8 Best Hotel Chain Breakfast Buffets

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A hotel breakfast buffet is a godsend for busy travelers. If you're tired, jet-lagged, and in an unfamiliar town, the last thing you want to think about is what to do about breakfast, and hotel managers know this. Most major hotel chains in the United States, especially mid-level and budget brands, not only offer breakfast buffets, but offer them as part of your room charge, so you're essentially getting a free breakfast. This is not only convenient, but a gift for budget travelers.

And if you've been to one of them, you know what to expect at almost all of them — a greatest hits parade of coffee, orange juice, DIY toast and waffles, scrambled or hard-boiled eggs, and some type of breakfast meat. But little details can make or break the difference between a satisfying breakfast buffet and a disappointing one, and some brands are working to up their breakfast game with trendier fare. Here are some of the hotels whose special touches set their breakfast buffets apart.

In any online forum discussing hotel breakfasts, one recommendation comes up over and over: Embassy Suites. "Embassy Suites is the only correct answer," a Redditor wrote. "They all have free, made to order breakfasts with an omelet/pancake chef that will make you a fresh omelet or pancakes however you want. No other hotel chain compares."

The brand's signature omelet stations and the presence of a fast-order cook mean you have options you won't find at most hotel breakfast buffets. For instance, while typical buffets offer a big pan of scrambled eggs, you can get your eggs fried to your liking at Embassy Suites.

If you're not into eggs, no worries – you still have plenty of options. While these may vary by location (the hotel's fact sheet notes that breakfasts include "regional favorites"), the breakfast spread can include DIY waffles, biscuits and gravy, grits, home-fried potatoes, bacon, and sausage, along with lighter fare such as oatmeal, yogurt, and fruit.

Best Western's breakfast buffet gets solid reviews, with a guest at Best Western Plus Park Place Inn near Disneyland calling it "surprisingly good for a hotel breakfast" on Reddit. Offerings vary by location, but another happy reviewer on TripAdvisor, this one staying at a Best Western Plus near Yosemite, described a generous spread including eggs, sausages, potatoes, bacon, and even tortillas for diners wishing to make their own breakfast burritos – a great option for guests about to hit Yosemite's hilly trails.

While Best Western Plus locations offer more upscale accommodations (and presumably more upscale food) than standard locations, even regular Best Western locations get good marks for their breakfast spread. "Breakfast was great, which included an omelet bar," wrote a guest at Best Western Gateway Grand in Gainesville, Florida (via Expedia). This suggests that some regular Best Western locations offer more than the usual assortment of precooked food. Other guests at the same location called the breakfast amazing and delicious.

Hampton Inn positions itself as a hotel for both vacationing families and business travelers – so for busy people who want a comfortable, drama-free hotel experience. This means the hotel's breakfast not only has to be convenient and affordable, but also needs to offer something to please everyone from grumpy kids to conference attendees to nervous job candidates in town for interviews.

And on this count, Hampton Inn delivers. "Breakfast was well above average and stayed clean and stocked," a self-described business traveler wrote on TripAdvisor. "Plus one for Hampton," a Redditor posted in a thread on best hotel breakfasts. "Way underrated. And it changes daily. Authentic grits down south. Hot cocoa bar in the winter. A+ service." 

A YouTube video by a guest confirms the variety of Hampton's breakfast spread, showing everything from omelets with hot sauce to a bowl of cereal to a waffle covered with strawberries and whipped cream. So whether you're in the mood for something simple and familiar or feel like treating yourself to something that feels fancy, Hampton Inn has you covered.

Guests report that Comfort Suites and its sister brand Comfort Inn offer solid bang for the buck. Although no one will mistake them for luxury hotels, a few little touches set their breakfast buffets apart. While make-your-own waffle stations are now a standard (and much appreciated) feature at hotel breakfast buffets, Comfort Suites guests get not only one, but two flavors of waffle batter to choose from. Flavored waffles are such a point of pride for the brand that the parent company, Choice Hotels, held a competition in 2017 to have guests vote for a new flavor to add to the lineup (cinnamon roll was the winning flavor).

Since then, the variety of flavors has changed (according to a Redditor who said they're a former Comfort Suites employee, flavors rotate seasonally). And guests continue to enjoy the fun of a second option. "I enjoyed the comp breakfast and made a waffle, half red velvet and half plain. Breakfast rep gal kept the breakfast area stocked and clean," a guest at Comfort Suites in Gainesville, Florida, wrote on Yelp. Besides waffles, you can enjoy scrambled or hard-boiled eggs, ham, bacon, and breakfast sausage, along with cereal, pastries, and toast.

