The battle rages between Marriott hotel owners who feel that offering complimentary breakfast or lounge access eats into their margins and Marriott Bonvoy elites, who believe that breakfast is a non-negotiable benefit. A new survey from Marriott directed toward elites attempts to discern whether there is a third-way concerning breakfast, but I simply do not see one.
New Marriott Bonvoy Elite Survey Probes Breakfast Benefits, Late Checkout
We’ve seen case after case of hotels attempting to restrict or otherwise skirt the Mariott Bonvoy elite breakfast benefit, especially as we have emerged from the pandemic. It is clear why: offering a complimentary breakfast cuts into margins (both the cost of providing breakfast and the lost revenue from elites not spending more for it). On the other hand, we have seen that free breakfast is a huge deal to Bonvoy elites and that any attempts to whittle down this benefit will be met with fierce complaining.
It is in that context that Loyalty Lobby shares details about a new survey that went out to select Marriott Bonvoy elite members this week that touches on this subject:
Would you ever consider opting out of using or receiving the following Elite benefits in favor of receiving points?
• Complimentary breakfast
• Lounge access
If you answer yes, that is then followed up with a question of how many points.
Right now, you can choose between a paltry amount of points (like 1,000, which is worth only about $5.00) or daily breakfast for your whole stay (which can be worth hundreds of dollars depending upon how many guests are in the room and how many nights your stay is).
It’s a no-brainer. You choose breakfast. Maybe if a meaningful amount of points were offered, more would opt out of breakfast or lounge access, but that would cost money too and therefore does not strike me as a realistic alternative.
Bonvoy Elites were also asked what they valued more, early check-in or late check-out.
The Problem of Elite Status
With elite status relatively easy to obtain via credit card spending, hotels are facing a problem: too many people qualify for late checkout, which is impossible to offer on a widespread basis without failing to honor published check-in times. You cannot check people into a room at 3:00 pm if that room is occupied until 4:00 pm.
But I want to return to breakfast and the idea of loyalty which I tend to think these Marriott hotels pushing back against breakfast fail to understand.
Loyalty is a two-way street and we often (absolutely irrationally so, I must add) pay extra for the branded hotel of our choice simply due to our proclivity to run the hamster wheel of elite status. We tell ourselves (and often fool ourselves) that we ultimately save money by being loyal to one chain, but in many cases were are justifying paying significantly more for a hotel because of the St. Regis or Ritz Carlton or Westin logo on it than we would a comparable independent product.
But the free breakfast benefit and late checkout are like hypnosis. Take those away, however, and what good is elite status? The occasional suite upgrade? For better or for worse, breakfast and late check-out are the two primary drivers of hotel elite status.
CONCLUSION
Take that away free breakfast or late checkout and you make many more people free agents, unwilling to pay the extra to stay in branded Marriott properties. Hotel owners want to enjoy the marketing benefits that come from falling under the Mariott family without offering the modest benefits to Bonvoy elite members that are part of the package. But as this survey indicates, it remains a massive sticking point between hotels and customers, with Marriott in the middle. I remain convinced that it will not end well for Marriott or most of its franchises if these benefits are taken away.
image: Marriott
Mandarin Oriental makes breakfast one of 5 or so benefit options for each stay, and you get to choose only two of them each stay.
No ‘status’ needed for that – it’s their direct booking loyalty program.
Elite breakfast is so overrated you are right many may be paying more in the end.
A smarter way to reserve Mandarin Oriental is with Fan Club benefits, through a Fan Club travel advisor. You get an upgrade if available, welcome amenity, birthday or anniversary amenity if you’re celebrating, daily breakfast for two, and $100 dining or spa credit, so more than you do with Fans of MO. And you don’t need an Amex Plat.
FWIW I’m a MO Fan and have booked both with AMEX FHR and through a MO Fan Club travel agent. Was upgraded once on a AMEX FHR booking but never on MO Fan Club travel agent. This week a friend of mine went to the MO Barcelona and received a tremendous suite as a MO Fan vs. booking through an agency. YMMV.
Wow, so you’re saying if I stay at the Mandarin juice whatever in the 3 cities they’re located out of Nowhere, China, I may get free breakfast?
Greg, get a life. Seriously. Call someone called Ben in Florida and ask him to take Kia and Kilometer and the four of you can go to Boring Anonymous.
