The Disappearing Hotel Breakfast
A complimentary hotel breakfast, once a standard feature of even modest accommodations across the United States, is quietly fading away. Major hotel chains, including Holiday Inn and Hyatt, are systematically scaling back or repackaging their free morning meal offerings as owners aggressively pursue savings in a still-turbulent post-pandemic economy.
Cost-Cutting Measures Revealed
Insiders report that standards have deteriorated significantly, with pastries sometimes left out for up to 24 hours before serving. Travel expert Gary Leff disclosed that Holiday Inn eliminated its complimentary à la carte breakfast at U.S. properties in December, replacing it with streamlined "minimal" buffets designed to operate with as few as one staff member.
Leff recently obtained a Holiday Inn breakfast manual distributed to hotel owners, revealing the extent of cost reductions. The "core menu," detailed on his website View From The Wing, includes a limited selection: two whole fruits, two cut fruits, three bulk cereals, and strictly specified topping lists. To further cut expenses, some buffet items may be reused.
Juice containers, for instance, are instructed to be wrapped in plastic, chilled, and served the next day for up to two shifts—though not refilled in the same vessel. Leff notes, "Almost everything is standardized and largely a convenience product." The use of branded ingredients like Pillsbury or Bridor frozen croissants, Quaker oatmeal, and Simply Orange ensures consistency but falls short of any "chef-driven" promise.
Industry-Wide Trend
Holiday Inn is not alone in this shift. Hyatt's Hyatt Place brand, long known for free breakfast, has also reduced its offerings. As part of a pilot program across over 40 U.S. properties, the chain removed complimentary breakfast for certain guests. Its website now states: "Wake up to free breakfast at The Breakfast Bar – offered at most hotels."
Instead, many hotel groups are adopting tiered room rates, with some packages including breakfast and others charging an additional fee. For travelers accustomed to a free hot meal upon waking, the perk now increasingly depends on booking rates and individual hotel owner decisions.
Post-Pandemic Acceleration
Leff told the Daily Mail that such cost-cutting measures "really accelerated after Covid." He explained, "Today, hotel owners are still looking to squeeze costs and improve margins. Hotel chains are allowing this within their brand standards because they're competing for owners to pick their brand. The chains don't own the real estate—they earn fees based on how many rooms operate."
An avid traveler himself, Leff observes that breakfast has been among the hardest-hit areas by cutbacks, with quality suffering as a result. "Hotel breakfast can be terrible or fantastic," he said. "We've seen cost cuts that allow it to skew more toward the former."
He personally favors à la carte, cooked-to-order breakfasts, describing them as a "genuine treat—an experience worth making time for." In contrast, buffets often serve merely to move guests in and out quickly. When opting for a buffet, he seeks quality espresso drinks, fresh pastries like marzipan-filled croissants, thick smoked bacon, and local specialties such as New York bagels.
Broader Impact Beyond Breakfast
Breakfast is not the only area affected by these austerity measures. Leff notes that housekeeping has also seen significant reductions, with fewer staff and the quiet disappearance of nightly turndown service. Many hotels have replaced small, individual toiletry bottles with bulk, wall-mounted dispensers, and some have removed in-room alarm clocks, assuming guests rely on their phones.
Financial Implications
However, trimming breakfast may not yield the financial benefits some owners anticipate. A 2024 study by CBRE found that hotels offering complimentary breakfast have outperformed those that do not. Since 2013, growth in revenue per available room more than doubled for brands with free breakfast compared to those without.
The analysis, based on public filings from major groups including Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott, and Wyndham, suggests that while free breakfast can be costly to provide, it often pays off in the long run.
