Free In-Room Hotel Coffee: A Right Or Privilege?

I’m rarely in one timezone for more than a few days, so I’m often asked how I deal with jetlag. The answer is coffee. Lots and lots and lots of coffee. All day. Every day.

That’s why I write quite a bit about hotel coffee. When you’re jetlagged and constantly in different timezones, you notice the oddities of how different hotels approach coffee.

Some hotels offer crap in-room coffee.

Coffee-1

Some offer good in-room coffee.

Coffee-2

And some offer coffee in the lobby.

Sheraton-Coffee

But here’s a first for me. I stayed at the Sheraton Frankfurt Airport last night, which is one of my favorite airport hotels. They have an awesome club lounge, and the picture of the coffee setup above is actually from the Sheraton, so I really appreciate that they have complimentary coffee and croissants in the lobby starting in the wee hours of the morning.

This morning I wasn’t even awake enough to go to the lobby to get coffee, so fumbled around with the coffee machine, though struggled to find the pods.

Sheraton-Frankfurt-Coffee-1

Then I looked in the minibar, where they were located, right next to the condoms.

Sheraton-Frankfurt-Coffee-2

And they cost 2.50EUR each!

Sheraton-Frankfurt-Coffee-3

Which got me thinking… is free in-room coffee a right or a privilege? And does it make any difference that the hotel offers free coffee and croissants in the lobby? Have you ever seen another hotel that charges for in-room coffee?

Personally, while it caught me off guard, I’m appreciative of the hotel offering coffee and croissants in the lobby, so don’t mind this too much. Though I’d probably be miffed if there were no option for free coffee anywhere. Ain’t no such thing as hospitality without caffeine!

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Alan Guest

Lol I love that this gets a whole post to itself :) I can safely say I couldn't give two hoots what a hotel does or doesn't offer in the coffee stakes. I do however get quite annoyed when there's no free water in the room (esp as an elite), or even worse only sparkling :(

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Paul Tiffen Guest

I got charged $1 per Nespresso pod at the MGallery Grand Hotel (Accor) in Melbourne and didn't mind too much as I would have had 12 over a week between two of us and the pods do cost $0.80 each. I think the issue is more that when coffee is free people take the Nespresso pods

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Ivan Member

I found there is no coffee machine in any of those Chinese hotels. Despite they are costing me around $250-300/night

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Brianna Hoffner Diamond

What I hate about fancy hotels that expect you to use room service is that it's 45 minutes between me calling and the coffee showing up. And for 2 double espressos I've never had it be less than US$12 and they're lukewarm by the time you get them. in-room n'espresso FTW!

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LIH Prem Guest

Don't you remember when the former W | Suites Newark, CA, rebranded then as W Silicon Valley was forced to remove the coffee makers from the room due to W brand standards? :) The property responded then by making the coffee makers available on request, and to this day they continue to offer decent coffee for free in the lobby. (Back then it was actually Illy coffee, which was great). Now it's been rebranded as an Aloft so it's no longer an issue, but they still offer good free coffee in the lobby in the morning. Is that still a W brand standard (no coffee makers in the rooms)? -David

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