Room upgrades and free breakfast are a perk when you have elite hotel status. Elite…
How to Get Free Breakfast at Hotels
Starting the day with a good breakfast when traveling can mean the difference between a great day and a bummer of a day. Especially if you hit any snags like canceled flights. That’s why it’s a good idea to stay at hotels with free breakfast. Not only will you save money but you’ll be fueled for your day.
There are three ways you can get free breakfast at hotels without paying extra: having elite status, using certain credit cards, and knowing which hotels include breakfast.
But not all hotels with free breakfast are alike. Some hotels offer a free continental breakfast, others offer a limited hot menu, and some let you order anything you want. Here’s how to get the best free breakfast at hotels.
Contents
Elite Hotel Status Gets You Free Breakfast
Some hotels give free breakfast if you’re an elite member of their loyalty program:
- Club Carlson Concierge status (free continental breakfast)
- Hilton Gold and Diamond status (free continental breakfast instead of points at Conrad, Curio, Doubletree, Hilton, and Hilton Garden Inn. Some hotels give you a free full breakfast aka order off the menu.)
- Hyatt Diamond status (free full breakfast aka order off the menu for hotels without a Regency or Grand Club)
- Marriott Gold and Platinum (Free full breakfast aka order off the menu for hotels without a lounge)
- Starwood Platinum status (free continental breakfast. Some hotels provide a full breakfast.)
I know what you’re thinking, “I don’t stay at hotels enough to earn elite status.” But no worries, there’s a shortcut to getting hotel elite status.
Two words: credit cards
Free Hotel Breakfast From Credit Cards
Hilton and Marriott
Not only do credit cards help your credit and get you free trips and lots of other benefits, you can also get free breakfast.
You get free hotel elite status with these credit cards which equals free breakfast at Hilton and Marriott hotels:
- Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve
- Hilton HHonors Surpass Card from American Express
- Ritz-Carlton Rewards
Ritz-Carlton is part of the Marriott brand of hotels. You get Ritz-Carlton Gold status from the Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card which gives you free breakfast when you stay at Marriott hotels.
Free Breakfast at Other Hotels
You can get free hotel breakfast at other hotels as part of your American Express Platinum and Visa Signature card benefits.
American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts
If you have an American Express Platinum (personal) or (business) card, you get free daily breakfast for two people when you book your hotel stay through American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts.
There are no fees to use the American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts program because it’s a free added benefit of your American Express Platinum card.
Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection
Like American Express, Visa also offers a hotel program that’s free for all Visa Signature cardholders. And when you make your hotel reservation through the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection you get free daily continental breakfast.
Here’s a list of several airline miles and credit card point cards that include the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection benefit:
- British Airways
- Chase Sapphire Preferred
- Club Carlson
- Fairmont
- FlexPerks Travel Rewards
- Freedom
- Citi Hilton
- Citi Hilton Reserve
- Hyatt
- Ink Cash
- Ink Plus
- Marriott Rewards
- Marriott Rewards Premier
- Ritz-Carlton
- Southwest Plus
- Southwest Premier (personal) or (business) – You can fly free for two years with these cards.
- United MileagePlus Club
- United MileagePlus Explorer
- Virgin America
- Virgin America Premium
Hotels With Free Breakfast for Everyone
You can get free breakfast at certain hotels without having elite status, credit cards, or having to pay more for a room with a breakfast rate. All these hotels include free breakfast for everyone in the room.
But the type of breakfast varies depending on the hotel. So be sure to see which hotels with free breakfast serve the breakfast you want.
Best Western
Free breakfast is included with every stay at:
- Best Western (hot breakfast)
- Best Western Plus (hot breakfast)
- Best Western Premier (hot breakfast)
Choice
You get free breakfast when you stay at:
- Comfort Inn (hot breakfast)
- Comfort Suites (hot breakfast)
- EconoLodge (continental breakfast)
- MainStay Suites (continental breakfast)
- Quality Inn (hot breakfast)
- Sleep Inn (hot breakfast)
Club Carlson
Every guest at Country Inn & Suites gets free hot breakfast.
