Originally Posted by
roberino
I'd wholeheartedly disagree with that. Free hotel breakfasts are usually devoid of any culinary value - powdered egg, lukewarm greasy bacon, long-life bread, flavourless fruit, and cereal with UHT milk. Having it once or twice in a week is tolerable but beyond that it actually starts making me feel ill. Imagine if your employer replaced your entire per diem with McDonalds vouchers and then refused to pay for you to eat anywhere else. Unacceptable.
I don't travel up there any longer, but I used to spend a lot of time in St. Paul. One hotel in the middle of a string of business hotels had it figured out. They were wildly popular for offering free evening drinks rather than a free breakfast. Many travelers can expense meals, but not alcohol. Brilliant.
And I agree about many hotel breakfasts being bad. They're OK when you reach mid-level, but OMG when you're down to bacon slices you can read your newspaper through and min-bagels that are still half frozen, you've hit bottom.