# Why do hotels usually offer "free" (LOL) breakfast?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 28, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220 "2017-03-28T14:16:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/101 "2017-03-29T21:08:35Z")
It took me a LOOOOOONG time to get over the feeling that I was doing something stupid/wrong by NOT eating the provided breakfast in such a motel/hotel/inn. It was only after figuring out that the cost of a room at such places rarely exceeds the cost of rooms at comparable places that don’t offer a free breakfast that I got over the sense that I was being fiscally wasteful skipping the breakfast.
Having said that, I love eating at most Hampton Inns; the rotation usually includes both the super-salty sausage patties and the paper-thin unlimited bacon. Two out of three mornings clogging my arteries is always worthwhile. When they add in the option of a nice cheese omelet, several different danish/pastries and unlimited cranberry juice, I’m all over it.
Unless I can go out and get a really good breakfast somewhere else locally.
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### Author:  [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/102 "2017-03-29T21:20:59Z")
I grew up working as a breakfast cook at a restaurant that was attached to a hotel. It was a family place, not a chain. No free breakfast. Maybe because it was a resort town with mostly family owned places (and an abundance of restaurants) I don’t think anyone offered free breakfasts.
I am not much of traveler or spender. I’m frugal and a breakfast person. I would rather eat a good breakfast than any other meal. I have only stayed in 2 hotels in the last 7-8 years. They were both Embassy Suites. They offered very good breakfast, IMHO. There was a buffet but you could also order things like made to order omelets. They also had “free” happy hours and other cool amenities. I would not classify them as a cheap place but they were inexpensive. I didn’t see anyone in the lobby in pajamas but you can see that at every grocery store or general store in my area.
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/103 "2017-03-29T21:38:51Z")
> [@BeeGee](#):
>
> For the record, “federal per diem rates” vary. GSA rates are broken down by meals:
> [https://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/101518](https://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/101518)
>
> The Defense Travel Management Office lumps all meals together:
> [http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/perdiemCalc.cfm](http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/perdiemCalc.cfm)
Yep. Here, we deduct the meal if it is provided at the conference, etc. But I don’t know that we go as far as to research each hotel; it’s more of an honor system that you would deduct any provided meals.
> [@Mean Mr. Mustard](#):
>
> Are you kidding? Is there anything better than lifting that heavy metal lid to reveal dozens of bacon strips nestled together like cordwood, free for the taking? FREE, I tells ya!
Yes. Lifting it to see a massive pile of link sausage.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/104 "2017-03-29T21:53:25Z")
Last hotel I stayed at was in west Queens and had a free breakfast. It proved convenient for the girlfriend and me to get some cereal, bacon/eggs and they had one of those waffle things… before we walked to one of the nearby subway stations to head into Manhattan for the day.
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### Author:  [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2017, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/105 "2017-03-29T22:32:41Z")
> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> I was on the Canadian federal treasury board plan. Whether they allowed a breakfast reimbursement or not was immaterial. I was working for a crown corporation and NOT claiming the per diem when breakfast was included with the accommodations was certainly the right call, and my manager made sure we abided by it.
>
> One guy said he didn’t want the freebee, and so he ate elsewhere: too bad, said she.
We use the Defense Travel rates. You get a check before leaving that covers your hotel, rental car, meals and incidentals. When you get back, you turn in receipts for your hotel and rent car to show for the major expenses. Meals and incidentals, no one wants to know. I think they figured out that it was far too costly to pay someone to review roughly 2000 meal receipts a month in a world of no separate checks. You get your $37 and how you spend it is your business. Much simpler.
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### Author:  [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/106 "2017-03-29T22:34:38Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> Are you kidding? Is there anything better than lifting that heavy metal lid to reveal dozens of bacon strips nestled together like cordwood, free for the taking? FREE, I tells ya!
> mmm
If what I found was hot crisp bacon it would be great however my experience is that it is lukewarm bacon congealing in fat or reconstituted dry eggs.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/107 "2017-03-29T23:02:43Z")
> [@BeeGee](#):
>
> We use the Defense Travel rates. You get a check before leaving that covers your hotel, rental car, meals and incidentals. …
That’s a great idea, but $37 a day for meals and incidentals? That can’t be right. The Canadian rate was closer to about $70 USD per day.
Sent from my adequate mobile device using Tapatalk.
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### Author:  [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/108 "2017-03-30T02:46:32Z")
> [@BeeGee](#):
>
> We use the Defense Travel rates. You get a check before leaving that covers your hotel, rental car, meals and incidentals. When you get back, you turn in receipts for your hotel and rent car to show for the major expenses. Meals and incidentals, no one wants to know. I think they figured out that it was far too costly to pay someone to review roughly 2000 meal receipts a month in a world of no separate checks. You get your $37 and how you spend it is your business. Much simpler.
$37 a day? I got the idea from the Defense Travel website that they use GSA rates for the continental US , and those start at $51 a day for meals and incidentals
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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### Author:  [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/109 "2017-03-30T11:31:23Z")
> [@Ruken](#):
>
> I’d fire my manager if she treated me like that.
Why?
Isn’t the reason you would hire a manager to instruct staff and enforce company policy?
That’s exactly what she was doing.
