BrightlyBob

Well, here in the UK HIX no breakfast implements are disposable, glasses for the juice, crockery mugs, cups and plates, metal cutlery, so even with the UK minimum wage being the equivalent of about $10/hr it's reckoned affordable here.

I think the real answer is cultural. Here in the UK, Disposable plates, cups and cutlery are only to be found at takeaways and children's birthday parties. Anywhere else, no matter how cheap, serves their food on proper plates with proper cutlery... With one notable exception - American-style fast food restaurants! Sorry guys, but disposables are culturally accepted in the U.S. in a way that hasn't found traction in the rest of the world...

BRAISKI

So far when I was in any HIX in Austria and Germany they are awesome! North America has the worse breakfast! I'm sure some are ok.

radnub

I've oddly had the opportunity to try a few HIXs around the globe this year so I find this topic interesting. In general I agree they can be a hit and miss but they are survivable for the most part. Also if you time it right you can fill up at 'brunch time' and be able to make it to supper thus saving some travel funds. ^

The worst are the watery scrambled eggs and a couple of places in Asia and the US have been guilty of that.

My rankings would be as followed:

Germany - Delicious all around. Lots of selection too. Breads, cheeses, eggs and sausage. Nice coffee machine with cappuccino/latte options.

Scotland - Pretty much a decent tradtional English breakfast including beans. Friendly service. Good coffee machine too.

Canada/USA - Your standard North American offerings including too many sweet things (pancake machine and cinnamon rolls?). I've stayed at so many here that nothing stands out as awful but I just recently avoided and omelette sort of egg thing that did not look appetizing.

Bangkok - It was fine but tailored more towards an Asia diet so my choices were a bit limited but I just worked around things I didn't like. I even dealt with the hotdog that was passed off as sausage. Eggs were usually fine but sometimes someone would get lazy and the pan would be noticeably watery.

In the end it's a HIX. I'm not expecting too much so I avoid getting disappointed.

CMK10

I find the HIX breakfast (minus the cinnamon rolls which I always enjoy) to be the worst of the major chain free breakfasts at their low end hotel (Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn etc.). The rubbery egg omelets are the worst, but the watery sausage gravy they have for the biscuits is a close second.

Points Scrounger

Seems to be a chain-wide feature. By all means ask the staff!

I prefer the plain cheese omelets to the watery scrambled eggs. Being VERY Yankee, most gravy for biscuits seems alike to me. I believe they do offer sugar-free syrup for the pancakes, which I put on the bacon/sausages.

As for the service items, biodegradable plates and cups are considered more ecological than using all that water to wash dishes.

quitecontrary

Surely that's a dichotomy - or Is it Maple Syrup?

beachmouse

As a light breakfast person who would rather just bring my toast/bagel/cinnamon roll and coffee up to my room and eat it there instead of in the breakfast room instead of running the risk of interacting with other people before the caffeine kicks in, I prefer the disposable option. If it was stoneware, there would be an issue for us hermit types eating in our rooms.

nacho

I also agree that the best HIX breakfast is definitely outside the US. I have tried several HIXs in Germany and Belgium and their breakfast is really not bad at all.

Tried the one in Shenzhen Luohu and I found it nice to have both Chinese and Western dishes. However Mr. Nacho thinks that it was bad (I guess he couldn't find anything he could really eat as a Westerner).

He had some issues with HIX in Hong Kong too - he needs European bread/proper cereal to fill him up (he doesn't expect much as he knows he is in a HIX).

What I really don't understand is that why the cereal in the US is always frosty and fruit loops? It's so sweet that even my kids can't stand it. Can't they just put some normal corn flakes/cheerios out?

sdsearch

You can't bring milk onto planes, but you can bring (even in carry-on) dry cereal onto planes). Not as much on plane trips, but certainly on road trips from home I just bring my own cereal and use the milk that HIX (or another hotel with milk but lousy choices of cereal) provides.

It's only at high-end hotels in the US, or any old hotels in most Europe, that I find edible cereal. (I even find Kellogg's corn flakes too sweetened for my taste, and in budget to midline hotels in the US, if it's corn flakes it's bound to be Kellogg's, not a health food brand.)

yossimills

Being a Kosher traveller, I can't vouch for all components of the breakfasts at the HIXs I stay at (cereal with my own milk and juice here, on my own disposable tableware). However, there seems to be a divide between the newer and older HIXs. The HIX Manchester Airport and in Tamworth are both quite modern, with full kitchens. Many others are much older, with a different model (reheated food only, if even any kitchen facilities at all).

Colleagues and other diners in Tamworth/Manchester Airport seemed to regard the breakfasts as quite decent, if not gourmet/bespoke. Some other locations I've been to seem to have pretty awful "green eggs and ham" style food.

I don't know whether the better quality is down to BDM Management (who manage both the hotels mentioned above, and seem to train their staff exceptionally well, and are a real cut above the older/poorer HIXs), the better equipped kitchen or the newer facilities, but the quality is really quite variable around the UK. Researching the age of the hotel (or most recent refurbishment) as well as management company could well give you an idea of the quality of the food, when booking.

IAN-UK

I'm a slave to Allbran-type cereals. Very few hotels offer it: but I'm pleased to say I've convinced a few of my regular stopping places to adopt it. So thank me if your regularity depends on bran

Cargojon

I agree. I stay at the HIX Bremen Airport from time to time as it is right across the street from our office. Not only is the property at least as good if not better than the HIX in the USA, but the breakfast is decent as well.

I was at the HIX BDL last week and the breakfast was not good.

nacho

We got cheerios and Kelloggs corn flakes/rice krispies at FS Marriott hotels in the US. Personally I don't eat cereals anymore (I don't get full from eating them) and the only ones I like are rice krispies and havre fras (quaker oat pillows that is available here in Scandinavia).

A bit OT here - which corn flakes that is not as sweet as Kelloggs? Mr. only like Kelloggs because apart from Kelloggs you can only get store brand and he said it's not the same. I wouldn't mind buying my own and we do that (we didn't know that we could bring our own down to the breakfast room) - so far I think I bought some rice pillows that the kids like - they don't like corn chex so much.

nicolas75

The only HIXs I stayed at in the US (NYC, Detroit) have terrible breakfast: poor choice, simply horrible junk food, and ugly design of the "restaurant".

The few HIXs I stayed at in Europe (Rotterdam, Marseille, Lille) have a nice selection of healthy food. Breakfast at Lille was even as good as the one offerred at Crowne Plaza in the same town (fresh bread and pastries, cheese, fresh fruits, good selection of ham, etc.).

Points Scrounger

Americans don't generally eat sliced meats and cheese at breakfast. In Europe I see bread, cheese and meat out thinking that's obviously for sandwiches, so why no mustard? Bread rolls, as such, are more a dinner thing generally, so I wouldn't expect to see them here. As mentioned earlier U. S. HIX do have hard boiled eggs in the refrigerator along with the milk and yogurt. I like raisin bran for cereal myself.

I will say the pastries tend to be quite sugary, with the fake Cinnabon they're so proud of being downright gross.

Those Scandinavian pillows sound like oat Chex?