Alright so last Tuesday I wanted to book this weekend trip but I NEEDED free breakfast, you know? Tired of paying extra bucks just for some eggs and toast. Here’s exactly what I did, step by step.
The Frustrating Starting Point
Opened Google first, obviously. Typed “hotels free breakfast”. Got garbage ads mostly. Seriously felt annoyed after 15 minutes clicking stuff leading nowhere. Page after page, all generic booking sites promising deals but showing ZERO filter for breakfast.
Fired up my laptop instead. Bigger screen helps when searching. Went straight to that big famous booking site everyone knows. Searched Denver for this weekend. Scrolled down, down, down… Found a “Facilities” filter section. Clicked “breakfast included”. Guess what? Barely showed 3 hotels out of 50. Ridiculous.
Trying Different Search Engines
Remembered seeing someone mention specialized search engines for amenities. Pulled up my notes app and tried these:
- Website 1 (Basically Expedia’s cousin): Actually had a decent “free breakfast” filter icon right upfront. Clicked it. BOOM. Over a dozen hotels popped up. Big improvement. Saved a few options.
- Website 2 (The new one with the green logo): Got tricky here. Found “meal plans” under filters, clicked it… options showed “room only,” “bed & breakfast,” “half board.” Finally! Selected “bed & breakfast.” Got solid results too, some unique options not on the others.
- Website 3 (Big rival of Booking dot com): This one was annoying AF. Searched amenities like “complimentary breakfast.” Results included hotels where “complimentary” just meant free coffee in the lobby! Useless. Ditched it fast.
The Verification Game
Got skeptical. Just because a website says it’s free breakfast doesn’t mean it really is. Time for some digging.
Clicked through each saved hotel listing. Actually read the “What’s included” section under the rate plan. For one spot, it said “FREE CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST DAILY.” Good. Another listed it in rate inclusions. Another… vague mention of “access to dining room.” Skipped that one. You gotta confirm, people!
Did one extra thing: Jumped over to Google Maps for the hotels. Checked the latest user reviews. Filtered reviews mentioning “breakfast.” Found a useful comment: “Breakfast was included but super basic!” Another said: “free hot breakfast was awesome!” This helped narrow it down between two top choices.
Finally Booking It
Chose the Hotel Bella Vista thingy? Yeah, that one. Used the first search engine (Expedia family one) to book specifically their “Breakfast Inclusive Rate.” Double-checked the booking confirmation page – clear statement: “Includes Daily Breakfast for 2.”
Summary & Big Takeaways:
- Don’t mess around with Google for this. Go straight to booking sites that actually have dedicated “Free Breakfast” filters.
- The big famous ones? Not the best. Seek out the sites focused on amenities filtering.
- ALWAYS verify in the rate details and the actual “What’s Included” section on the booking page. Don’t trust the main picture.
- ALWAYS skim recent reviews specifically about breakfast on Google Maps or similar. Saves disappointment.
Totally got a decent room with legit free eggs and bacon. Took way too long figuring this out though. Hope this saves someone the headache!
