Let’s just cut right to the chase: you don’t get breakfast at an AirB&B or a VRBO . You don’t get ingredients; you don’t always even get coffee to put into the random old machine they left there for you and you hardly ever get any recommendations on where to find a decent breakfast. If you want breakfast in your AirB&B or vacation rental you’re going to have to make it yourself, which means that you need to bring everything with you, probably even salt & pepper.
Last fall I was touring Italy with a friend (NOT on a group-tour thing; I’m too free-willed to have everything planned out for me) and we made all our own bookings, mostly AirB&B’s that “included breakfast” because we like real B&B’s and that was the closest thing that seems to exist there anymore. Some of our breakfasts were dismal: one place even had dried out mass-produced commercial “pastries” in crunchy cellophane. Another place left us coupons to walk down the street to a café for a pastry and coffee, and yet another place left us nothing except a single-serve coffee machine that we could not find pods for, even in the local store. There was one place, in Maiori, that actually lived up to the “breakfast included” slogan; they delivered a sweet cornetto with latte to my friend, a ham & cheese toast with cappuccino to me but there was no sign of juice, fruit, or anything that may contain a vitamin or nutrition, and definitely not substantial enough to be called “breakfast”.
A few nights ago I was down in the lower mainland and stayed at a very big hotel that is part of a very big hotel chain. It was rated as a “PLUS” hotel which means “really good stuff” if you believe their marketing. The room was over $200/night and included breakfast in their “breakfast room”, boasting fresh fruit, a yogurt machine, fresh pastries, hot items in chafing dishes and a large selection of cold and hot beverages. Sounds great, eh? LOL, it sure does and it sure was not!
I went to the gym in the morning and stopped in at the breakfast room on the way back to enjoy a big breakfast but sadly, I would only discover total chaos. Remember COVID? This would easily have been called a super-spreader event. There were at least 80 people jammed into a room about the size of my living room (super small), kids were screaming and people were everywhere, grabbing at food like it was some kind of crazy contest where the contestants had been starved for a week before being led into this gross little room. Even if I had wanted to sit down it wasn’t possible so I just grabbed a paper plate and thought I’d grab & go but that was not going to be easy… I tried to get some yogurt but the dispenser just spat out the end of what have must have been inside it; I got what looked like a Rorschach on my plate, scooped a few pumpkin seeds and raisins onto it and moved on. The fresh fruit selection was 3 apples so I took the one with the least bruises. There was a family scraping out everything in the hot things so that was a bust. I fought my way to the juice machine only to discover that there were no juice glasses so I just got a coffee in a paper cup on the other side of the counter. Pastries? I don’t think those existed; I did see a couple of crusts from loaves of basic white bread laying on the counter but that was it and I was not interested in eating the dregs of what everyone in that room had already probably touched. I left, disgusted and disappointed.
Part of the responsibility of owning and operating a real B&B is the BREAKFAST. It’s the most important meal of the day and I thought it was a great way to start a great day for my guests. My breakfasts at the B&B I owned were sensational… I’d find out what their vibe was and I’d tailor the meal to them, I had a good knack for it and I’m a pretty fab chef so it was almost always a BIG hit. Many times, they would just leave it up to me so I’d go in themes. Italian, Mexican, French… no matter what the meal, I always made sure:
- It was delicious,
- It was nutritious,
- It was beautiful,
- It was served with fresh coffee, tea, juice, and included menu/breakfast-adjacent music,
- All jams, sauces, salsas and products (including many of the breads) were made by me, many containing fruit, veg and herbs grown in my garden.
I haven’t seen anything like this in AirB&B’s or in any hotels I’ve stayed in (that don’t cost $400/night lol) and you certainly won’t get it in any vacation rental unless you make it yourself (and bring all the ingredients!). I think we can safely say that we can score a big 1:0 for B&B’s. It’s only my first example of why B&B’s are awesome, but it’s a pretty strong one; BREAKFAST makes a B&B awesome.
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