Originally Posted by hfly

Whether your breakfast is free or not, in many of the Asian places mentioned above, these hotels are often destinations in themselves for LOCALS, who will regularly go to these hotels for business (during the week) or personal (weekend), so these excellent breakfast buffets are profit centers for the hotels in the same way that many such hotels have elaborate bakery operations for the local market, or even dry cleaning services. This sort of local hotel as destination for food and other things does not really exist in the US and Europe (yes, in some big cities there are certain "go to" hotels for meals, especially business breakfasts or lunch, but the rest of the local component does not really exist.