If you don’t want a bit of sass, by all means skip this post. To the rest of you, thanks for indulging me, because sometimes it’s fun. I can handle trolls, and constructive criticism, and all of that stuff.
Continue reading: Hilton Honors Elite Breakfast Benefit: Gaslighting Vs. Reading Comprehension
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
"Two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions."
Email from DCS clearly written by ChatGpT/AI with all those big words and french quote added in 🙂
Are we talking about the same entity that has mentioned in the comments on LoyaltyLobby that the current Hilton Honnors devaluations are also too much for him and has no more patience with the program: https://loyaltylobby.com/2025/09/09/hiltons-third-massive-high-end-points-devaluation-in-10-months-top-hotels-now-up-to-250000-points-per-night/#comments
Where the answer to Sebastian is : " Bottom line: Even as a LT Diamond, I will quit Hilton Honors 'cold turkey' if the cost of patronizing the program similarly becomes a 'bridge too far', which it might become soon at the rate of their recent devaluations, coupled with the gutting of their promos, which were, until 2025, one of the program's key differentiating features."
Hey DCS, how do you feel about Hilton raising their award point redemptions substantially this year at luxury hotels? I’ll wait.
Wrong: outside the US, Hilton hotels invariably offer free and full restaurant breakfast by default
Oh god, Hilton Niagara Falls/Fallsview in NF, Ontario, Canada (outside the USA), does not offer free and full restaurant breakfast. It offers a 15CAD voucher that buys you probably a black coffee and a croissant. Source: me, I stayed there as an HH gold.
DCS is most famous for his argument that Hilton points and Hyatt points are equally valuable.
Niagara Falls is the most overrated destination. I couldn’t wait to take my flixbus out of there and explore the city of Toronto, which was incredible, especially if you enjoy breasts.
Ben,
How did you even have the energy to read his email, forget about writing a post addressing that email. The email itself was so exausting after first 3 lines that I stopped reading the email and rest of the post beyond that...
Like someone else said in the comments below - I a msure you've got better things to do today. If you haven't, I have got 1000 ideas on what you could write about and "response" to a stupid internet stranger isn't one of those.
The actual falls are nice but, yeah, there are too many overrated places and the Hilton itself is a tourist trap.
We recently stayed at the Conrad Punta Mita (Mexico) as a Diamond. They have no lounge and we only got a continental breakfasts - full breakfast offered for additional fee. Same experience at the Hilton Seychelles. Outside the US, my rate of getting full breakfasts as a Diamond is 50/50.
I doubt it with the mistakes strewn into it, ChatGPT would also sound more coherent.
I remember writing a comment a few years ago about how I had just come back from WA Los Cabos and as a diamond member, only got continental breakfast and had to pay extra for the full breakfast and DCS chimed in saying that was a lie and that he had been to that property and got free full breakfast as a diamond. lol ok.
Smart and psychopath are not mutually exclusive. I couldnt even make it through his email
As someone who is a fair bit older than you and frequently experiences the same frustration with people who don't seem to be very good with logic I commend you on your insight that the answer is to work on just getting over it. It took me a half a lifetime to realize that their failure at logic isn't a bug but a feature which allows them to hold onto beliefs that are clearly wrong.
I'll never understand how someone so completely loves a brand which does not and cannot love them back. Especially when it's arguing disingenuously about minutiae.
he is the biggest fan of Hilton Loyalty program by far. I would argue IHG is more valuable than Hyatt for me.
Apologise my ignorance, but what is the difference between Continental Breakfast and Full Breakfast?
I had the same convo with him last year on LL about Cabo's breakfast and he simply dismissed my argument because "it was hearsay". I'm not sure why such a Hilton fanboy is yet to stay at one of their most aspirational properties and see it for himself.
I also pointed out that despite the T&C stating f&b credit is US only, Hilton on the Canadian side of the falls actually does the f&b thing too. He couldn't fathom the thought of a franchised hotel violating Hilton's T&Cs, it's just not possible. He also seems to believe that everyone wears their seatbelt and follows the speed limit because those are the rules. You can't really win against someone like that
Last fall, I stayed at a Curio Collection hotel outside the US (in Canada) and as Diamond was given a F&B credit, not the continental breakfast required by the T&C. I'm not sure if the credit was sufficient to cover continental breakfast as I used it on snacks in the evening, but there was definitely not a full breakfast offered.
