The Fine Print on the Hyatt Diamond Breakfast Amenity
The morning after our ChampagneDo Jeanne and I headed back to the Park Hyatt Washington DC to join Sagy and Horse for breakfast. I think complimentary breakfast at the Blue Duck Tavern is the greatest part (and that’s saying a lot) about staying at the Park Hyatt DC as a Diamond, so they didn’t have to twist my arm to come.
From my previous stay on New Year’s Eve, I knew that Diamonds received the American Breakfast or $32 in breakfast credit per person. The American Breakfast is delightfully huge and none of us needed it, so we chose individual entrees knowing we would come well within the $64 credit each of our friends had.
The breakfast was great! They’d already changed the menu up (no blueberry pancakes this morning) but I was happy to see the Eggs Florentine with Pork Belly, Spinach, and Choron sauce was still an option. And it didn’t disappoint!
But our friends’  omelette and Maryland Crab with scrambled egg whites, avocado, spinach, tomato, and cream cheese entrees looked so good I almost second guessed myself.
The problem came at the end of the meal with the bill. One friend had a $64 credit, the other only $32. Our server was trying to explain why, but it wasn’t very clear. Apparently one of them had booked the room using a AAA rate which came with breakfast, so she had two breakfast credits. Our other friend only had one. We were confused because we’d somehow assumed there was a default diamond amenity of two breakfasts per room.
When I got back, I looked up the terms & conditions which did clearly state “Daily complimentary full breakfast inclusive of one entrée (or standard breakfast buffet), juice and coffee (tax, gratuity and service charges included) will be provided to the member and each registered guest in the room, maximum four (4) people…â€
The key here was each registered guest. I don’t think this is consistently enforced across properties, since the few times I have invited a friend to join me for breakfast this hasn’t been an issue. But the Park Hyatt was clearly within their rights to only award $32 in Diamond breakfast amenity to each since they were the only names on their reservation. A good, though slightly costly, lesson to learn.
Note to self: if I think I might be inviting anyone to join me for breakfast, just add an extra occupant to my reservation to ensure there’s not a problem. (Although if you have more than 2 people in a room, there’s a cost per extra occupant – up to 4—that probably exceeds the value of breakfast).
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Heels First is the travels and tribulations of two twenty-something frequent fliers jumping into the world of travel. Join Keri and Jeanne as they tackle mileage runs, elite status, and of course–the perfect travel accessories.
I feel as if we are learning even more fine print each day 😉
That’s definitely good to know…maybe a good idea to always register two guests. Hyatt’s are generally pretty good about breaking the rules though, and waiving most charges against Diamond members, so I’m surprised they still charged you all for it.