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In some unspecified time in the future within the Nineteen Eighties and 90s, the free sizzling breakfast grew to become a staple of the hospitality business. At many a Vacation Inn or Hampton Inn, the foyer at 8 a.m. is a pinwheel of pajama-clad children, frazzled dad and mom, and solo enterprise vacationers jockeying for place in entrance of the waffle maker. In the meantime, self-serve cereal bars dispense Froot Loops and Fortunate Charms, and sizzling platters of infinite eggs and turkey sausage steam beneath warmth lamps. For a lot of, this breakfast unfold is a part of the enchantment of journey. It endures to today, however it’s going through new financial threats and evolving lodge enterprise fashions.
At lodges, which have been ditching objects like free soaps and even lavatory doorways to economize, the free breakfast is a sacred cow that some fear is not going to survive, more and more seen by lodge operators as an cash pit consuming into the skinny margins of the enterprise. Final yr, Hyatt Motels‘ Hyatt Place model eliminated free breakfast from 40 of its properties. Vacation Inn, owned by IHG, has adopted a breakfast buffet mannequin throughout nearly all of its U.S. operations with a la carte objects nonetheless obtainable at choose places — a cost-cutting measure that preserves the breakfast providing whereas decreasing labor and meals waste.
Gary Leff, who runs the journey weblog View from the Wing and first reported on Vacation Inn’s breakfast adjustments, stated that the menace to the free breakfast must be considered inside the broader pattern within the lodging business to search for methods to chop prices for house owners. “That goes far past breakfasts, to issues like housekeeping — much less usually throughout a keep, much less in depth when it is finished throughout a keep — to bulk toiletries fairly than particular person mini-bottles to eliminating merchandise like alarm clocks in rooms,” Leff stated.
Regardless of the free breakfast’s endurance, the mathematics by no means added up for the enterprise, in accordance with Curtis Crimmins, the CEO and founding father of boutique lodge idea Roomza. “It was a loyalty play — a loss chief meant to drive signups, repeat bookings, and prolonged model loyalty. I’d argue that when free breakfast makes the shift from being a ‘shock and delight’ endearing second to an expectation, then its days are numbered,” Crimmins stated. “On the lookout for proof of this sluggish demise in your common Vacation Inn Categorical breakfast space? Look no additional than the current explosion of ‘Seize and Go’ choices. That is not a coincidence,” he stated.
Leff says that catering to a extra prosperous buyer, as within the case of Hyatt Motels, might supply operators extra latitude to get rid of breakfast.
A Hyatt spokesperson stated whereas the corporate has “examined breakfast choices at choose Hyatt Place lodges that provide visitors the flexibility to guide charges that don’t embody breakfast … Most Hyatt Place lodges within the U.S. proceed to supply complimentary breakfast to all visitors.”
Evaluations are ongoing. “As a part of our ongoing dedication to delivering worth to our visitors, together with World of Hyatt members, we’re frequently evaluating breakfast choices that greatest serve our visitors and our lodges,” the Hyatt spokesperson stated.
Leff says Hyatt has not launched information on the trial, and lots of visitors most likely simply assume breakfast might be free once they guide at this level. “Unclear but whether or not Hyatt can get away with not doing limited-service breakfast,” he stated.
Within the present economic system with higher-income customers main the spend, luxurious has been a vibrant spot inside journey. Marriott Worldwide CEO Anthony Capuano describes the lodge enterprise proper now as being emblematic of the Ok-shaped economic system receiving a lot consideration. “There are financial headwinds and a few uncertainty however we proceed to see the buyer prioritizing journey and experiences,” Capuano advised CNBC’s “Squawk on the Avenue” final week after its most up-to-date earnings. “Luxurious was an actual spotlight for us,” Capuano stated, including that 10 % of Marriott’s portfolio is within the luxurious tier.
Marriott has made breakfast adjustments in some abroad luxurious places. For occasion, the Regis Macao eradicated free breakfast for Platinum, Titanium, and Ambassador loyalty members as of March 2025 and changed it with bonus factors or discounted breakfast as an alternative. Some Reddit customers have posted this month about free omelettes disappearing from Marriott breakfast bars and now being a part of the paid full breakfast buffet, however a Marriott spokesman stated that isn’t a company-wide coverage and, if true, can be particular person lodge operators making that call.
Nearly all of vacationers anticipate free breakfast
The buyer cut up is resulting in a bifurcation of breakfast fashions, with higher-end clients going in direction of paid eggs benedict and selfmade croissants whereas middle- and lower-income customers crowd the free buffet.
To make sure, Individuals like their lodge breakfast. Amongst visitors who partake of lodge meals and beverage throughout their keep, the overwhelming majority (78%) eat breakfast within the lodge, in accordance with the 2025 JD Energy North America Resort Visitor Satisfaction Examine. Of that 78 %, solely 8 % is paid, primarily at higher tier lodges the place the pattern is taking root.
Andrea Stokes, hospitality observe lead at JD Energy, stated that information suggests visitors proceed to price breakfast as an essential a part of their lodge keep. “This proportion is even increased at limited-service higher midscale and midscale lodge manufacturers the place complimentary breakfast is usually a part of the lodge model’s normal providing,” Stokes stated.
