Question: is it perhaps a case where the Courtyard brand negotiates a lot of big-company rates that include breakfast?

I'm trying to reconcile this disconnect between the "business traveler" concept and the withholding of key Gold/Plat benefits at this one brand alone. Since a lot of these CY's are in suburban areas, I'm wondering if the clientele at any single given property is disproportionately skewed to few companies, and Marriott has worked out good deals with those companies.

In the 90's, I usually traveled for business on actual receipts, so I could have cared less whether breakfast was included or not. In the past ten years, nearly all of my clients have been fixed per diem - no more meal receipts - so I will almost never book a business trip in a hotel that doesn't include breakfast.

Since a lot of the big firms (at least in consulting, IT services, etc.) have gone to fixed per diems, it stands to reason that their legions of travelers are following similar booking patterns.