More and More Hotel Chains Are Backing Away From Free Breakfast

I love road trips, big or small. And if they are big (or even medium-sized), I'm probably going to stay overnight somewhere, at least for one night.

When we're on the road, we're frugal, and breakfast is a meal I don't ever want to pay very much for, to begin with. Yes, it is the most important meal of the day; I've heard that my whole life. I don't know if that's necessarily true, but I recognize the difference when I skip it. But I can get everything I need out of breakfast on the cheap. And in recent years, if not decades, those free hotel breakfasts have graduated from cold cereal and pastries to scrambled eggs, biscuits & gravy, and waffles. Sometimes there's even sausage.

The End of Complimentary Breakfast?

But if you're a fan of free hotel breakfast like I am, you may be none too happy that there are hotel chains that have decided to cut back, if not end, the free breakfast amenity.

Hyatt Place, one of the Hyatt chain's biggest brands, has eliminated it in more than 40 of its properties, instead favoring a pilot program in which breakfast is now an option and a reason you'd pay more.

The Points Guy cited an example from a Hyatt Place in Niagara Falls, which utilizes a pilot program for breakfast. For a mid-November, say, you're out $104, but it goes up to $118 if you want breakfast.

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The Best Complimentary Hotel Breakfasts

See? Call me a cheapskate, but I don't want to pay $14 for breakfast when I know I'm going to have to pay more for lunch or dinner later on. Also, not every hotel is losing this wonderful amenity. That's good news for, among others, Sam Reid, whose guide I find invaluable.

In Fortune's deep dive into this new practice, it referenced a graphic from CBRE that shows how desirable complementary amenities make a hotel in the eyes of the consumer. Fortune also spoke with the hotel's research head of a global real estate services company (JLL), who indicated that the cutback is due to guests being more and more interested in exploring local cuisine rather than staying at the hotel.

Okay, I'm down with research, but we're talking breakfast. I love exploring local cuisine, but that happens at lunch and dinner. I don't need a fancy and overpriced breakfast to get my day started.