All Is Not Lost, You Can Still Get Free Breakfast At Some Hilton Hotels
News came out a few days ago that Hilton Honors elite members were losing their coveted free breakfast perk of Gold and Diamond status. This is being replaced by a daily credit and is supposed to only go on during the second half of the year. Many people think it will be the new norm and will be extended at the end of the year but we will have to wait and see. I personally like the change and am looking forward to it, but many people are not in agreement with me. Especially business travelers, which is understandable. But not all is lost, you can still get free breakfast at some Hilton Hotels.
Which Hotels Will Still Offer Free Breakfast?
Since this change was aimed at elites I assumed locations that offered free breakfast normally would be exempt. But no one knew for sure so I reached out to Hilton Honors on Twitter and this is what they had to say.
Hi Mark! The Hilton Honors Daily Food & Beverage Credit will begin early July at all luxury, full-service, lifestyle, and Hilton Garden Inn properties in the U.S. Based on that, properties – such as Hampton Inn brand – which include complimentary daily breakfast service are not included in this update.
A few different people brought up Embassy Suites in my article saying their entire family used to get breakfast there. Well, they still will! Because that breakfast was not a part of being a Hilton Gold or Diamond member. Here are the properties that offer free breakfast to all guests.
- Canopy
- Embassy Suites
- Hampton Inn
- Homewood Suites
- Home2 Suites
- Tru
These brands make up a pretty substantial amount of Hilton Hotels. If you really need free breakfast on your next trip then I would try to focus on these brands, assuming pricing is the same. If breakfast isn’t as big of a deal then you can book elsewhere and use the daily credit you would get on other things.
While this won’t work everywhere you go it is good to see that there will still be properties where you can get free breakfast at Hilton Hotels.
Final Thoughts
I thought I would pass along this info since there seemed to be the belief that all breakfast is gone everywhere. That is not the case, at least at the properties where you would get free breakfast anyway. Some seemed to think that breakfast at these locations were because of their status level, which it was not.
I am sure this will play a roll in where you book for the remainder of the year. I am hopeful things go back to normal in 2022 and that Hilton will add the credit option as an either or. That would be a nice change, and I would find myself taking the credit more often than not. But for business travelers, or people that want the simplicity of breakfast on site, you could still take that option.
I should point out that you can still use your credit on breakfast, it just may not be as bountiful as it was in the past.
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Yeah, the overreaction to this has been a bit much. We stayed at a Curio last month where the dine in restaurant was closed but they gave a $15pp credit for room service breakfast. Through some miracle we were able to obtain both food AND beverage in the morning without the world ending. (Cliffrose Inn in Springdale UT, english muffin breakfast sandwiches, idk how they made them- best I’ve ever had)
A good breakfast sandwich is one of the best things there is 🙂
Einstein Bros. Bagels *mic drop*
Have one a mile from my house 🙂
The bigger problem with Hilton is that they give Diamonds status to anyone willing to pay a $450 annual fee. And then they go a step further and give Gold status to anyone with a Platinum card.
Love or hate Marriott but ain’t no one getting Titanium status simply from holding a card. Even if you get 15 elite night credits from the personal and business cards you’re still going to need 45 more nights.
The free Diamond status from the Aspire is the reason I moved to Marriott. At Hilton everyone seems to have status…and when everyone has status it’s a first come first serve so if you have an evening arrival you’re pretty much never going to get an upgrade since anything to be had was given out to those who arrived at 3p.
I never noticed much of a difference between Gold and Diamond in the US and I think that was an even bigger problem.
Agree with above comments – all these hotels have already served free breakfast to everyone. It’s a lost benefit to elite members for the hotels where there isn’t free breakfast for everyone. Hopefully this isn’t something they will do for any length of time
The point is that many (including me) are upset that breakfast is being lost as a gold/diamond benefit. The fact that hampton inn and embassy suites already serve breakfast to everyone doesn’t have much to do with the discussion
People were confused about that though so I wanted to clarify the point.
All is lost (let’s be honest, the ‘nice’ hotels are the ones that matter here). Hilton is now at the bottom of the list when there are Hyatt or Marriott hotels. Maybe if they didn’t make diamond so easy to get or include gold they would be able to continue giving an actually free breakfast to their top elites instead of a ridiculous credit that barely covers a tip. They should have taken away the gold breakfast and that would have put them in line with the other chains – instead they decided to devalue an amenity expected by any top-tier member of a hotel loyalty program.
I think that would have made sense. I still think Hilton Gold is the best low/mid tier status out there (or one you get with a $95 card) even with these changes. Most places just give you a bottle of water for having that level. They should have left Diamond untouched.
The problem with no free breakfast is I check-in late. Get up early and need to eat before the day gets going. I would normally get the meal, checkout and be gone. If they now just give me a coupon that needs to be done that day I will not be there later that night to use it. Furthermore, I now have to wait and for someone to take my credit card and pay the overage on the voucher amount, then wait for the bill to come back and sign. Hilton certainly did not have their business guests in mind when they made this decision.