breads and pastries, hard boiled eggs.
I get a feeling they don’t verify the actual stay because they’d rather folks eat everything up than waste it. If it becomes a problem, then they may change things.
Support your local hotel!
One hotel I stayed in (several times) actually had the breakfast in one if their “suites” buildings and you needed your key card to get in. No one could just walk in.
Another hotel gave “tickets” at check in — one for each morning of your stay and you had to turn in your ticket in order to enter the breakfast area
Yet another hotel I stayed in made you show your key card and case.
Those days of walking into a hotel and grabbing a free breakfast if you’re not a guest are over! Lol
I’ve often wondered about this. However, you can probably only get away with it once or twice. If a local hotel starts seeing the same face every – say – Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. They might get suspicious!
But, could you be driving down to Florida on I-95 and jump off to scam the Hampton Inn breakfast…I guess you could.
At the Residence Inn I stayed a lot at in Las Vegas, I’d regularly see people who weren’t guests at the hotel at the breakfast. Sometimes these were policemen (which I guess was approved) but often it was homeless or nearby construction workers. Only once did I see them actually remove a non guest from the breakfast area.
Granted, ever since the pandemic, the Residence Inn breakfast has been worth what you paid for it.
The breakfasts really aren’t good any more. Garbage food – not wven tasty. Who would want it?
“a middle-aged white business traveler”
Was the omission of “portly” intentional?
I would think that this narcissist bragging about how to steal from an entity would open her up to a big “watch list”, have her arrested and jailed.
I’ve also wondered this often. The Hiltons (Hilton, Doubletree) I’ve stayed at recently started asking for room numbers even if you are paying. Maybe other reasons for doing so. Scheduled to stay at an Embassy Suites soon, that’ll be a good test.
“But if I was nearby, and hard up, maybe I’d go for a meal justifying it like hero Jean Valjean steals the bread in Les Miserables.”
To Tik Tok influencers stealing breakfast: I know Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean was a friend of mine. And you sir, are no Jean Valjean.
It all depends what city (and more importantly what area of a city) you go to. Staying in the burbs? Nobody checks. Staying near a port with cruise ships? You get checked (or issued a ticket). But yes, I’m a middle aged white guy too and could get away with it, but I don’t… Because I’m spending money at the local place with wayyyy better food and not trying to squeeze juice from a stone.
@Dom – “portly” would not, in fact, be accurate
During a remodel project, I stayed at a Quality Inn close to my home that was popular with interstate travelers. Every breakfast was catered for full capacity but guests mostly were back on the road early and this left an immense amount of untouched food. Management welcomed police, Fedex, and eventually even the unhoused to partake of food that would have been required to be thrown away. Our homeless get vouchers for clothing and are very clean. In fact, unlike the airport early morning crowd, nobody reeked of alcohol or body odor. It wasn’t a Four Seasons brunch but was treated as such by those who were grateful.
Ah, petty theft! …the horror! *clutching pearls* won’t anyone think of these poor small businesses?!
(Ignore the generalized corruption, insider trading, and graft by our politicians and large corporations…)
I’m glad they found someone that will eat the garbage they serve.
Based on how breakfast at the limited service brands in the US has declined since Covid, I might be tempted to instead go behind the local Walmart and munch on the cardboard boxes they are discarding. Likely similar taste, texture and nutritional value.
Recently stayed at HP Baltimore Inner Harbor. You can keep their free breakfast. One day in the “cooked” items section next to the bacon and sausage where one would usually find cooked pancakes or french toast, they served cold limp toaster waffles. It was as if they went to Costco and bought a large box of frozen waffles and left them out on the counter. The eggs were worse and cold. I can usually make due with generic bagels or English muffins (as I did in my teens); however, one day they only had white bread in all 4 drawers of the bread dresser. The horror!
Let them people eat the food as long as they are fairly clean and do not disturb the guests in any way,why not? God said do not deny food or drink from your brother, God fed the masses, with no bias so why shouldn’t we.Think about that person
being hungry enough to dare even to even come through the front door.
