Choice Privileges - In Europe, do elites typically get upgraded (esp. free breakfast, wifi)?

Or is there close to a "typical"? Where I'm coming from: Most European Choice hotels list "free full breakfast" and "free wifi" as amenities. But many say they're for "some rooms" (...or rates, I'm guessing). In the U.S., I do get, "I see you're a Diamond," sometimes, and that's that. I get the room based on the rate I paid - usually not so great (for example, tucked back at the intersection of two wings), because it's very affinity group-discounted. Likewise in Europe? One more thing: Most stays will be using points, so... any experience as to what's likely to be the offer? Thank you. :)

Or is there close to a "typical"? Where I'm coming from: Most European Choice hotels list "free full breakfast" and "free wifi" as amenities. But many say they're for "some rooms" (...or rates, I'm guessing). In the U.S., I do get, "I see you're a Diamond," sometimes, and that's that. I get the room based on the rate I paid - usually not so great (for example, tucked back at the intersection of two wings), because it's very affinity group-discounted. Likewise in Europe? One more thing: Most stays will be using points, so... any experience as to what's likely to be the offer? Thank you. :)

In Europe, Choice Hotels give me mostly the room for the rate I booked when using points and there is little to no acknowledgement of the status other than perhaps getting some coupons/vouchers from time to time for food/drink. Upgrades beyond what was booked? Rare for my experiences.

When using points, more often than not, I have been able to book the highest category of rooms (at least the non-suite ones and sometimes even some suites) for the same price in points as it would cost to book a lower category of rooms at a Choice property. And that is ordinarily the room category I end up being given without making any sort of inquiry at the front desk.

Most European Choice hotels list "free full breakfast" and "free wifi" as amenities. Wi-Fi, yes. Free full breakfast, no.

As I posted elsewhere, most Choice properties that I've stayed at in the US offer some sort of complementary breakfast. In Europe, it seems more often that not they tout their on-site restaurant, but I wouldn't count on a freebie unless they specifically mention it.

Wi-Fi is becoming ubiquitous, but often the quality of the connection is spotty.

Having said that, I would be pleasantly surprised, but not astonished, to find a property with a very nice complementary b'fast and killer wifi, but, again, don't plan on it unless you've investigated it.

When using points, more often than not, I have been able to book the highest category of rooms (at least the non-suite ones and sometimes even some suites) for the same price in points as it would cost to book a lower category of rooms at a Choice property.Ah, yes.

Anybody else remember the Clarion in Lisbon, where you could book a three bedroom suite for 6000 points/night?

And a year or so ago, I got four junior suites with balconies and party decks in Dublin for 10,000 points/night.

Thanks much, GUWonder and BigLar. :)

Don't count on free breakfast or internet unless it is listed as such on the hotel website and/or in the printed hotel directory. Of the Choice properties in Scandinavia at which I've stayed, all provided free breakfast (to every guest of the hotel) and free internet. That seems the norm more for Choice hotels in that region of Europe than for Choice hotels across much of Europe, where many Choice hotels indeed do not provide free breakfast and sometimes not even free internet.

There are per-country and/or regional standards as to breakfast (and by region it can mean multiple countries or just a subset of a country!).

But as in the US, in some countries, it can depend on the category of the hotel.

Keep in miind that most Choice brands in the US provide (some sort of) free breakfast because these Choice brands are lower midscale, and at that level of hotel /motel that's the standard in the US. Clarion positions itself as a bit more a full-service hotel, I think, and thus (in league with other full-service hotel brands) it's less likely to include breakfast.

Here in the US, for example with the Hilton group, Hamptons give free breakfast to everyone, but Hilton Garden Inn and DoubleTree and Hilton proper only give free breakfast to elites.

But giving free breakfast to elites is not universal, not even in the "big" programs. No such benefit for the top tier of Starwood (SPG): If the hotel has a club level, you should get upgraded to it, and that may provide you with a breakfast in the lounge, but if there is no club level or no breakfast served there, you don't get free breakfast, no matter how high your status in Starwood. So, for example, at a Four Points, you don't get free breakfast no matter who you are.

Priority Club (Holiday Inn, etc) is hit or miss on breakfasts for elites; it's totally dependent on the hotel as to whether they provide or not. (In my experience, they're more likely to provide it at a Holiday Inn that has a buffet, and only give the buffet free, less likely to provide it at a Holiday Inn which only has waiter-ordered breakfasts.)

Well, the thing is, while most of Choice is lower midscale motels / hotels in the US, in other parts of the world including Europe, they're often higher up, closer to full-service hotels, in many countries, even with Comfort or Quality names. (They tend to Comfort Hotel instead of Comfort Inn, then, etc.) And in that higher up level of hotels, the standards for breakfast and wifi may not be the same as they would be for other categories of hotels. (In fact, the categories themselves may change from country to country or region to region.)