Gripe/Rant: Lounge breakfast in the US
 

It bothers me that Hyatts with lounges are allowed to weasel out of the globalist breakfast requirement by serving a cold breakfast. Sorry, but croissants and cold cuts are not breakfast.

I am finishing up a very enjoyable stay at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach. I went to the lounge this morning, took one look at their sad breakfast offerings, and walked 15 min to a cafe for a real breakfast instead. In my experience, this is a common problem at Hyatt Regency properties in the US (not all, but most)

I feel that the existence of a lounge should not lower the breakfast requirements. If you went for a restaurant breakfast (at a non-lounge property) and were told that you could only order pastries and cold cuts, but no hot food, that would not be acceptable. So, why is it acceptable in a lounge?

If they want to offer a buffet-style breakfast, that's fine, but there should be bare minimum requirements on it -- it should at least include standard hot breakfast dishes like breakfast meats, eggs, and potatoes, as well as fresh fruits and pastries.

It's sad when breakfast at a $500/night resort is not even up to the standards of a Hyatt Place or a Holiday Inn Express.

Which chain currently offers a more generous breakfast benefit than Hyatt?

I agree with the OP
Minimum standards are needed. Most places in my experiences are satisfactory, but there are some.....

I think that the breakfast benefit at Hyatt overall is amazing. I'm talking specifically about those Hyatts that have lounges and don't serve hot food. They are not up to the standards of the rest of the Hyatt properties (including low-end ones like Cat 1 Hyatt Places)

HR LAX said they decreased their offerings in the lounge to "meet the standard".

Lounges in the US generally stink anyway, compared to internationally.

Ok I'll admit that I avoid Hyatt Place & House when possible but I do end up there sometimes and I've always gotten real eggs.

The HH in Scottsdale has an omelette bar.

Wow - surprised to hear that about HB Hyatt! Have stayed there dozen+ times in the past and they have always had two hot items in the lounge for breakfast -- typically oatmeal plus one rotating hot item like egg and cheese in a bacon cup or huevos rancheros. That plus pastries and fruit has always made for a nice breakfast in the past. Could they have run out of the hot item temporarily (I'm hoping!)?

I don't really consider that a hot breakfast. I saw whatever that egg thing was. I did not notice the oatmeal but they may have had it.

What you have described is standard for many HRs. I don't consider that an acceptable breakfast offering. If you went to a restaurant and those were the only hot offerings, you would probably not be pleased -- I don't see why the lounge standard should be lower.

Anyway I'm done ranting -- other than this, the hotel was amazing and I don't want to focus on the negative. I've already booked a return trip, so it's certainly not a deal breaker. For 20k pts this truly is a great value (I just booked for 20k when the rate was 569 + taxes). I think that this is a problem at many US HRs -- nothing in particular about this one.

I just think it would be nice if Hyatt would set the same standard for lounge breakfast that they do for restaurant breakfast. All else being equal, it seems best to avoid hotels with lounges as globalist. The lounges are supposed to be a value-add... instead they are the opposite.

Similarly, I was at a nice Hyatt, and the lounge provided an "evening service", and all it was was two hot items, some cold cuts, veggies, bread, and only one option for dessert.

Seriously, if you were going to a restaurant, that would not be acceptable. I do not understand why Hyatt cannot hold their lounges to a minimum standard of at least one beef entree (preferably a filet, but I'll settle for a ribeye since its free), one seafood dish, one chicken dish, and one vegetarian meal, and I would expect at least four or five dessert options.

What is the point of having a lounge offering, if I'm going to just go to a real restaurant to have the meal I want?

The evening food offering at the lounge is not meant to be a meal. There is no globalist dinner benefit. If there is no lounge you do not get complimentary restaurant dinner.

Globalists are, however, meant to get a full breakfast.

the evening offerings in the lounge are typically hors d'oevres, i.e. appetizers. Never meant to be a dinner like in a restaurant. Some lounges do offer this (e.g. GH Tampa Bay in the US, and tons of hotels outside the US), but it is not a benefit for Globalists to have a "dinner option" in the lounge

Lots of "I want I want I want" from (seemingly) successful people here who (should) understand business....

You do realize it's currently a "seller's market" in hospitality, correct? If anything, we should be expecting cutbacks, not increases.

There are now only three real domestic competitors in the space (Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton) and Hyatt already goes above and beyond the other two, spends more on its elites in various ways, etc. Hilton is closing domestic lounges like crazy, and we all know about Marriott's problems. It's simply unrealistic to expect Hyatt to require an increase in the cost of operating lounges (to the minimums suggested here) in the current market environment.

BTW, I know there are other "competitors" like Wyndham and IHG, etc.. but none of the those guys are truly competing for OUR business in terms of offering benefits comparable to the Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton. If one of them DID step up - then you might see some reaction from "the big three" loyalty programs.

