Hotel breakfasts are in the news. Details about buffets, grab-and-go’s, and veggie options aren’t exactly pushing inflated gas prices and the war in Ukraine off the front page, but two recent news stories show that breakfast is a hot topic in travel.
A couple of weeks after The Washington Post ran an article about the change in early morning offerings at hotels—downsized menus and upsized costs—Travel Weekly told readers that hot, comped breakfasts are back.
The Post story cites research saying that 35 percent of all U.S. hotels offer complimentary breakfast, 31 percent charge for breakfast, and the other 34 percent offer no on-site breakfast options. When asked about their experiences and opinions, NTA tour operators grabbed and ran with the topic.
Rolland Graham, owner of Mountain Outin Tours in Mission Viejo, California, provides a brief history of hotel breakfasts. He explains that, years ago, full-service hotels typically offered either dining room breakfast, with guests ordering on their own, or a buffet set up for the group in a conference room. The first option usually took too long, and the second was too expensive. And then limited-service hotels stepped in with a new approach.
“Over the years, competition forced the addition of, initially, a free continental breakfast, then hot items were added and the menu expanded,” Graham says. “And with these changes, I gradually shifted our tours to those brands that offered the most substantial breakfast selections.”
As long as the hotel staff continually refreshed the items, the free breakfasts fit the schedule—and lessened the cost—for Graham’s groups. But recently, he says, his options have diminished.
“Some limited-service hotels have gone full circle, back to offering either no breakfast or a grab-and-go breakfast,” he says. “Breakfast availability has once again become an issue for us.”
Other operators are feeling the pinch.
“Breakfast is a meal that we have always included on our tours, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage,” says Kelly Cooke, owner of New Hampshire-based Terrapin Tours. “We are known for having a higher-end product, and skimping on breakfast seems like a change that clients will notice, and we’re not able to explain in a brochure that we aren’t including breakfast because it’s $40 per person, per day. But, not including meals, especially breakfast, seems like we are opting to function like a budget tour operator.”
Cooke says that rising food costs, changes in policies, staffing issues, availability of buffets, and the charges and minimums to host a private banquet make breakfast “a train wreck and something that’s taking up way too much time.”
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