Tell me you’re a moron who’s never left the red states without telling me you’re a backward moron who’s never left the red states. Please don’t get any ideas that you might want to visit a blue state or another country or a purple or blue state. You’d hate ’em.
I don’t know if I would say breakfast or late checkouts are the *primary* driver of elite status. For me, personally, the primary driver is enhanced point earnings. Breakfast and late checkout are appreciated if they are available. The occasional upgrade is something that also has value.
Hilton, which is a very successful loyalty program, doesn’t offer late checkout in any meaningful way, has made its breakfast benefit in the US a bit less generous, and essentially has no lounges in the US. So there is a counterexample.
The reasons you have mentioned make me question why anybody would be loyal to Hilton in the United States. I understand that people are, but I truly don’t get it.
I don’t understand why anyone would be loyal to any hotel program. Join the loyalty program sure. Check if the benefits from the program offsets any increased price, yes. Maybe even value elite status with the program enough to book a couple of stays that would otherwise go to another hotel. But loyal to the program? I’m loyal to my family and myself, and I’ll book the hotel or BnB that is best for us.
Probably too many people with status. When I traveled more (not for work) I did enjoy the free Hilton breakfasts. I’m not a big breakfast eater so a pastry, cold or hot drink and an apple is sufficient.
For families (with a couple of kids) I can see a free breakfast saving them a bunch of money compared to going out somewhere and blowing $50-75. Most hotel breakfasts are horribly over priced. It doesn’t take much time or money to make pancakes or a bowl of cereal. We aren’t talking steaks/filets.
I completely agree with your analysis. As someone who often works remotely, late checkout has become extremely important to me. It is now the #1 reason i stick with Marriott. If i have to work until close to 4pm, I simply cannot even consider any other chain besides Hyatt if i’m checking out that day. I have had one experience in which i really had to work until 4 and the hotel tried to deny late checkout. It took a lot of push back before they relented.
Regarding breakfast, if i’m looking at a nicer property, that often factors into the decision process when deciding where to stay.
In both scenarios, if I knew in advance that a hotel wasn’t going to honor benefits, i would plan to stay somewhere else. It is simply not acceptable for Marriott to promise these things and then only find out upon checking in that the hotel does not plan to honor them.
At this point, Marriott Bonvoy is a booking platform more than a Hospitality/Hotel company. I’m less than 10 away from lifetime Platinum, and might just leave it at that. Made the switch to Hyatt 2 years ago, and haven’t looked back. It does come with footprint and devaluation challenges, but at least Globalists are treated very well IMO.
Breakfasts at most Marriotts have sadly declined in quality, to the point that the hotel I select has to be near other good eating options if I’m not mobile.
If you think the breakfast at a Marriott is bad, try IHG. I can’t think of a single Holiday Inn or Crowne Plaza property in the United States with a F&B product that I’d eat — free or paid. Holiday Inn Express is free and is at least edible.
Unless travelling as a family (where it’s a benefit both because the savings are higher and because parents want to avoid the hassle of finding places serving children-friendly breakfast), I would only value breakfast at $6-7 per person. Taking into account that the quality of the coffee can be a bit of a gamble and that I don’t eat breads, cakes and viennoiserie in order to limit my carbohydrate intake, even that seems rather high. It’s nearly always better to have a proper coffee in a local café and do the people watching associated with the ritual in question.
Which brings me to Matthew’s point: the American chain hotels (and IHG as a US-focused group with a similar abundance of elites) tend to be significantly more expensive than their competitors [whether other chains or independent hotels] in virtually every market outside of the USA (with the possible exceptions of Canada and the UK).
Unless you are in a huge rush and/or travelling on Other People’s Money, I suggest that everyone makes a point of looking on the Agodas, Bookings, and Expedias before committing to whichever chain they have status with.
Counting on a third party booking agency to give you a better deal is idiotic. Marriott sets the prices and third parties will charge you the agreed upon price then add commission.
At the end of the day, most of the people here sound like petulant little punks. Things cost money. Sorry it isn’t free for the “I’ve been a member since 19xx!” crowd. Can’t wait for these people to retire and stop bothering everyone.