Residence Inn, as its name implies, seeks to offer a homey atmosphere. All its rooms are suites with full kitchens and dining areas, making them ideal for families and travelers planning longer stays. And the hotel seeks to make its guests feel well looked after.

The hotel's free breakfast is part of the comforting vibe the hotel seeks to provide, and it's good enough to lure in guests who normally skip breakfast. "They offer a great breakfast with a huge variety," a guest at a Los Angeles Residence Inn wrote on TripAdvisor. "I'm not a huge breakfast person but I did eat twice and I had coffee every day. It is delicious." 

And while the buffet offers the usual scrambled eggs and breakfast meats, it offers a solid choice of vegetarian and vegan-friendly options as well. "The free breakfast buffet was better than most and I was even able to stick to our vegan diet with plenty of fresh fruit, nuts, and hot oatmeal," a guest at the Boston Framingham Residence Inn noted on TripAdvisor.

Homewood Suites seems to be set up to ensure guests get fed. Rooms come with a full refrigerator and full-sized kitchen sink, along with a microwave, making it easy for guests to prepare their own food to enjoy in the room — an ideal setup for families or extended-stay travelers looking to avoid the expense and fuss of restaurant meals.

The free breakfast buffet also makes meals comfortable and convenient, and gets high marks from guests. "The highlight of this stay is definitely the breakfast! There was staff that constantly refilled all the breakfast stations and wiped down every corner," a guest to its Seattle hotel wrote on TripAdvisor. 

A guest at the chain's San Francisco-area location also praised the offerings. "The breakfast was a step above the normal continental breakfast you usually get, as they served up fresh breakfast tacos," he wrote on Yelp. In addition, the brand has also introduced an expanded and modernized menu, featuring healthy choices such as chia pudding along with fun choices like a make-your-own taco bar.

Hyatt Place is a bit more upscale than many other hotels on this list, and this shows in its food offerings. While the breakfast buffet is the only food offered by many brands, Hyatt Place offers a market with grab-and-go meals and a lobby bar with casual favorites such as burgers and Caesar salads, along with a fancier-than-average breakfast bar, which offers everything from yogurt and fruit to build-your-own breakfast tacos to classic bacon and eggs.

Guests praise the breakfast options. "Made to order omelets make free breakfast a plus," wrote a guest at Hyatt Place Houston Galleria on TripAdvisor. A guest who stayed at Hyatt Place Fort Worth Cityview wrote, "The best free breakfast ever at a Hyatt Place and probably at any hotel" (via TripAdvisor). And another guest at this location called the breakfast "a little more sophisticated than the usual waffle and cereal choices at other business hotels."

Holiday Inn Express offers a comfortable, no-frills experience. Rooms are simple and modern, exactly what you'd want and expect if you were looking for someplace safe and affordable to sleep and shower on a long road trip. Like many hotels in this class, a free hot breakfast is part of the package. You won't get mints on your pillow or room service, but you can go to sleep assured that a hot, wholesome meal awaits you just downstairs when you wake up.

And the breakfast buffet offers a lot of familiar favorites: bacon, turkey sausage, and premade omelets, along with oatmeal, cinnamon rolls, and a variety of dry cereal. But the standout feature at Holiday Inn Express is the fresh DIY pancake station, which is nowhere near as messy as it sounds – a machine preloaded with batter slides a pair of hot pancakes down a conveyor belt and onto your plate with the press of a button. If you're easily fascinated by weird gadgets, the pancake machine might just make your morning. "Pancakes were okay. But the whole process was freaking awesome," a Redditor said. "I made four and felt like a king."

To determine which buffets deserved a spot on this list, we relied on the opinions of people who've experienced them. Besides individual customer reviews, we made note of which buffets reviewers actively recommended when online posters asked for suggestions — it's one thing to say you had a decent meal somewhere, and quite another to put your credibility on the line by urging people to go there. To ensure an accurate picture of each buffet's current offerings, we prioritized recent reviews and checked the hotels' websites to confirm the details.

Food quality was the primary criterion for inclusion, followed by food variety, service, cleanliness, and ambiance. Since many hotel brands operate as franchises and individual locations may be independently owned and operated, don't be surprised to find some variation in breakfast offerings, even within the same brand.