And maybe that person has a child to feed and are at their last ditch effort to feed that child,no matter what the cost.Look we are actively entering the end times, and it’s going to get worse way worse
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I used to do this when I lived in Washington DC and was surviving on a reduced salary. On my walk into the office I would stop at large hotels where conferences were hosted and grab some food from the overflowing tables that were put out for attendees. I figured that it would go to waste anyways, but of course that’s a poor rationalization for theft. Alas no way to make amends now except by contributing to food banks
I’ve been seeing more properties check you into breakfasts now to make sure you’re a guest.
This is no different from any other form of theft. It’s easy to walk into a store and take something without paying. Or maybe it isn’t these days, but it used to be. Upstanding people don’t do this unless they have permission (for example taking a cup of coffee if meeting a colleague). Otherwise it’s stealing.
Hyatt Place San Jose (CA). I stayed with points. “You’re here on points, there will be no bill.”
They invited me to breakfast. They asked for my room number, which I gave. I later got a bill for the breakfast.
Whatever.
No worth the effort to fight it.
People have no decency. It’s a perk that shouldn’t be abused.
I’ve seen hotel staff chase a guy back to the street after he made a move on the breakfast room.
Generally, free breakfast is garbage and served in a place that you’d have to take a car to get to, or look out of place on foot. You might get a free breakfast, but you’ll spend more in gas than it’s worth.
Go ahead and try it.
They should just shut down that program in the first place.
I met up with an old college buddy at the Embassy Suites, Ontario (CA), by John Wayne Airport, on a very recent Sunday morning. We met for breakfast at the hotel.
He said he’d paid for a non-guest meal, but I never saw him present anything to staff after I showed up, & no one asked. I also never saw anyone else asked to present proof of being a guest.
Their restaurant seating area is the size of large middle school auditorium. Literally a couple of hundred “guests” packed the place. There were at least a half-dozen staff keeping things stocked, ckeaning tables, etc.
They had everything you could possibly want, including a belgian waffle station & staffed omelet station. I doubt everyone in there was actually a guest.
Even if they charged $15 for the meal, as someone earlier mentioned pricing at the hotel they visited, the value would have been at least twice that of what I paid at a local IHOP last month, where a smallish omelet, 3 smaller pancakes, hash browns and an ice tea cost me $34 before tip. I really need to start researching the better quality hotel breakfast offerings near me, even if I am paying, because full-pop sit downs are getting mighty expensive.
Hotels with free breakfasts tend to start checking guest status during conventions in my experience–when the hotel is full and even actual registered guests have to wait in lines to get to the buffet, they definitely do not want any extra people there. Embassy Suites seem particularly fond of setting up a printout to check names on in these circumstances.
TikTok will be the death of all things that are good. Idiots on platforms like this will only serve to ruin things for everyone. She might just as well show clips of her shoplifting, it would probably get more clicks anyway.
Seattle Fairfield Inn & Suites Downtown / Seattle Center has a breakfast room with room-key access. Only one I’ve seen like that. It was also one of the better Fairfield breakfast selections that I’ve seen.
Of the breakfast-included hotels where the staff recognize me as a regular customer, I am pretty sure if so inclined I could steal breakfasts even when I am not overnighting at the hotels. Even where the staff wouldn’t recognize me as a frequent customer, between old hotel keys and paying attention at check-in/check-out desk or by the breakfast check-in, I could manage the same at such hotels.
I stay at a lot of “mid-priced” hotels that offer free breakfast. Almost universally, the breakfasts range from bad to edible. There are almost no checks to determine whether you are a guest — although just last week I was at a Days Inn (immediately adjacent to a McDonalds) and the breakfast host did ask everyone for their name and room number.
I could believe there is a modest increase in non-guests stealing breakfast. Food on the road has definitely increased in cost, and you can no longer (unusally) get a McDonalds breakfast sandwich on their app for a buck or two. I would consider a McDonalds breakfast sandwich to be BETTER than the majority of free hotel breakfasts, so perhaps some are now partaking of the motel breakfast instead of digging deeper into their pockets?