I have 8 years as a Platinum with Marriott but it’s awfully tough to stomach going for the 10 year Lifetime Platinum status at this point considering how bad Marriott has gotten and continues to become. 10 years ago, making guest-hostile changes that have already been enacted would have been anathema. Now they’re the direction things are heading.
No one owes you anything. I’m happy travelers like you leave the program. It allows for others with 50% more reason and 100% less entitlement.
I’m not sure what is “entitled” about holding Marriott (and its properties) to the terms of its program…?
As someone who works both front desk at a Marriott property and a Bonvoy elite member, it would be both a relief and a disappointment to see that 4pm checkout go away. It’s really the only excellent guaranteed benefit of Platinum and above. But on nights when we are 80-100% occupancy with a high elite population, it makes it really hard on our end. Guests (deservedly) expect to get into their rooms at 4pm, but when we have a lot of late checkouts and high turnover, it can be really difficult. Especially with our suites, which are usually occupied by elite members. Changing the benefit to 2pm would make it a lot easier on hotels but it would certainty be disappointing for my stays!
1 pm for golds and platinums, 2 pm for titaniums and 4 pm for ambassadors. Problem solved. If there are that many ambassadors on any given night at random properties then Marriott needs to change its elite status tiers. Platinum is the pre-2018 version of gold. Anyone can be a platinum these day with a credit card or the right promo. It really shouldn’t have the same breakfast and late check-out benefits as titaniums and ambassadors. Of course, the problem is at some properties they eliminated daily housekeeping and, as a result, don’t have enough housekeepings every day to clean the rooms. I’ve had several properties with closed floors because it will take them 2-3 days to get all the rooms cleaned. Staff don’t want to work if they aren’t guaranteed full shifts 5-6 days a week.
Moved from Marriott to Hyatt based on the quality (and lack of) at mid level hotels I stay at. Granted Hyatt doesn’t have as many properties but never an issue with breakfast at a Hyatt Place. Meanwhile the last few Courtyards and Fairfield’s I stayed at when a Hyatt wasn’t in the area, were in desperate need of remodeling and updating.
There’s no way I would put the average Hyatt Place above the average Courtyard. Courtyard has a better breakfast, which admittedly isn’t free. Some Courtyards also have a restaurant. I can at least get a cooked-to-order egg at a Courtyard. To me, Hyatt Place is a Fairfield with a bar. The new and newly renovated Holiday Inn Expresses are almost always better than a Courtyard, Fairfield, or Hyatt Place.
Here is a different view on Marriott/Bonvoy to show that it all depends on the hotel and who you are talking to. I rarely stay at Marriott properties but have many Bonvoy points from years of collecting them and carry a Gold status from my Amex card. I stayed 5 nights at a St Regis in Italy earlier this month which I redeemed points for 2 Deluxe rooms. Note that I had no right for breakfast or any other special services other than a room upgrade if available and late checkout. During the check in process I was told that only one of the rooms could be upgraded since they were full and that would mean my kids would be in a room in a different floor. I thanked him for the upgrade offer but said I would keep my original rooms as I wanted to have my kids next door. He said that would not be a problem. When he finished the process and handed me the keys he said that since he was not able to upgrade both rooms he would offer all of us free breakfast for all 5 days, welcome cocktail of our choice at the bar and we would all have access to a butler. Each breakfast alone was €60 per day per person so that was an amazing perk that was not expected but really makes me want to stay at their properties again although I know their services vary a lot.
That’s amazing. By chance, were you speaking Italian to him?
It probably helps that St Regis properties are exclusively managed by Marriott. So the staff are pinching pennies like a really bad franchisee. I view Marriott as a booking platform and instead research individual property owners and operators. It’s sad that you have to do it, but that’s the reality.
I have 4310 total room nights spanning the early 80’s when the program got going, those were the days when you had stickers !!! Now Starting with Arnie going forward the brand has been spiraling downwards breakfast being a huge issue like many FF that one meal can make or break your day going out that door let alone hoe you felt about your stay. Today I am a free agent as I wind down my cache of points. Right now I am booking Honolulu staying at not a Marriott but the Hale Koa, never took advantage of my military status but now I can get an ocean front for $285.00. I do have to book a room around those dates paying $ for and looking at prices Hilton all the way.
Moral of it all don’t count on your continued loyalty to do you any good once you make life time status move on to another flag.
