Free hotel breakfasts: Comparing what’s on the table

Good morning: Breakfast at the Best Western Plus Pepper Tree Inn, in Santa Barbara, Calif.

By Mark Chesnut

Free breakfast is pretty much the norm at mid-priced hotel chains in the United States and Canada.  And it can be a nice extra for both business travel and family vacations. But not every morning meal is the same; while orange juice, muffins and other continental-style offerings are fairly universal, other options vary based on the hotel brand and location. To help you tailor your hotel choice to your palate, here is a sample of what to expect with some major hoteliers.

Best Western
Most of this company’s hotels in North America serve free breakfast and Best Western encourages its individual properties to offer options with “local flair.” All hotels with free breakfast have a hot item such as waffles or pancakes. Some also offer eggs, a breakfast meat and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Embassy Suites
This chain, part of the Hilton family, offers a free, cooked-to-order breakfast that includes eggs, breakfast-style potatoes, pancakes and French toast.

Holiday Inn Express
The Express Start Breakfast Bar at Holiday Inn Express includes buffet-style hot breakfast items such as scrambled eggs or omelets, bacon or sausage and biscuits; selections rotate daily. Travelers looking to satisfy their sweet tooth can reach for the hot cinnamon rolls.

Home2 Suites
This new extended-stay Hilton brand features what it calls an “Inspired Table Breakfast,” with continental-style offerings as well as open-faced hot breakfast sandwiches heated with a conveyor oven.

Wyndham Hotel Group
Several of the company’s brands — including Wingate by Wyndham, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, Ramada, Days Inn, Baymont Inn & Suites and Howard Johnson — serve free breakfast. Beginning this past spring, Wingate by Wyndham and Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham began offering healthier food items as well as consistently branded coffee, juice and food items including pastries, muffins, bagels and eggs. Individual properties are now also allowed, with company approval, to provide regional specialties in addition to system-wide breakfast items.

Related resources

• Baltimore hotels
• Boston hotels
• Orlando hotels
• Phoenix hotels

Mark Chesnut is a travel writer, editor and publisher of LatinFlyer.com, which focuses on business and leisure travel to Latin America.

Tagged: California, Family time