Turning Sleeping Guests into Eating Guests: The Commercial Power of Hotel Breakfast

Hotel breakfast is often described as the most important meal of the day for the guest, but rarely treated as such by the business. As Michael Ingemann, Partner at Think Hospitality, outlines in The Breakfast Blueprint Whitepaper, breakfast represents one of the most under-optimised revenue opportunities in hotel operations.

The challenge is not lack of demand, but lack of intent. Too many hotels accept low breakfast conversion as inevitable. Guests check in without breakfast, are told service hours, and the opportunity quietly disappears. In reality, this moment represents a commercial blind spot.

Including breakfast in the room rate is the most effective way to drive participation, and is standard practice across much of Asia, luxury hospitality and Scandinavian markets. It simplifies decision-making and creates perceived value, even for guests who may not ultimately dine. Importantly, it also improves ratings. Guests are more likely to try breakfast when it feels already paid for, and more likely to review the hotel positively if the experience is strong.

However, inclusion is not always commercially viable. Even in hotels with strong pre-booking rates, up to half of guests still arrive without breakfast. According to Ingemann, this is where many hotels simply give up. Guests are told breakfast times and left alone. One inner-city hotel cited in the whitepaper reported that fewer than 1% of non-pre-booking guests ended up purchasing breakfast on arrival.

This is not a demand issue. It is a sales issue.

The whitepaper highlights the importance of timing. A well-phrased email sent seven days before arrival can lift breakfast conversion by 4–6 percentage points. At this stage, the major spending decision has already been made. The room is booked, payment feels distant, and the incremental cost of breakfast feels lighter. Positioning breakfast as a discounted pre-order reinforces value and nudges commitment.

Pricing strategy plays a critical role. Breakfast pricing is rarely visible or comparable in advance, making it an ideal candidate for dynamic pricing. Discounts can be applied selectively without eroding brand perception. Because the marginal cost of breakfast is low, particularly when staffing and mise en place are already in place, nearly every additional breakfast sold becomes incremental profit.

The whitepaper also emphasises the importance of segmentation. Breakfast conversion varies significantly depending on guest type and context. Leisure travellers often achieve conversion rates of 60–80%, while business travellers typically sit between 40–60%. Location matters too. Hotels in remote areas face less competition than city-centre properties surrounded by cafés.

Comparing raw conversion rates across hotels is therefore misleading. Each property must outperform its own baseline. This requires continuous testing of messaging, visuals, pricing and offers. With thousands of booking confirmations each year, even small percentage gains translate into meaningful revenue.

Not all guests want a full breakfast. Ingemann highlights a frequently overlooked segment: guests who skip breakfast due to time, diet or price sensitivity. While they may not spend £15–25 on a full offering, many would happily part with £5 for a coffee and pastry. Capturing this spend is still revenue, and still better than watching guests leave the building empty-handed.

This thinking reframes breakfast from a binary choice to a spectrum of offers. Full breakfast, lighter options and grab-and-go formats all serve different needs while protecting revenue.

Operational design supports this strategy. Clear signage, visible displays and engaged teams prompt consideration at the right moment. Selling breakfast should not feel transactional or pressured, but it should be intentional. Passive service equals lost opportunity.

The final insight from Ingemann’s contribution is perhaps the most important: breakfast optimisation is a numbers game. It is one of the few hotel revenue streams where behaviour can be tested, measured and refined daily. Copy, imagery, pricing and placement can all be A/B tested at scale.

Hotel breakfast may never be the most important meal of the day for the restaurant, but it is one of the most powerful opportunities for the hotel. Turning sleeping guests into eating guests is not about persuasion. It is about designing the right offer, at the right price, at the right moment.

This article is adapted from Michael Ingemann’s contribution to the Think Hospitality Breakfast Blueprint Whitepaper, exploring breakfast conversion, pricing and commercial optimisation.