Also, Hyatt DOES have lounge standards... but providing hot food outside of oatmeal hasn't been one of them... some properties simply choose to go above and beyond and others don't.

It seems strange that closing the lounge is essentially an upgrade to benefits. (given a choice, I'd prefer a real breakfast to lounge access)

Hilton based properties. I actually got $30 for breakfast per person up to 2 at the Double Tree in Palm Springs.

Honestly, if a Fairfield Inn in El Centro California has a better breakfast than the lounge at the Sheraton San Diego Marina then I think something needs to be improved.

I guess, I don't travel to sit in a hotel lounge. Breakfast is different -- it's a good and convenient way to start the day. But after that I'm not going to be in the hotel. At a resort it's a little different, but even then I'm going to be in the pool area -- I'm not going to leave to go to the lounge because I want a freecdrink. If I want a drink I'll pay for it at the pool.

If the lounge is offering cold breakfast I'm literally never going to set foot in it, making it a downgrade for me (since its presence prevents me from getting a complimentary breakfast at the restaurant).

I may start to gravitate more towards properties without a lounge, but there are some good beach resorts that are branded Regency and have club lounges. Again, it seems strange that closing the lounge would be an upgrade to the value I assign to the hotel.

In that case one can stay at Marriott's Fairfiled, Townsuits, Holiday Inn exp etc etc.....;)

I find this comical beyond words. You want "filet but will settle for a ribeye" PLUS a seafood dish, a chicken dish AND a vegetarian meal PLUS FOUR OR FIVE desserts? That is exactly why lounges have been cut to not even offer a decent breakfast in some places because there are so many people who treat them as and expect them to be full service free restaurants. I want to have a complete free morning noon and night meal service!!! I demand a $15 breakfast, a $25 lunch and a $35 dinner for free every day!

The cost of that would be insane, and combine that with the inevitable people who take trays of food out to their rooms, and making "crushing the club" a goal, and it is a non starter. Even in the nicer lounges I have been to in Asia and Europe, I have never seen "preferably a filet, but I'll settle for a ribeye since its free), one seafood dish, one chicken dish, and one vegetarian meal, and I would expect at least four or five dessert options." Honestly, I have to say that expectation is so out of bounds to me that it borders on offensive.

Expectations/Entitlement really are an amazing thing. The reality is some Hyatt lounges actually DO raise the bar almost that high. GH Playa Del Carmen comes close, so does HR Seattle. Even the GH San Antonio puts out 4-5 different desserts every night. Perhaps these outliers are part of the problem: they cause people to expect every other property to rise to that level....

My guess: some properties have a larger number of people actually PAYING for the Club, whereas the ones that stick to minimums are probably (mostly) giving it away to Globs/Explorists...

It seems some need to turn up their sarcasm detectors ...

But here is the thing... a globalist IS entitled to free breakfast. If there is no lounge, then there is a free restaurant breakfast.

I don't see why that benefit should be scaled back at a property that has a lounge.

The dinner thing is a poor analogy because there is no free dinner benefit. You should consider yourself lucky to get anything at all -- free dinner is simply not something that a globalist is entitled to.

If you read the T&C's you will see that they "entitle" you to club access which includes a non-defined "breakfast." In the absence of a lounge, you are "entitled" to a "full breakfast" in the restaurant. Your interpretation has it in reverse...

You can probably get 4-5 desserts at a Ritz Carlton Club Lounge but you will not get all the entrees. Perhaps two out of the four in addition to sandwhiches.

This is fair.

I still think that it's strange that the benefit is better at hotels without a lounge than with one. Lounges are supposed to be a pro, not a con, when comparing hotels.

Some folks do need to power up the sarcasm detector.

You are essentially arguing that you want a "full breakfast" from a lounge (which is more than oatmeal and one hot dish), which is just not realistic in a lounge environment.

Your option would be for all Hyatts to simply give Globalists a free breakfast in their restaurant.

While that might be great, I cannot imagine any reason for Hyatt to do that.

I don't expect the lounge to have the perfect breakfast for me, but I have extremely rarely been in a lounge where I could not find a perfectly acceptable breakfast.

This is basically what my strategy is going to be. I'm rarely going to go to a lounge in the middle of the day or the evening -- the only time I will go in on most trips is for breakfast. If the breakfast is subpar I will go out to breakfast, and not use the lounge at all. So, yeah, it's a lot better for me if the lounge is not there.

I have had some really good breakfasts at Hyatts without lounges. Driskill probably has my favorite globalist breakfast, out of all the ones I've tried.

The only reason to offer full b/fast would be if a competitor offers it !

There is no requirement to provide breakfast in the lounge. Thus, they are not chiseling out of anything. We are entitled to the lounge offerings, whatever they are. If the lounge is closed, then we are entitled to breakfast.

You have gotten real eggs? I don't think so. And that omelette bar is not cracking eggs. You're eating liquid crap from a one half gallon paper container.