Horace

Yes, the Platinum Elite benefits for Welcome Gifts, F&B credits, lounge access, and various breakfast options are complicated. Brands, geography, hotel vs resort, and physical differences all come into play.

There are 6,700+ hotels participating in the program that will soon be called Marriott Bonvoy. Almost none of them are owned by Marriott. Most were affiliated with Marriott or Starwood under older franchise agreements before the companies merged in September 2016 and before the loyalty programs were combined in August 2018.

It's not surprising that the breakfast benefits for each brand are more-or-less than same as when Marriott and Starwood were separate companies.

There were two big improvements in August 2018:

— The $10 USD daily F&B credit for member + 1 at Courtyard, AC Hotels, and MOXY is a new Welcome Gift choice at these brands. Although it's not a complete breakfast benefit, it's a big improvement.

— Resorts were previously excluded from the lounge/breakfast benefit at Marriott, Renaissance, JW Marriott, Autograph Collection, and Delta Hotels. They still are, but now resorts of these brands are treated the same as full-service Starwood-legacy properties. That means daily breakfast in the restaurant for member +1 is now a Welcome Gift choice.

In another thread, I lamented that there is so much inconsistency in the benefits between similar brands, such as Marriott and Sheraton or Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis. Another poster (MSPeconomist, I believe) suggested I should be careful what I wish for. For example, what we have now is much better than if Marriott were to discontinue Platinum breakfast at all luxury brands to be consistant with Ritz-Carlton and Edition.