With over 1,100 hotels worldwide, Holiday Inn is a brand most of us are pretty familiar with.
One of the many perks of staying at established hotel brands like Holiday Inn is that you don’t have to worry about food too much. Whether you’re looking for a quick bite or a gourmet meal, hotel restaurants can offer something for every palate – especially when it comes to breakfast.
As we all know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A good breakfast can jumpstart your metabolism and provide necessary energy and nutrients to begin your day on the right foot. But with breakfast at a hotel, we are looking for so much more than just sustenance.
A great breakfast buffet offers endless options and allows you to try new dishes from all over the world. From exotic fruits to pastries, fresh juices, and a variety of breads – there’s something for everyone. Plus, it’s an excellent way to get a taste of the local food culture if you’re traveling in a new city or country.
But beyond just filling your stomach, breakfast at a hotel can also be an exceptional social experience. You can interact with other guests or family members over a meal and start your day off on a positive note.
Free breakfast at Holiday Inn hotels.
The term Holiday Inn can refer to two brands – Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts, or Holiday Inn Express. Both are 2 entirely unique products and have nothing in common except the name, and the loyalty program — IHG One Rewards.
Holiday Inn Express is a low-cost no-frills chain of hotels. The experience may vary a lot from property to property.
Holiday Inn, on the other hand, is a full-service hotel, in a traditional sense.
Breakfast is always free at Holiday Inn Express
As of writing this post, breakfast is always free at Holiday Inn Express hotels. Doesn’t matter whether you are redeeming points for a free night, paying cash, or using third-party apps for booking. Of course, check your booking to be doubly sure.
However, the breakfast at Holiday Inn Express hotels is pretty minimal. Unfortunately, there is no way to know how the breakfast would be. Some hotels will have a pretty good spread with a mix of hot and cold dishes, as well as eggs, bakery etc., and some will just have a cold sandwich and a beverage.
A little research will tell you the kind of breakfast you can expect at a particular Holiday Inn Express hotel.
Typically, you can expect a much better breakfast at Holiday Inn Express hotels in the Asia Pacific, than their western counterparts.
Breakfast at Holiday Inn hotels and resorts
At Holiday Inn hotels and resorts, the breakfast generally has a good spread, multiple continental and local options, live counters, as well as a good selection of beverages.
However, the breakfast is not always included. Unless you are a diamond elite.
Breakfast at Holiday Inn hotels is free for IHG Diamond Elite members.
Holiday Inn is a part of IHG group of hotels. And one of the benefits of being a diamond elite with IHG One Rewards is – free daily breakfast for 2. Even for award nights booked on points. ‘Free Breakfast for 2’ option is available as a welcome amenity choice during check-in. Make sure to opt for it.
However, the stay should have been booked directly with the hotel or on the official site or app.
We have shared several opportunities in the past on this site to get to IHG Diamond with minimal effort. To keep a track of such offers in the future, we recommend you subscribe to our newsletter or follow our Telegram Channel.
Complimentary breakfast as a milestone benefit.
With IHG’s milestone rewards program, you can earn various benefits, depending on the number of nights stayed at IHG hotels in a calendar year.
One of the most popular milestone rewards is — Annual Lounge Access. You can pick annual lounge access as the benefit on completing 40 or 70 nights at IHG hotels.
Lounge access, in most cases, comes with complimentary breakfast as well. This breakfast could either be at the main restaurant or at the club lounge. Note that not all Holiday Inn hotels may have a lounge.
IHG often includes complimentary breakfast in its promotions.
Another easy way to get free breakfast at Holiday Inn hotels is to look for a free breakfast promotion.
IHG, Holiday Inn’s parent company, regularly offers free or cheap (like $1) breakfast with its promotions.
You can view current IHG promotions here.
Adding breakfast while booking may be much cheaper than buying at the hotel.
There is always an option to book breakfast inclusive rates when booking a Holiday Inn hotel. More often than not, it’s the cheaper option as compared to buying breakfast at the hotel.
Using local deals can get you a good discount on breakfast at Holiday Inn hotels.
There is likely an app to get deals at local restaurants in the city you are visiting. It’s very likely that you will find breakfast at Holiday Inn listed there for a good discount. This discount is generally 50% or more.
At most restaurants, you can use this deal even if you are staying at the hotel.
Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express breakfast timings.
The breakfast timing for most Holiday Inn hotels is from 6:30 am to 10:30 am. On weekends, some Holiday Inn hotels (especially resorts) extend the breakfast timings until 11am. Some Holiday Inn hotels will start serving breakfast even earlier if they are in an area most frequented by business travelers.
If you are wondering what are the breakfast timings at Holiday Inn Express hotels, it’s similar to Holiday Inn hotels. Most Holiday Inn Express hotels will serve breakfast from 6 am or 6: 30 am until 10 am or 10:30 am.
These timings may differ for some hotels. It’s always good to verify the breakfast timings at check-in.
Tip: To make the most of the breakfast buffet at Holiday Inn hotels, it is advisable to go early. The last 45 minutes tend to be the most crowded, often with longer wait times for food, beverages, and cutlery. By arriving a bit earlier, you can avoid these inconveniences.
Bottom-line
Breakfast is always free at Holiday Inn Express hotels. At full-service Holiday Inn hotels and resorts, breakfast is free for Diamond members, and members with lounge access.