As you note, one limitation on this is that the potential criminals might “stand out” and be questioned, although I think most hotel staff would be reluctant to do this — at least for non-repeat “stealers.” I still believe the biggest limitation on breakfast theft is the poor quality of the breakfasts. I do find that almost all hotels in America that offer “cooked-to-order” breakfasts — the kind that you would actually want to eat — check your identity, perhaps because not all guests get these breakfasts included in their room rates.
The breakfasts really aren’t that great anymore. Many hotels use the same vendor. It’s kind of a big turn off to see how some people drop in with pjs or slippers. They talk over the food while they load their plates. The coffee is usually rancid. Yuk.
A ridesharing driver once told me he lives 3 hours away and drives to my city to work.
He would park his car at a hotel parking lot, sleep inside car, and get the free hotel breakfast in the morning. I was conflicted as to whether I should judge him for his dishonesty or admire his hustle.
Yet another thing in the long list of petty social media influenced scams deteriorating the United States from a high trust society into a low trust society. This is the type of balkanized garbage that distinguishes the U.S. in a negative way from high trust Northern European Scandinavian society.
@ Gary re: the following comment “@Dom – “portly” would not, in fact, be accurate”
I saw the recent picture of you from the Wired article. No sarcasm or ill intent – congrats big time on the seeming weight loss. Genuinely and honest to God looking good. I’ve struggled forever with weight and I always want to celebrate wins!! You’re an inspiration!!
Actually I had the opposite experience. I was STAYING AT a hotel (Mendenhall Inn near Kennett Square, PA) for my daughter’s wedding. I arrived the day before the wedding and stayed over, as well as the night after. The first morning a waitress told me I couldn’t have breakfast if I wasn’t staying at the hotel; I told her I was. She came BACK and told me again and I told her once again I was and offered to show her my key. She said “you have to stay over the night before” (duh, it was like 8 or 9 am, I doubt I’d have that kind of early check-in). The third time she came back I showed her my key and I still got a dirty look. Had she come back a fourth time I would have asked for the manager, which I really should have done the second time!
Bruh your privilege is showing. Anyone who has struggled knows this already
Leave it to the no class Americans to do such a thing.
Recently took a tour of Italy. Every hotel we stayed at had a complementary breakfast included in the stay. When you would go to the breakfast room in the morning there was a person that greeted you with a clipboard requesting your room number which he would then check off. The breakfasts served were far beyond any I have ever received in an American hotel. These breakfasts were superb. First class with many options of meats, cheeses, breads, eggs, potatoes, pastries of all sorts. Maybe that’s why they were sticklers.
Mmm, the hotels where you actually pay for breakfast, though? They typically have much, much better food.
Who would eat the crappy breakfast at hotels even if they are a guest and it’s free? Powdered eggs, pre-cooked greasy bacon, stale bread and cereal crawled over by roaches between breakfasts is the norm. Quit being cheap and splurge a whole $10.00 at Dennys for a slam special with coffee, I know that’s a lot to ask from all of you cheap-ass Americans! better yet eat some fruit, maybe an apple and an orange. With all of the huge, enormous fat ass Americans I see, it would do you some good.
@Mark— “Seattle Fairfield Inn & Suites Downtown / Seattle Center has a breakfast room with room-key access. Only one I’ve seen like that.” Seattle, a place where you can defecate on a sidewalk and a social worker will help you wipe, and give you a clean needle. Enough said, Seattle.
Everywhere I’ve stayed that had a free breakfast and didn’t check to see if you were a guest, didn’t have a breakfast worth having unless it was free. The places that had a complimentary breakfast that checked I was a guest was a breakfast worth paying for.
I am a night auditor and prepare breakfast at a hotel. We 99% know who is a guest and who is not. People who are not suppose to be somewhere, show signs of not suppose to being somewhere. Rarely do we say something unless you are a repeat offender. We see everything.
A few years back, I had 49 Marriott nights and was t sure the cc spending was going cover the 50th, I booked a local Spring Hill or something. Although I did not sleep in the bed, I went in the morning to check out in person and have breakfast. I know I know, I’m that Bonvoy booking they try to avoid. Sat right down for breakfast prior to checking out and could have very easily just been some guy from off the street. Better breakfast too than the Sheraton San Diego I just stayed in.