He’s a lifelong academic. Textbook ivory tower. All his friends are the same. Single, and no partner or kids to clue him in on the error of his ways.
Stayed at a Hilton resort hotel in Whistler Canada last week & was offered $24 Canadian towards food & beverage credit. Have been Hilton Diamond for years( in the past staying at the same hotel was offered full hot breakfast) they do not have an executive lounge at this hotel
A continental breakfast is a euphemism. It means cheap a la carte ultraprocessed junk, typically also cold, like Frosted Flakes and a packaged muffin. Maybe a banana if you’re lucky.
Full breakfast is cooked, typically hot, and a “set” like omelette with toast and homefries.
Continental means the usual breakfast consumed in continental Europe (Western Europe excluding the UK), heavily influenced by France, consisting usually of a plain croissant, some butter, jam, a fruit and a cup of coffee. Opposed to the full hot English breakfast served in the UK.
I was worried about DCS disappearance from the comments section! We should put him in a room with Tim Dunn and see what happens...
Yep, I stayed there recently, with the same credit. Of note, it is $24 Canadian per person (so $48 CAD for double occupancy). The continental buffet is $24, and full buffet is $46. So the credit covers the continental breakfast, aside from taxes and tip.
Okay, I'll go against the grain here and say whilst DCS is clearly borderline deranged, he is clearly just interpreting the statement you made in a different, valid logical way.
He thinks you mean "Hilton promises a continental breakfast when there’s not a club lounge" means that you are saying IF there IS a club lounge, you don't get breakfast, and so would only get it if you have lounge access. This isn't true and isn't outright suggested logically by your statement, but it could be interpreted as such.
Having said that, I don't know DCS is taking this perceived error so personally.
Clearly DCS is correct because the Waldorf Cabo breakfast also includes GRANOLA!!!
I'm curious if he only went once years ago, because they did used to offer the buffet or an a la carte item.
The remodel pics look decent, but modernizing hotels with rustic charm comes at a cost. Oh and at 250k points (at least) I will not be returning.
When I first moved to the big city many years ago, I quickly learned a key point for urban survival: DO NOT ENGAGE WITH THE CRAZY PERSON ON THE BUS.
DCS is that person. Do not engage.
Ben, sometimes the best response is no response. First of all, you’re right in this case and DCS is totally wrong. But he’s gaslighting you and frankly you took the bait. And now you gave him the one thing every narcissist so desperately craves: attention. It’s your blog, you can always just block him. Not every crackpot needs or deserves a response. Sometimes proving that somebody is just flat out wrong (or crazy) just isn’t worth the effort.
Wow. Unless you are stuck at some resort somewhere where you can't leave the property, an even better idea is to find a decent coffee shop near the hotel, walk to that decent coffee shop, have a much better cup of coffee than I've ever received in a hotel, and spend $5-10 on that decent cup of coffee and a pastry. A "free breakfast" that wastes an hour of your time on middling food is not really "free" whether it's a full english, continental, whatever! Get out there and explore and have some breakfasts that you'll remember!
But but but but that's not INVARIABLY! YOU LIE! IT'S INVARIABLY! WE WERE TOLD SO!
🙂
"...there was definitely not a full breakfast offered."
Yes there was. It was invariable that there was. Some guy on the internet said so.
Hilton los Cabos only does continental and charges you an upgrade fee if you want full. I have 4 aspire cards
"Smart and psychopath are not mutually exclusive."
Nor are stupid and psychopath.
Wow, I learned something new! I am Hilton Gold (automatic because of Hilton timeshare ownership) and I just found out by reading this post that I get a free breakfast (continental or full) outside the U.S. No sarcasm, really, I did not know that. Thanks for the post!
Guys like DCS and an, ahem, certain Delta admirer always remind me of George Clooney's character in Up In The Air. His job as a termination consultant (i.e. he fires people) allows him to see that loyalty to businesses and companies means nothing as people get fired despite many years of hard work. It gives him a smugness, that he's too smart to ever be caught being loyal to something so stupid as a company (or friends, or family, or relationships).
