What do you look for in a good hotel?
Cleanliness is usually pretty near the top of most people’s list. So too is comfort. Having great, friendly service certainly helps. Oh! And what about value for money?
Of course, all of these things are important, but what about the humble breakfast?
Breakfast is always the last experience that you will have of a hotel. A good one sets you up for the day; a bad one leaves the tummy rumbling and the customer grumbling! It is the last, and possibly best, opportunity for the hotelier to leave you with a good impression and should never be taken lightly. So, what is the reality?
Sadly, breakfast is often the neglected child of the kitchen! Many chefs regard it as an inconvenience because it gets them out of bed early and requires no creativity (or does it?). The result is often a breakfast that tastes like it was cooked yesterday! In some cases, it might well have been!! If your Full English Breakfast arrives in less than 10 minutes, you can be pretty sure it isn’t freshly cooked!
Then, there is presentation. How does it look on the plate? Does your breakfast entice you or has it just been slopped onto the plate “any old how�
How about variety? Does your breakfast include a choice of cereals, orange juice, toast, jams, prunes, kippers, ham, eggs cooked as you like..? Can you ask for “Full English without mushrooms, but with extra bacon and make sure my eggs are soft�
In short, a good breakfast is not difficult to prepare. A good breakfast is not expensive to provide. It is not an after-thought; it is an integral part of your stay. A good breakfast should be an essential expectation of every guest. BUT, there is one thing that the guest can do which will help to ensure they get the best breakfast possible! What is that????
Quite simply, give it your best shot to arrive with plenty of time to spare! One of the biggest problems for all hotels (even big ones!) is that, no matter what time breakfast is served until, the majority of guests will all arrive at the same time – in the 10 minutes just before breakfast finishes! The result? The kitchen gets deluged with orders and the waiting staff are rushed off their feet! When this happens, a breakfast cooked freshly for you will take time, so be prepared to wait a little longer! Getting there a little earlier will give you a much more relaxed experience AND a better breakfast!
Finally, does the hotel give you a decent range of time for breakfast? We serve from 7:30am – 9:00am weekdays and 8:00am – 9:30am at weekends because we feel that gives the majority of our guests the option of when they would like breakfast, not just when we want to serve it! However, if you need breakfast at 7am, a polite request the night before should be all that is needed if a hotel is genuinely hospitable. Equally, do you find yourself getting turned away because you arrived just 1 minute late? You shouldn’t! Again, a truly hospitable business will always try to accommodate you.
Does breakfast matter? It surely does! Don’t put up with anything less than a great breakfast!
Why not tell us your breakfast experiences? What makes the perfect breakfast for you? What ruins a good breakfast? How could we give you a better breakfast experience? We would love to hear your views! Why not join in and share your thoughts with us on Facebook? View the Discussion here: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=156914657681733&topic=545
Breakfast is my favourite type of meal, always has been. For me, it has to be served on a big round plate (or oval), and you have to be able to offer all of the essentials such as sausages, bacon, eggs, hash browns, beans, a mushroom or tomato and even black pudding! Admittedly I’m fussy, so I’d ask for it without mushroom, tomato and black pudding.
Quality of the meat is important to me, I’ve been to hotels where the sausage must have been a better value sausage. Just plain cheap and nasty. If I’m paying a low cost for breakfast then I expect it but a lot of hotels (mainly in the city) charge near £25 for breakfast!
Hi Steve – saw this link on the 4N forum, breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and when I am away from home on biz I always treat myself to a good old fry up. For me, toast needs to be warm (the amount of places who serve cold toast is amazing!), bacon just right (not burnt to a crisp), beans (can take them or leave them), mushrooms..as you can see I like my food!
I remember many many many years ago working in a hotel in Liverpool ( not to be named) an American businessman really wanted porridge quickly as he needed to be in a meeting, I said I’ll see what I can do and went to see the young chef on duty who whipped up the porridge in a record breaking 2 mins! I was amazed and took it to the man who had 1 mouthful and spat it on the beautiful carpet. He told me it was disgusting and that I should sack the chef and left. I went to the young Irish chef and enquirer how he managed to make it so quickly as the gentleman said it was horrible, the chef retorted I used the hot milk on the back of the stove Tim?? Ahhhhhh I said the warm one you’ve just poached smoked haddock in!! Lesson of the day don’t be late for breakie as you never ever know!!
Hi Steve, yes breakfast certainly matters and anyone who has had a breakfast at Home Farm will only know too well what a superb meal it can be. Not hard to get right but as you said so many manage to get so wrong.