HIX Breakfast was awful
 

Stayed Liverpool JL Airport HIX on a 5,000 pointbreak. I know breakfast is free there, but I would rather pay for something edible.

* OJ tasted like hydrated OJ syrup
* Scrambled eggs and beans tasted the same as each other.....an odd cardboardby taste
* Needed paper napkin to drain unidentified liquid coming out of the egg from my plate before it made my warm bread (see below) soggy
* Grapefruit segments tasted of another syrup that they were sitting in
* Hot chocolate tasted like pish water
* Toaster makes warm bread rather than toast

e.g. grapefruit.....Im not expecting someone to carve fresh grapefruit like they would in a CP.....Im happy with Sainsburys grapefruit segments but obviously HIX are not

They must have sooooooooooo much wastage there.

Sounds very similar to every other HIX I've stayed in tbh, if there is anything else in area I'd go there first, although I'm in the new one at Aberdeen Airport tonight which is on the trial for the new breakfast stuff although I'm not holding out much hope tbh. If I can work out (or if someone can tell me) how to post pictures on here I'll post some and do a comparison.

The hotel though still has that 'New' smell to it though which is nice.

Awful - but free :D

I'm normally a yogurt and toast breakfaster, so never have paid breakfasts at hotels. For me, HIX are something of a treat :D

Actually HIX were fined in the UK for advertising their "free" breakfast. It is not free, it's included in the room rate. Sometimes you can even see that in the invoice as a separate item.

(If it really was free, you could walk in from the street and have it.)

I find that HIX in Europe consistently fails to live up to the standards of HIX in the US and the breakfast provision is no exception. HIX Europe very much feels like Super-8 level accommodation in Europe but a cut above in the US.

Were they actually fined?

I can remember the ruling but didn't think they had actually been fined for it.

https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjud...x#.VYXU5nCkqrU

My experience is quite the opposite. I find the the breakfasts at U.S. HIXs quite unhealthy. Mostly pre-packaged crap loaded with fats and sugars, put out on a tray for guests. I will agree that the HIXs in the U.S. have larger rooms with more furnishings inside them. But the HIXs I stay at in Germany and Poland put out a nice (and healthier) breakfast. Real bread rolls. Hard boiled eggs (sometimes soft-boiled eggs). And not the scrambled eggs made from those cartons of egg mix used in the U.S.

Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Sathorn breakfast is quite good. The fruit is fresh and varied both during the morning and the week. The omelets in the US are often referred to as "glue omelets" as the cheese is more glue like than cheese like (both in texture and taste).

The trial breakfast is interesting.

There are two options both pre-wrapped. Bacon roll or egg & cheese wrap. I was at breakfast first thing and they were just putting them out. Both are microwaved and are similar to something you would get in a petrol station hot cabinet.

The bacon roll is passable, however the egg and cheese wrap is awful - with hollandaise sauce and mushrooms. Two bites was one too many. The contents felt like eating paste, personally I think they would have been better going with the veggie option in a roll or muffin as by the time I had sat down to eat it the wrap was going hard at sides.

One positive though was the bean to cup coffee which is a major improvement on the dishwater in most UK HIXs.

I only stayed there because a) it was 5k points and b) I needed to be in Liverpool to pick up the Froglet from University.

The room itself was very passable, as is the HIX in Hoylake.......clean and new. I usually stay at the Liverpool JLA Crowne Plaza who do a glorious breakfast included for 20k, but the lure of the pointbreak was too strong.

And they are still giving out beer tokens for IHG Elites.

And just to elaborate on this, buy better food, and they will need to buy less of it, and customers will be much happier, as I left 90% of the food on the plates.

On the OJ, there are a number of levels..............

- hydrated syrup or powder (HIX)
- juice from concentrate (the long life stuff)
- Tropicana type not from concentrate
- juice labelled freshly squeezed from a bottle
- juice actually squeezed from an orange

Each has its own taste.

I had the bottom one on holiday in Turkey recently from a stall........fab. I had the freshly squeezed from a bottle recently in a hotel above a pub.

Equally, I don't think you can walk in off the street and buy the breakfast. I'm not sure you'd want to (:D), but by offering a retail avenue to breakfast HIX's would go some way towards validating their claim to offering room-guests a free breakfast.

It was an interesting case, and as a result of the ruling HIX (at least in the UK) refer to the breakfast as being included, or being complimentary. But they still offer "free" wifi.

There was no fine.

You would have very few takers. Standard is way below chain breakfast providers eg Beefeater, Wetherspoon. You couldn't charge for it.

I thought it was terrible. Granted I don't normally stay at HIs so I don't have a point of comparison. it was free tho so beggars can't be choosers

The hotel on the other hand was great value for money and a great choice around SILOM/Sathorn for a one day stop-over

While inedible food is not a great way to start the day, I know there is fresh fruit, boxes of cereal, etc.

You chose the most "cost effective" (cheap) solution in the IHG inventory and are upset that you got what you paid for.