Hilton
You get free breakfast at these Hilton hotels:
- Canopy by Hilton (continental breakfast)
- Embassy Suites (hot breakfast)
- Hampton Inn (hot breakfast)
- Home2 Suites (continental breakfast)
- Homewood Suites (hot breakfast)
Hyatt
Breakfast is included at:
- Hyatt House (hot breakfast)
- Hyatt Place (hot breakfast)
- Hyatt Zilara (all-inclusive hotel)
- Hyatt Ziva (all-inclusive hotel)
IHG – Intercontinental Hotels Group
Free hot breakfast is included at all Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites hotels.
Marriott
You get free breakfast at these Marriott hotels:
- Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott (hot breakfast)
- Residence Inn by Marriott (continental breakfast)
- SpringHill Suites by Marriott (continental breakfast)
- TownePlace Suites by Marriott (hot breakfast)
Starwood
A hot breakfast is included at Element hotels.
Wyndham
You can enjoy free breakfast at:
- Baymont Inn (hot breakfast)
- Days Inn (hot breakfast)
- Howard Johnson (continental breakfast)
- Knights Inn (continental breakfast)
- Microtel (continental breakfast)
- Ramada (continental breakfast at most locations)
- Super 8 (hot breakfast)
- Travelodge (continental breakfast)
Conclusion
You can save money and start your day with a free breakfast when you travel, if you know which hotels offer free breakfast.
Some hotels include free breakfast with all stays. But make sure you know what type of breakfast you’re getting. Because some hotels offer a hot breakfast while others only offer a continental breakfast.
You can also get free breakfast at Club Carlson, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Starwood hotels if you are an elite member in their loyalty program.
All isn’t lost because you can still get free breakfast even if you aren’t loyal to a hotel, simply by having certain credit cards. The American Express Platinum (personal) or (business) gets you free daily breakfast when you make your hotel reservation using the American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts program.
And if you have a Visa Signature card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you get free daily continental breakfast when you book your hotel through the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection.
Which are your favorite hotels with free breakfast?
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About Debra Schroeder
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Thank you so much for all of your great posts on saving and getting freebies when we travel. Your posts have saved me so much money. I love it!
The best part about travelling are free breakfasts! Love your tips here and I am surely to try some of them out.
These are great tips. I will be doing a lot of traveling this year. I always try to look for a hotel that offers a free breakfast.
I make sure to choose the hotel that offers free breakfast whenever we travel. Then, we usually go late, so we can just have a very light lunch. These are great tips.
What an extensive list! I love how you laid everything out. We rarely use the free breakfast, despite our efforts in booking them!
Who doesn’t want free? I always looking for a hotel that has the best offer. I’m really happy to see these hotels that has free breakfast. These are such a brilliant list of hotels.
These are such a great list of hotels that has free breakfast! Mostly of hotels are not giving a free breakfast like these hotels.
I love staying at hotels that offer complimentary breakfast. It definitely helps cut down costs, because eating out while traveling can be costly.
Breakfast can be so expensive especially if you have to go to a sit-down restaurant. We typically book hotels that offer free breakfast.
There are a lot of hotels that offer free breakfast. We always make sure to go to the ones that do. That way you are saving money by getting free breakfast, and you don’t have to go somewhere to find breakfast.
I actually assumed that most hotels gave free breakfast until I traveled to New York! This will definitely become handy when I am traveling again to the USA.
The last time I stayed in Atlanta I booked through hotel.com and we were able to get a nice room at the Marriot and it included breakfast at the bistro for one low price.
These are such great tips! There really is so many awesome ways to save on travel. I love my travel credit card – it’s so easy to earn points for miles!
I love hotels that have free breakfast but it definitely has to be a good breakfast. I’ve seen some hotels with free breakfast that should not be served at all, free or paid. – yolonda