Originally Posted by
catocony
If Courtyards do start offering free breakfast, I think they can only do two things.
1, eliminate the Bistro, since there's no way they can process a lot of breakfast business. There's no room for buffet-style servings around the Bistro areas (they are smaller than the buffet areas used to be), they don't have much in the way of a kitchen (the small menu reflects that), and usually there's just 1-2 people working the bistro. I would love for the Bistro to go away, but they seem to be more profitable than the buffets since they focus more on selling wine and beer in the evenings.
2, set up some continental breakfast spot in a conference room or part of the lobby that would be really limited. Cereal and packaged bread/pastries only, nothing hot.
Considering that neither legacy Marriott Rewards nor legacy SPG defined what constitutes a "continental breakfast" they could just as easily give you a voucher for a croissant, coffee (self-serve or barista-served), and maybe yogurt or oatmeal.
While skimpy it would be in-line with the skimpy breakfasts that some notorious full-service brand properties already provide top-level elites.
The Courtyard bistros already have a self-serve cooler with yogurt, juice, water and soda pop. They could easily add a self-serve bread basket for croissants or other breakfast bread.