Call it what you want. It’s theft, plain and simple. Do the right thing and pay for your food.
Consider it getting even for all the tines hotels have screwed you out of benefits….or the other stupid games they play.
I’m gonna try this – free breakfast in just one exit away!
Not just breakfast. Many hotels have free Happy Hours also and they don’t check.
I worked at a Doubletree and we had a very nice breakfast spread till 11:30 am. I was shocked at how few people took advantage of it. We did have people that weren’t staying at the hotel that did show up and enjoy it, but we never said anything because the food would have been trashed. We were not allowed to give the food away to a soup, kitchen or anything. It had to be trash, so when people wanted to use it that weren’t staying there. The manager just said let them. We all knew who they were, but we would just smile and be polite and let them enjoy it. Why not.
Not Jewish not that cheap lol
Embassy Suites in Huntsville next to the convention center gives out tickets for breakfast, but half the time they aren’t collected.
Also, if you make friends with the bartender you can pretty much get unlimited drinks during their happy hour. My wife and I happen to be there on my birthday and we sat at the bar and hit it off with the bartender. She kept bringing drinks without us even asking. I had about six or seven bourbons and my wife had three or four beers.
As head of food and beverage at the Quality Suites Hotel in Rockville MD in the early 90s, I was shocked by the amount of food thrown in the garbage after the free full American breakfast every morning. I cut back on the selection and quantity of food made available to guests. I received a complaint about this. Upon investigation we found out that the woman complaining was not and had never been a guest. She worked at a company down the street from the hotel. She had complained about the smoked salmon bagel cheese spread not being available as a breakfast choice anymore.
There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but it seems a free breakfast is quite another story. Wait until all the homeless in The Failed State (California) find out. I think they could call it reparations for the failure of Democrat Governor Newsom to address the massive homeless issue out there.
Pasadena Embassy Suites definitely monitors who come into their (very nice) breakfast area. Of course, that in a county that overrun with homeless drug addicts.
A friend of my daughter had her self-made waffle stolen by a bum in a nicer chain hotel in downtown Spokane, WA. Of course, that’s also a locale where the voters and politicians coddle the criminal junkies.
I don’t even eat that for free for years . That is why I don’t eat breakfast anymore… After a month in those hotels stopped eating breakfast.
We stayed once at the Hotel Aiken. On consecutive days we shared a table and conversation during the “free” breakfast period, with a very dignified, intelligent woman. While discussing a complaint I had about my room, I enquired about her experience with the hotel. She calmly replied that she was actually staying at the hotel across the alley but came every morning to enjoy a free breakfast at the Hotel Aiken.
I stayed at a motel in Toronto. They gave you breakfast cards at check in for the amount of mornings you would be there. In the morning, you handed your card sitting outside the meal area. No card, no breakfast.
Omg there was a whole Family Guy episode on this where Peter and Chris go around stealing free hotel breakfasts like they were the crown jewels I laughed so hard as I was sure people were actually doing this and here we are
I have stayed in many hotels. At the entrance to the breakfast room there is always a member of staff who will ask for your name and your room number or they will ask you to show your key or your key card. You cannot enter unless you are a guest at the hotel or unless you offer to pay for breakfast.
This is only fair.
Any hotel which does not control access to the breakfast room must blame themselves if they allow people to walk in and eat a free breakfast.
This a writer searching desperately for clicks. He made up a problem (of course it could happen) but it’s not like everyone wants to defraud the hotels free breakfast. In the hotels that I’ve worked at a check was given to each and every customer than verified before anyone got a free meal. The check, although it had a zero balance was often used to tip the servers who put it all together and serve you. Simply put.
Every time I see a “Mornings are for Members” poster (some HPs still have them in the elevators, I think), I want someone to prank them by swapping in one of Alec Baldwin that says “Coffee is for Closers”.
Ahhhhh, I so love reading the comments section. It thrills me to get the numerously different views of our society’s citizens
For years a hotel near my home offered breakfast to non guests for $4.00. I was the only non guests who actually paid but my self respect is worth a lot more than $4.00. Unfortunately, that hotel eventually closed.