I am attempting to do some shorter posts. I had planned to do some New York dissections first (and I still plan to), but this one came to me while on my trip to an Orlando resort for the last conference of my five conference marathon.
I put most of my hotel eggs in one basket with Hilton, and because of this, I currently have Diamond status. I am not sure whether I will get the new Diamond Elite level, because that requires an almost $20k spend, but if enough conferences end up in Hilton’s, I might come close. I don’t really need that next level, because regular old Diamond is fine for what I need.
Anyway, food. Because of my status, I am given a daily food allowance, which is typically around $15. Anyone who travels, knows this does not go very far with food and drink available at most hotels, and even though I am expensing meals, I try to keep things pretty reasonable with my daily limit.
The combination of the $15 allowance and expensing made me decide that I could go for the breakfast buffet offered in one of the on property restaurants. Anyone who has been with me through the Euro posts, knows I love a good breakfast buffet.
I got to the restaurant shortly after 7 AM, which would be my normal Sunday wake up. I knew the buffet was going to be about $30, which feels pretty standard for hotels. However, when I walked into the buffet space, I was stuck by just how similar the selection was compared to the European continental breakfasts I had in my hotels in Brussels and Budapest. In a lot of ways, it was even inferior to those options, especially in Brussels.
There was the standard hotel selection of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and potatoes, the usual assortment of breads to toast and cereals and oatmeal, and then in the center was a small selection of charcuterie and donuts. The one main difference to Europe was the omelet stations, which I typically don’t bother with. This was $30.
In Europe, they had more food available, and as we all know, the bread is a hell of a lot better, too. All of that food was complimentary and included in the price of the stay. While I know hotel brands mean different things in Europe compared to the United States. Doubletrees in the US are less than luxurious mid-range fare, but the Doubletree in Brussels was pretty nice. Hampton Inn in the United States is pretty much your standard business traveler or off the highway type hotel, which is pretty much how I would describe the Hampton Inn in Budapest, too.
While you would get a very scaled down version of this breakfast at a United States Hampton Inn, I have been to Doubletree’s that do not even offer that. So, I was just a little amused that both of those brands offered a great breakfast included with the room, when a very large Orlando resort will charge you $30.
I don’t know if have any grand point to make here, but perhaps people in the United States should demand more from their hotel stays. In a time where resort fees are being charged at hotels that are far from resorts, a nice, European-style breakfast should be offered.
