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Back in June, Hyatt announced that eligibility for free breakfast at Hyatt Place properties would be changing from November 1.
In the past, every guest was eligible for free breakfast, no matter whether they booked their stay directly with Hyatt or via an OTA like Expedia or Hotels.com.
The change that came in on November 1 is that only World of Hyatt members who book their stay directly with Hyatt will get free breakfast. If you’re not a World of Hyatt member or book through a site like Hotels.com, you won’t be eligible for free breakfast.
I was curious how they’d be enforcing this seeing as Hyatt Place breakfast areas are usually open buffet areas and you seat yourself, versus regular hotel restaurants where you’re seated by an employee who takes your room number.
We checked in to a Hyatt Place in Houston on November 2, so this gave me a perfect opportunity to see how the change would be rolled out. There was a flyer in our room advising of the change, while the elevators also had signs to ensure guests were aware of the changes.
When heading down for breakfast on Saturday morning, it was like nothing had changed. No entry restrictions, no staff checking guest eligibility – just a wide open buffet as usual.
Things were different this morning though. As we walked through the lobby, the person working at the front desk called out to us and asked for our room number. We gave that to her and continued on our way seeing as I’d booked directly on Hyatt’s website and so knew we were eligible for free breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed back to our room and I noticed the sign below which I’d missed earlier on. The sign was outside the breakfast area and was facing the elevators; that makes sense as that’s presumably the direction most people would be coming from towards breakfast. We’d taken the stairs down to breakfast which is why we’d missed the sign before that.
What’s not clear is what happens if you didn’t book directly with Hyatt and want breakfast. I called the front desk to ask how much breakfast costs in that scenario, but they didn’t know. They advised that I’d have to call Reservations in order to get a breakfast price which seems bizarre.
The above sign says that guests need to see the gallery hosts for breakfast, but it seems like the gallery hosts wouldn’t be able to give you a price either seeing as they’re not the Reservations team. Besides, if you called Reservations, how would the gallery hosts know how much you’ve been quoted for breakfast other than taking your word for it?
Hyatt has had five months since their original announcement to ensure there’s a smooth rollout at Hyatt Place hotels, but based on my initial experiences it doesn’t seem to be running smoothly at all. There were no restrictions at the hotel we’re staying at on the third morning after the policy change. The new policy was being enforced on the fourth morning but staff didn’t seem to know how much breakfast would cost for guests who didn’t book an eligible rate.
Hopefully these are just teething problems and hotels will put in place better procedures. Otherwise, I foresee a lot of frustrated guests in the future who show up for breakfast and can’t pay for it even if they want to.
Question
Have you stayed at a Hyatt Place since November 1? If so, how has that hotel been dealing with the new breakfast policy? Let us know in the comments below.
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Maybe Hyatt’s breakfast is ONLY for members, and they don’t let guests purchase breakfast which is why there doesn’t seem to be pricing knowledge by staff. It is actually a clever way to increase loyalty numbers to say to non members inquiring about breakfast that they have can have breakfast for free if they use the hotel lobby computer to their cell phone to quickly sign up right on the spot. That will tick some guests off, but really – getting breakfast for free if you are not a member of the hotel (ie you are booking in a special way) and all you have to do is just sign up to get it that day, and going forward? Doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. I would certainly sign right up.
Recently stayed at the Hyatt Place in El Paso. I just walked in and sat at the bar. The hostess didn’t ask me anything. She did ask a few other people who came in after me, but she wasn’t asking everyone. I’m guessing those she didn’t ask were regulars.
Hyatt lost a room sale this week due to their new breakfast policy. I was staying in a town where it is off-season and room rates were fairly low, so it didn’t make sense for me to pay 12000 Hyatt points for a Hyatt Place. I decided to use my credit card loyalty points to “pay” for the room. But since I then wasn’t booking direct, I’d get no breakfast. I opted for a comparable Hampton Inn where I could use my credit card points and get free breakfast.
I’m a Discoverist. Stayed at Hyatt Place Sacramento/Roseville this past Sat night. No one was checking anything at breakfast time. I did overhear clerk checking in guy next to me in the afternoon advising him if he signed up for World of Hyatt he would get free breakfast. The woman who checked me in told me the breakfast was all new too. It wasn’t. It was actually worse than other locations I have been to. Weak coffee, powdered eggs, no pancakes, no muffins, no oatmeal.
Glendale CA, 11/1/18: Staff explaining new policy moving forward, everyone got breakfast “on the house”.
This morning at the savannah Hyatt place a lady with a tablet was walking around to check availability. Everyone around was.
Easy solution. Book Hampton Inn
Another way to deal with this at places Is to use the HP shuttle to drop you off and pick you up from a nearby place offering breakfast for a cheaper price than the HP.
For a family of four or five persons, a nearby restaurant breakfast may be a better breakfast at the same or lower cost.
Exploring (3 away from globalist!), states at Hyatt Place Orlando this weekend and there was no sign nor were employees asking for room numbers
I stayed at the Hyatt Place San Jose last night and had breakfast this morning. The receptionist was in front of the breakfast area and asked for our room number. After giving her our room number, she said we could enjoy the breakfast.
Did you hear what she said to guests who weren’t allowed to enjoy breakfast? Were they allowed in for a fee or just turned away completely?
I’m not sure, I didn’t sit near the reception area to find out.
I’m sure the employees are thrilled with their new responsibility.
At the HP Lake Buena Vista in Orlando they had a host blocking the entrance with a Ipad in hand to look you up.
Did you happen to hear how much was being charged for guests that didn’t book directly?
They never said a price, they simply asked them to signup for WOH and they allowed them in.
Although slightly inconvenient for the guest, I guess that’s much better than having to pay for it. I’m curious if that’s something Hyatt has recommended seeing as that seems to go against what they’re trying to achieve with excluding guests who booked via an OTA, or if their ultimate aim is simply membership signups.
This was always the plan. Signups on the spot for non-members. If you are a member and book through an OTA, then who knows. “We are allowing those who sign up on the spot for World of Hyatt at Hyatt Place hotels, no matter how they book, to get free breakfast during that stay. Moving forward, guests will get free breakfast when they book an eligible rate as a World of Hyatt member.”
Glad you’re out there policing it for us. I for one feel better knowing this.
Globalist here who always books on Hyatt.com, but this is very stingy policy – I am sure there will food dumped in the trash after breakfast. This is another chickenshit move by Hyatt’s new and “improved” WoH.