Breakfast amenity

[Inna22]

I have decided to pilot offering breakfast at one of my places to see if it boost my booking rate. While doing my research, I came across a number of properties that had the breakfast amenity box checked but no mentioning of breakfast in the description or reviews. When I enquired with a few of them, they all said they just provide quick cook cereal packets and that’s it.  Aside from my full breakfast pilot, I would love to just be able to through some Cheerios in the cupboard and to be able to check off one more amenity but I feel like all I will be asking for is negative reviews. I personally would have been really mad if I booked a place with breakfast and just found dry cereal in the cupboards, not even milk for it particularly when travelling with children. However all these hosts had wonderful reviews. Do any of check off the breakfast box and only provide some snacks, do you ever have to deal with upset guests because of it and do you think you are getting more guests? Thanks

[Inna22]

@Sarah977 

At least you know what you want, so that makes things easier right there! What if I just loaded the fridge and posted the list of items in my listing?

[Sarah977]

@Inna22 Yes, just having a choice of breakfast food available sounds great. And as far as I'm aware, you have a family to feed, so any leftovers you could probably make use of.

[Yulianna0]

@Inna22, don’t do that. Or you will be surprised how much people can eat! Remember “all inclusive” hotels:) 

[Rachel0]

@Inna22 I do offer a "continental style" breakfast - tea, coffee (ground, instant or decaff), juice, milk, cereals, fruit, croissants, jams.  As I have mentioned in other posts, I am fortunate enough to live 50m away from a wonderful bakery which opens at 7am, so I just go over and buy the croissants while they are still warm.  Most of my guests are delighted to have this but a few tell me the night before that they don't need it which is fine with me.  

I mention the breakfast in my listing description and a lot of guests have mentioned it favourably in their reviews.  Lots of guests use the breakfast time as an opportunity to tell me about their plans for the day and ask me for ideas and the best way to travel to places they want to visit.  

[Stephanie]

Great topic @Inna22 

[Stephen-and-Adam0]

@Inna Our guests are always very grateful for the breakfast/snack pack we provide.  They regularly mention it in reviews or private feedback as breaskfast tends to be less commonly provided now (in our experience).  

We provide fresh bread, sliced ham, cheese, eggs, milk and butter which is usually enough for an arrival snack (we get lots of late night and early morning trans-Atlantic arrivals) and breakfasts. 

There is also plenty of tea and coffee (capsules, ground and instant).  In our guidebook, we also ask them to advise of any allergies or dietay preferences so we can adjust the pack accordingly.  

The food items get much better feedback than we did proviously providing wine and beer and it is at a lower cost. 

Anything to make our guests feel the warm Irish welcome 🙂   

[Thomas1033]

In as much as we rent a separate apartment with full kitchen and everything needed, we will never offer breakfast.  I don’t leave more than sealed bottled water at one per person in the fridge.  I wouldn’t want to deal with leaving snacks or anything that might not get eaten or taken and I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving them for the next guest.  Not all people are good and tampering is always a possibility.  We are close to many grocery stores and restaurants so really not an issue!  Yvonna (cohost)

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

We offer all the coffee the guest can drink and a variety of teas and beverages, but no food. We have several 24hr convenience stores and mini marts, a fruit and vegetable stall within a 3 min walk from our home. Plus anyone who has been to Korea will know about the food delivery services which are second to none!!! In terms of fruit, milk, bread and cereals...... preferences differ so much so while we are happy to share whatever we have on hand for the first couple days before the guest has a change to do some proper grocery shopping, we don't include it in our official offer, mainly because whatever is available is different for each guest depending on what we bought recently 🙂

I think food is where we under-promise and over-deliver the most. 

[Summer64]

I make these little egg/cheese/sausage casseroles and put out fruit. Some guests eat it and some don't. I also have a keurig. I eat the little casseroles for breakfast. No one mentions breakfast on my reviews either. Some mention it to me and thank me for it, some don't. It isn't a huge cost, as that is what I eat for breakfast everyday with some fruit or avocado anyway. My recipe makes 12 little casseroles, so I couldn't eat them all before they went bad anyway. I may play with it eventually, think about doing breakfast bars or muffins with fruit. 

[Noel102]

We've toyed around with the idea of prioviding breakfast insofar as providing coffee, tea, instant oatmeal packs, or those new just-add-water pancake/french toast/egg cups.  We held back on the food part of that due to the cost.  Oatmeal packs are fairly inexpensive, but the microwaveable breakfast cups are substantially more on a per unit basis ($1-2 US each).  Thankfully we had a guest who helped us try things out by leaving a large box of instant oatmeal packets in the unit after checkout.  We decided to leave them there for future guests.  After about 15 or so guests since then, only one packet has been used.  I know oatmeal isn't everyone's bag, but that seems like a pretty clear indicator for us that it's probably not worth it.

One other thing that has become abundantly clear to us is that aside from ground coffee, our guests simply will not touch anything that could have been contaminated by another person. We've tried cookies, pretzels, and a few other things that were broken down into a smaller quantity and provided in reusable containers.  Every time the guest checked out without ever touching those items.  

If it's not individually wrapped, it's a no-go from guests, which naturally drives up the cost, but even at that, we just don't see the demand for breakfast, so we've stayed away from it.  We also have a donut shop about 400 yards away from the property.  Maybe I'll spend a few bucks and get some things for my next long-term guest, see how it goes, and report back here.

[Inna22]

@Noel102 you touched a very interesting subject. I also would not want to touch anything that can be potentially “contaminated”.  while I would recycle yogurt or  individually packed cereals, I would toss out any leftover milk, any bread or coffee cake that had a part sliced off or sliced fruit. I would not even keep it myself and for sure not leave for next guest and tell my cleaning people not to touch it when guests leave food behind. 

[Susan598]

Hi All,

I provide a breakfast of home-baked bread (not machine) fresh from the oven fresh fruit salad, home made jams and marmalades and real coffee and tea etc. After a couple of years at this I have surveyed many guests on the role breakfast has played in their decision to book. Overall, very little. However, it has made a massive difference to my reviews. It's the most common comment.

But there are other advantages to me as a live-in host, it gives me a very good opportunity to find out more about the people in my home (we are otherwise completely separate) as well as gives me the chance to quickly identify and solve issues. Another important benefit is allowing me to quickly develop some sort of relationship with guests. If you have interacted with a guest on a personal level, I think they are far more likely to respect your property.

For me, the time required to make the breakfast is quite short as I have become very efficient, but it does take time that other hosts may not have. However, for me, it has multiple impoetant side effects!

[Shaun69]

@Inna22 We take a slightly different approach to the breakfast issue and use it as a positive communication point with guests. Each of our guests is asked if they would prefer brown or white bread in their welcome pack and without doubt this gives a positive first impression. The contents of our welcome packs are as follows: tea, coffee, sugar, milk, cereal, bread, butter, marmalade, fresh eggs, chocolate and cake. The fact that a number of our guests come direct from Gatwick airport after long flights and often late at night means that giving them a welcome pack is not so much a nice thing to do but an essential thing to do in our geographic position.

Food for thought!!!!!

Regards Shaun.

[Inna22]

@Shaun69  this is very interesting! Do you cook the eggs and do you check of the breakfast amenity? Do you put it in your description that you would be providing some food at arrival?  I should take a look at your listing

[Shaun69]

@Inna22 No to cooking eggs, we clear down all food and drink and re-stock before new guests arrive. We do put details in our description. As i have already said this has been a very positive selling point for us!!!! Give it a try Inna if it doesn't work then just go back to the way you used to work. Suggest a three month trial would be adequate.

Regards Shaun