Lifetime Plat with Marriott and truly tired of this battle with hotels not wanting to offer basic benefits. Aside from breakfast, points or late checkout on occasion loyalty to a brand is about consistency. As the years go one, the consistency in treatment toward elites has degraded so much. A few months ago the shift to Hyatt began, though a part of me wonders if it’s only a matter of time before they turn for the worst.
I fear that Hyatt is the next to change in a very bad way, especially when it migrates to Sabre.
I am pretty content with the Accor scheme, only ever devaluing by the rate of inflation, with really simple perks (welcome drinks and 1-level upgrade) that mean that there’s limited risk of disappointment.
It’s not aspirational, but the value proposition is pretty strong once you take into account that stays earn both points and Flying Blue miles (or Avios), plus the occasional extra points offers and the attractive redemption costs for VIP tickets at concerts and the like. Doesn’t make me go out of my way and stay on the wrong side of town to book Accor hotels, but it certainly does influence my purchasing decisions.
My main issue with Hyatt is they won’t make a system-wide policy on points for F&B spend. Why would I spend $100 on dinner at a hotel’s mediocre restaurant if they won’t give me points? Or why would I take clients to a dinner at a nicer hotel restaurant if I don’t get points from it? This is a major problem with Hyatt. They’re allowing properties to exploit a loophole that was intended to only apply to a handful of markets with laws against incentivizing alcohol purchases. My second issue with Hyatt is the second-tier status is worthless. Hyatt should have globalist at 75 nights and have a strong second-tier status at 50 nights.
Accor, Radisson (before it split), Omni and Best Western never get any coverage in the US-centric frequent travel blogs.
Accor has way too many brands for me to wrap my head around. Fairmont is very disappointing. Very faux luxury. The Fairmont in Austin was no better than a good Westin or Renaissance. The Fairmont in Pittsburgh is like a Sheraton. Meanwhile, the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto is a hotel factory that outside of its history and heritage falls way short of the Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis. I did have some decent experience with Mercure in the UK. The couple properties I stayed at a few years were equivalent to a good Marriott or Sheraton.
Omni is a huge disappointment. All of their properties always seem to be trading on the past. I stopped by the Omni William Penn in Pittsburgh last week. What a joke.
Best Western is the really odd one. There are some decent BW Premier Collection branded properties in Europe.
Constantly reading about all the frustrating experiences people have with hotels in the US is what pushes me to always take vacations overseas 90% of the time. In Asia, not only do I get all of the loyalty and status benefits, I am also truly treated like a VIP. I receive service that is better than at any hotel in the US. I feel sorry for all the folks who have to always stay at hotels in the US, most have no idea what they are missing out on.
Remember the hotel owners are th customers and we are the product.
I completely agree. But Marriott breakfast benefit already is a joke. At many hotels you get a choice of oatmeal or yogurt parfait (looking at you Mauna Kea and Westin Hapuna) – Marriott free breakfast is a joke and therefore I don’t chase the status anymore. Hyatt is the only one I pursue. Hyatt overall treats elites so much better. Lots of upgrades, always a full breakfast for 4 and more. Marriott and Hikton benefits are a joke – Hilton breakfast is only worthwhile outside the US.
The sad thing is the Westin Hapuna Beach used to before the pandemic offer a full breakfast buffet, including hot items, for elites.
There is technically a third way restrict those benefits to elites that have earned them exclusively from the hotel, e.g. if you got it through a partner credit card, you don’t get breakfast, you don’t get lounge access and you don’t get as generous of a late check out say an extra hour instead of multiple hours.
Status should be based on nights stayed only. Status through a credit card shouldn’t be eligible for free breakfast or late check out. Just like United offering Marriott Gold status to their elite, for what. All this status matching and roll over nights makes no sense.
Great in theory but impossible to police. Already, many guests don’t even though the benefits they think they’re entitled to receive. I can’t tell you how many people complaining about Marriott’s breakfast benefit are saying a Courtyard didn’t give a breakfast when 99% of the Courtyards out there have never been subject to the breakfast benefit.
So many people forget that one of the selling points of loyalty to a chain is customer service. In theory, the most loyal customers are taken care of by the chain if and when someone goes wrong. Random independent hotels just can’t do anything for me if something goes bad. Now, Marriott or Hyatt seldom get it right 100% of the time. But generally with enough pushing based on the incident, they handle it appropriately.