When JD Energy asks higher midscale and midscale lodge visitors to price the significance of lodge options or facilities, about half (47%) price complimentary breakfast as “need-to-have” (versus solely nice-to-have).
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Mitchell Murray, CEO of Station Home Inn and three different boutique lodges in Lake Tahoe, California, says whereas giant chain lodges can supply economies of scale, free breakfast can account for roughly 5% of whole income, nearer to six–7% as soon as labor is included. “That is a significant price, and lots of operators are asking, ‘Does free breakfast really generate 5% extra income or bookings?’ In lots of instances, the reply isn’t any,” Murray stated. He added that when breakfast is free, high quality usually suffers — assume mediocre espresso, watery eggs, frozen potatoes. “It is edible, however hardly ever memorable or value-adding,” Murray stated.
One among Murray’s properties is a Vacation Inn Categorical which he’s transitioning to an unbiased lodge this yr and the place he plans to dispose of the free breakfast after the change, as soon as free of company mandates. Main lodge model franchisors have particular model requirements that franchisees should adhere to, and this contains meals and beverage requirements.
Greatest Western, although, has no plans to unplug the waffle iron. “Providing a complimentary breakfast is a crucial a part of our visitor expertise throughout a lot of our portfolio,” stated the lodge chain’s CEO Larry Cuculic. “For vacationers, free breakfast simplifies the keep, delivers significant worth and influences reserving and loyalty selections, particularly within the midscale and upper-midscale segments,” Cuculic stated.
Cuculic says the economics nonetheless make sense: breakfast helps visitor satisfaction and repeat enterprise, by leveraging the buying energy of its in depth lodge community, Greatest Western might help lodges handle prices whereas sustaining high quality and consistency, “making breakfast each a pleasant touchpoint for visitors and a driver of long-term loyalty,” he stated.
Vacation Inn Categorical is additionally standing by the free breakfast bar. “Breakfast performs a crucial function in our worth proposition and continues to be a serious purpose why vacationers select to stick with us – it is one thing they know, belief, and anticipate from our model, “stated Justin Alexander, vice chairman, world model administration for Vacation Inn Categorical, Staybridge Suites & Candlewood Suites.
How adjustments to lodge menu will affect journey planning
Resort breakfast components into the journey planning of Aimee Misovich and her household. The Holland, Michigan, resident stated that her household are Hilton Honors members. “So we at all times keep at their properties — usually, Embassy Suites, Homewood or Hampton Inn. All three nonetheless supply free lodge breakfasts,” Misovich stated, including that she likes the range provided.
“Homewoods started providing in a single day oats and chia puddings. I do partake of the latter. Different instances I am going to simply have a bagel with cream cheese, or a sausage patty inside a bagel for a breakfast sandwich of types,” Misovich stated. Whereas she added that the standard can fluctuate from property to property, the breakfasts are nonetheless interesting.
“I actually hope Hilton retains their free breakfasts! In any case, they’re not likely ‘free’—I am certain they’re factored one way or the other into room costs,” Misovich stated. She additionally famous that meals she eats at lodge breakfasts are hardly ever ones she eats at house, “so they are a deal with to me after we journey.”
The meals and beverage providing, even when just for breakfast service, generally is a key differentiator for limited-service lodge manufacturers. “Any lodges that take into account scaling again or eliminating free breakfast should give attention to demonstrating worth in different methods,” Stokes stated.
Rita Chaddad, a school member who teaches programs on tourism and hospitality administration at Columbia Southern College, predicts that free breakfast will proceed to be eradicated within the luxurious manufacturers however stay in some kind elsewhere, although vacationers ought to anticipate extra adjustments to return.
“Breakfast is more likely to stay, however the mannequin might turn into extra segmented,” Chaddad stated. In upper-midscale settings, lodges could also be extra prepared to supply breakfast via credit, optionally available add-ons, or focused inclusion — for instance, via packages or loyalty advantages. “In these tiers, lodges might have extra flexibility to switch ‘free’ with perceived worth in different kinds, supplied it’s communicated nicely and the visitor feels the trade-off is truthful,” Chaddad stated.
However she added that most of the middle-tier lodges compete on easy, seen worth, and breakfast is among the clearest indicators of that worth, so there’s danger of backlash whether it is utterly eradicated. “Eradicating it might create a perceived loss that will outweigh operational financial savings, even when the lodge’s general price construction improves behind the scenes. For value-oriented vacationers, breakfast is usually interpreted as a part of the ‘deal,’ and dropping it might complicate the visitor’s psychological math when evaluating properties,” Chaddad stated.
Chaddad stated lodges will more and more play with the providing, and past higher-tier lodges, vacationers must be looking out for brand spanking new fashions exhibiting up as room-only versus breakfast-included decisions, breakfast provided via packages or loyalty advantages, or different redesigned codecs that management prices whereas protecting the profit seen to visitors. “The shift could also be much less about eliminating breakfast and extra about adjusting who receives it, how it’s delivered, and the way clearly it’s priced or bundled,” she stated.
Whereas a few of these adjustments might add to the lodge backside line, they might include an added emotional price. “My children and I’d be actually unhappy in the event that they discontinue free lodge breakfasts. It is a part of the enjoyable of touring,” stated East Tennessee resident Joanne Peterson.