FTR, the Canadian government and all crown corporations budgets are under constant media and public scrutiny. All too often, there’s a front page scandal involving politicians, departments and/or government agents overspending, illegitimate expense claims, travel costs, unnecessary service costs, etc…
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/110 "2017-03-30T21:23:34Z")
> [@BeeGee](#):
>
> We use the Defense Travel rates. You get a check before leaving that covers your hotel, rental car, meals and incidentals. When you get back, you turn in receipts for your hotel and rent car to show for the major expenses. Meals and incidentals, no one wants to know. I think they figured out that it was far too costly to pay someone to review roughly 2000 meal receipts a month in a world of no separate checks. You get your $37 and how you spend it is your business. Much simpler.
I agree with this. I used to travel on a DoD contract all the time. If the hotel supplied “free” (included would be a better word) breakfast, that’s eight or nine bucks of my per diem that I get to keep rather than spend. Even if the hotel cost a tad more, as long as it was under the upper limit, nobody cared.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/111 "2017-03-30T21:30:12Z")
> [@BeeGee](#):
>
> We use the Defense Travel rates. You get a check before leaving that covers your hotel, rental car, meals and incidentals. When you get back, you turn in receipts for your hotel and rent car to show for the major expenses. Meals and incidentals, no one wants to know. I think they figured out that it was far too costly to pay someone to review roughly 2000 meal receipts a month in a world of no separate checks. You get your $37 and how you spend it is your business. Much simpler.
The County I work for used to do that. Here’s your check for x amount of days out of town. Do with it as you please.
I saw it as x amount of dollars for the in-convenience of being away from home. I think that’s how it should be seen. Not $11 for breakfast, $20 for lunch or whatever silliness.
Now, we have credit cards and have to watch how much we spend on them, and keep receipts (the credit card statement should be the receipt). And god help you if you have a beer with dinner. Oh, dear, that must go on a separate check that you pay for out of your own pocket. It’s childish.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/112 "2017-03-30T22:03:38Z")
That’s certainly my attitude and that of most of my coworkers. We get an hourly allowance. Leave home base on Tuesday at 10am and get back on Friday at 8 pm that’s 14+24+24+20 = 82 hours \* $X/hour = $Y. Whether you eat it, drink it, gamble it, or pocket it is your choice.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/113 "2017-04-05T23:06:36Z")
Based on my experience with bed and breakfast establishments, they should be called “bed and a bowl of cold cereal”.
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/114 "2017-04-06T00:23:35Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#):
>
> Based on my experience with bed and breakfast establishments, they should be called “bed and a bowl of cold cereal”.
That’s cause Phil Connors stole the toaster. ☹
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### Author:  [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/115 "2017-04-09T22:13:39Z")
I forgot to reply to this thread a while back and no one seems to have covered it.
The main reason this continental breakfasts seem universal is that they are directly required to get higher ratings from groups such as the AAA
As an example a two diamond rating requires at least:
> [@](#):
>
> If an on-premise restaurant is not
> available, standard continental breakfast
> is served in a good-size area in, or
> adjacent to, the lobby; limited seating is
> available
Some chains or branded properties like courtyard line has a “Bistro” to meet the AAA requirements while also matching other rating systems to hit their target market.
> [@](#):
>
> In lieu of breakfast area:
> One full-service outlet or food court
Basically it is a requirement to even get your facility listed and or rated.
This is why even placement on properties of lets say La Quinta being next to a restaurant like Dennys in a regional basis will still have minimal service.
I am not arguing that there is not a population of customers that need or want these services but the primary driver is meeting the requirements for particular rating systems. The cost of having minimal continental breakfast service is much lower than failing to meet AAA ratings even if the food often goes to waste.
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### Author:  [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/116 "2017-04-09T22:45:55Z")
I worked as a Night Auditor,
As the bacon got crunchier, the more breakfasts it had attended.
Day six, I got a present in the office fridge from the chef.
Good times!
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### Author:  [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2017, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/117 "2017-04-09T23:12:09Z")
From my observation…
Price difference in hotels with and without free breakfast — None
they generally all fall into the same price brackets.
Continental breakfast = 3 day old stale sweet rolls and luke warm brown water labeled coffee.
I would not actually want the rolls if fresh, that is not breakfast.
The places that have an actual breakfast are not bad.
Usually have milk juice coffee tea various cold cereals, a hot cereal like oatmeal or grits, rolls eggs bacon toast and a table to sit at.
And all you have to do is walk down stairs.
It isn’t the Waldorf Astoria, but it also did not cost $675 per night
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/118 "2017-04-11T00:22:15Z")
Free breakfast is a way to fill rooms on off nights. It is probably popular and doesn’t cost too much to do.
Sometimes it is a gluttonous mass of pastries and carbs. Sometimes it includes fruit and toast, juice and cereal. Unlimited bacon has some appeal, but if you’re talking smoked salmon than the game is on.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/119 "2017-04-11T00:33:06Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#):
>
> This is why even placement on properties of lets say La Quinta being next to a restaurant like Dennys in a regional basis will still have minimal service.
“La Quinta” - Spanish for “Next to Dennys”
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### Author:  [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hotels-usually-offer-free-lol-breakfast/783220/120 "2017-04-11T01:18:23Z")
While it is a PDF WARNING here is a link that will show how specific the requirements from orgs like the AAA provide.
> **[Criteres\_approbation\_hotel\_en.pdf](https://www.caaquebec.com/fileadmin/documents/PDF/Sur_la_route/Hotels_et_restaurants/Criteres_approbation_hotel_en.pdf)**
>
> 1086.89 KB
If you pay attention to the materials used in the bathtub/shower you will see these price point requirements are always related.
Note how crazy specific it gets like:
> [@](#):
>
> Facial tissues in chrome, wall-mounted covers
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