Tag Archives for free breakfast.
Hyatt ended free, full breakfast at Hyatt Place properties as a brand standard guarantee during the pandemic.
They dropped the requirement that you book direct to get breakfast, but also started charging non-elite guests for breakfast at some properties as a test. I hadn’t realized until recently that – four years later – this test continues, with the future of free Hyatt Place breakfast still uncertain.
A chain’s most valuable customers are its elite members, who deliver an outsized portion of room nights to hotels. To entice them, they’re promised benefits like upgrades and free breakfast.
Knowing that hotels are going to try to cheat, Hyatt spells out in its terms and conditions what the breakfast benefit is for Globalist members when no club lounge breakfast is offered.
A limited-service hotel’s self-serve continental breakfast had a tip jar beside the cereal tower, and even pre-seeded the jar with cash to imply that other guests are offering tips.
Many limited service hotels offer free breakfast, from Hampton Inn to Residence Inn to Best Western and Holiday Inn Express. It’s very rare that I’ve ever seen a hotel actually verify that you’re a guest before giving you access.
I’m surprised that so few people show up at these hotels and have breakfast! Then again, maybe people do?
The new IHG One Rewards elite program offers a huge improvement in elite benefits.
Diamond breakfast doesn’t start until June, but some hotels are rolling it out early, giving us a window into what to expect. Benefit delivery is always tough, and some hotels are going to be more generous adhering to the spirit of the program than others.
Gratuity is part of the cost of breakfast so for a breakfast to be considered complimentary guests must not be expected to pay cash out of pocket when they eat it. But the Delta Hotel Daytona Beach Oceanfront has figured out a way to charge elite guests a cash co-pay for their ‘free’ breakfast.
Your ‘free breakfast’ as a Marriott Platinum, Titanium, or Ambassador member is allowed to come off of a special limited menu. And it does not even have to include juice or coffee.
And here’s the important context. Hotels can get away with virtually anything at Marriott, and hotels in this particular ownership group usually try.
Hilton Honors should treat elites as well as my college dorm! They should provide a choice between free breakfast or the smaller dollar credit. Hilton would still manage their costs while providing guest flexibility. That would turn a controversial move into a win that customers would love.
Marriott hotels were allowed to close down their club lounges and restaurants during the pandemic. Even where they re-opened restaurants they might not honor elite breakfast, claiming that they weren’t fully staffed or hadn’t fully re-opened.
The elite brown bag breakfast of apple or banana and granola was born. In some cases a credit was offered towards breakfast in the restaurant instead of covering the meal entirely. That “flexibility” ends July 1.
Hilton announced a new food and beverage benefit that replaces breakfast at U.S. hotels starting in July and running through the end of 2021. They will offer a food and beverage credit for use any time at the hotel, including in-restaurant, for grab and go, or for room service.
That sounds great in theory – you can take your meal as it’s most convenient to you. However the devil is in the detail of how much that credit is for.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
