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I was recently looking at Hilton hotel options for a friend of mine. She has no Hilton status so, in doing so, I needed to look carefully at the breakfast options. Getting breakfast included with your room can save a substantial additional cost to your stay (or that sheepish trip to the better value bakery down the road), so it was a booking priority.

In my friend’s case, the matter was resolved with a Hampton stay (free breakfast included for all).

However, with the above in mind, I thought it would be helpful to remind you all of i) those Hilton brands that offer free breakfast to all in all cases and ii) how to get free breakfast at those that don’t.

Free Hilton breakfast for all

Free Hilton breakfasts for all are available at:

• Canopy by Hilton
• Embassy Suites
• Hampton by Hilton
• Home2 Suites
• Homewood Suites
• Tru

Quality varies by brand and specific hotel, but generally speaking I find even the “free-for-all” Hilton breakfasts to be very passable. Hampton for example is the Hilton’s budget brand, but offers a very good spread of reasonable quality options. Ok you won’t get the gourmet smoothie shots and smoked fish you’ll sometimes get at the Conrads or Waldorfs, but you’ll invariably find a decent choice and even even some semi-healthy options.

How to get free Hilton breakfast elsewhere

The Waldorf Astoria has mercifully joined all other Hilton properties in offering a free breakfast to Gold and Diamond members. As a result, anyone with Gold+ status can rest assured they’ll have breakfast included, subject to a couple of caveats:

At Waldorf Astoria, LXR Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Curio – A Collection by Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton and Tapestry Collection by Hilton you need to select free breakfast over 1,000 free points. Definitely do this, unless you are fasting. 1000 Hilton points is worth around £3.

At Hilton Garden Inn, you need to select free breakfast over 750 free points.

But I don’t have Gold status!

At the risk of making the most obvious point ever made by a travel blogger, one clear option here is to ensure you get a “breakfast included” rate at all the “non-default free breakfast” Hilton properties.

Common sense yes, but you’ll generally get breakfast at a much better/sometimes negligible rate if you buy it as part of your room package. You’d be surprised at the number of times people do forget to include it and then protest vainly when they are forced to pay £25+ for it in the morning. The issue is then compounded, of course, by their desperate desire to get £25 of value from the breakfast. Those people with their plates piled high with a  staggering mix of pancakes, hash browns, muffins, baked beans and an assortment of noodles from the “Asian breakfast” section? They were forced to pay the “on the day” rate.

However, we can do better than make you pay for breakfast (whether in advance or not).

Sign up for this excellent Hilton Gold fast-track, and you’ll get Hilton Gold status if you stay 4 times within 90 days of registering. Just make sure those 4 stays are at a “breakfast included” Hilton property, or you pay that little bit more for breakfast to be included, and you’re covered.