Holiday Inn Express breakfast – they can no longer call it ‘free’

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• Col A-B says:

  22 Jun22 June 07:01

  And were 2 of those 3 complainants working for Travelodge & Premier Inn?!

• Erico1875 says:

  22 Jun22 June 07:58

  Welcome to the Soviet Republic of Great Britain.
  Vee vill make sure your terminology is correct or vee vill shut you down.

• Frenske says:

  22 Jun22 June 08:05

  Well fair is fair. You must be bonkers to believe that Holiday Inn gives you breakfast for free. It is not a charity organization. The costs of the breakfast is included in the price of the room. A car dealer cannot advertise a car that comes with free brakes.

  • Rob says:

    22 Jun22 June 09:50

    They would say – most hotels charge for brekky but we don’t, therefore it is acceptable to call it ‘free’ because the industry norm is that you pay.

  • Rob says:

    22 Jun22 June 14:36

    I would argue, when a firm gives you something that competitors do not, you can describe it as ‘free’. Hotels.com, as I saw this morning, has ‘free wi-fi’ as a search option which presumably should go as well.

    Problem is that ‘complementary’ means the same as free as as I am concerned. You would need to go to ‘internet included’.

    The issue is that this can backfire. As BA cannot advertise ‘free drinks and snacks’ it makes it more likely they will start to charge as it does not give them a marketing advantage.

• Ian says:

  22 Jun22 June 08:35

  and every room comes with a free bed

• Will says:

  22 Jun22 June 08:58

  For a bowl of cereal and a cuppa it’s great. But for anything hot it’s dreadful. I don’t care if that sounds snobby but it’s dire!

  • JQ says:

    22 Jun22 June 22:52

    Well that depends on the exact hotel. Also the country.

    • will says:

      24 Jun24 June 11:19

      I have never expericned / seen anything I would want to eat thats hot in the UK HIX……

• Ralph says:

  22 Jun22 June 09:33

  Holiday Inn Express, Page, Az, breakfast: bagels, cream cheese, bread, jams, cereals, pancakes, American sausage (mmm) boiled eggs, muffins, tea, coffee. Anyone that wants anything more on a road trip is too fussy. Oh and in the afternoon three is coffee on tap, muffins and cookies – all free. Whilst there, check out Horseshoe Bend, Lake Powell and the Antelope Slot Canyons.

• Jay says:

  22 Jun22 June 09:34

  This is ridiculous. Of course, nothing is free. Next, all the companies who are doing the ‘free’ thing has to change the word to something else. People who are using ‘complimentary’ also will have to do the same. How about banks which advertise free ATM withdrawals for all account holders ? Since one cannot open accounts which charge for ATM withdrawals, it;s not free indeed.

• Clive J says:

  22 Jun22 June 11:10

  I’m going to complain to the ASA about HIX’s use of the phrase ‘The Great Room’ to indicate where the free breakfast is served. I am at HIX Stevenage today and The Great Room is about the size of a double garage.

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