And yet, he's slavishly loyal to American Airlines, collecting 10 million points even though he states he has no actual plan in mind on what to use them for. it's not until the end of the movie that he realizes how stupid he is to be so loyal to an airline, and that the reason he's become so loyal to American is because there's literally nothing else in his life to be loyal to. He either pushed away or never developed anything else to be attached to, so his primal need for attachment has been pathologically directed to a faceless airline.
At the end of the movie, he transfers miles to his sister and her new husband so they can have a honeymoon, and then decides to take a trip for himself instead of for work.
Bottomline is that people like DCS develop an unhealthy attachment to stuff like hotels and airlines because they have nothing else to attach to, and this need for connection drives them to believe that somehow, these corporations love them back for the love and energy they give them.
I've seen the same with consultants who live out of a suitcase for years. Their traveling means they can't sustain much of a relationship with any actual human being (be it family, friends, lovers, etc) and so they develop an unhealthy obsession with status and points from "their" favorite loyalty programs, as if them loving these programs so intensely can somehow substitute for two-way connections with real people.
I've received the full breakfast outside of the US in all but one cases. Granted, I don't have a huge sample size, but the only location I didn't receive the full breakfast was at the Hilton Queenstown Resort in NZ. The continental spread is pretty dang good, though. I purchased more for my son only to get the warm stuff.
The Hilton Cairo Zamalek was the only place I've been to that had a separate room attached to the main dining room for exclusive for diamond members. Not an executive lounge, but just a separate dining area with additional juice and coffee stations.
Woah buddy - your comment is a spoiler for Up In The Air. I know it's an old movie, but new people come of age every day, and a spoiler alert could be useful, just sayin'
Foolish as he is for bootlicking, DCS is an accomplished medical scientist and on the faculty of a top research university. Let's be clear, he could use a lot more awareness of the world at large, and he has no wife or kids (which we should pity moreso than ridicule). I'm just saying that he does actually have other things to attach to - his work. Professorships at DCS's level, for what they're worth, are incredibly time consuming endeavors (labors of love) and even a professor with no family or hobbies is head and shoulders removed from the layperson's understanding of having nothing to be attached to.
Ok, As a long time HILTON Team Member in the US and a Director of Sales, I can indeed confirm this all to be true. For example, at my current hotel, we do not have a lounge, and our restaurant is Ala Carte, so no we do NOT provide a full breakfast. A meal credit is given, that should cover most of a breakfast.
I am also a Hilton Gold (we get that benefit when we travel for either work or personal) and in the US, I have very rarely been given more than a credit.
I've also travelled extensively with my company and yes, it seems to be quite common "overseas" to get a full breakfast, however that is not guaranteed.
I got lost with the quibbling over the difference between "overseas" and "outside the United States." In context these days, there is none.
You know what really grinds my gears, Ben... I've been following your site for probably as long as DCS, yet I've never seen you offer ME a full length post on which to platform on!
I guess I'll just have to stop agreeing with you on most topics 😉
It would appear that DCS is emotionally engaged on the topic. Judging by his email, perhaps too emotionally engaged.
DCS is the OG Tim Dunn. He was around long before Tim was. I sometimes wondered what happened to him. I figured he moved on to other things in life but nope, he's just boycotting the site!
Yes, he has been on all those travel blogger's comment section for at least 10 years
Im lifetime diamond i get a full breakfast outside the usa. I think hilton is pathetic not providing the same or similar in the usa. That credit is an insult and pathetic. I gave them my loyalty and they gave me the finger by removing the actual breakfast in the usa. They should provide the benefit to all those with lifetime diamond before they changed the rule.
I'll never understand how people get so defensive about a hotel chain or an airline as if its a family run business that their grand parents founded and not a corporation.
I remembered there was a post that DCS was arguing against DT, I forgot the name of the post though, however it must been something for either delta or hilton related post
I was starting to wonder if he was ok too. Glad he's still alive and even more glad he's set some distance from us.
Both are dogmatic gasbags, the real difference is one actually has a legit PhD…the other is just a Doctor of Delta Teet Sucking.
My bad, spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! (Is there a statute of limitations based on the age of a movie? 🙂
DCS may be a medical researcher, but my point is about attachments to people. Those are what ultimately matter. Clooney is attached to his work. He loves his job and sees it as important and useful. Similarly, McKinsey management consultants do interesting work and take great pride in it. But ultimately it's relationships to people that matter, partially because, as Clooney already knows, no matter how good you are at your work, no job will ever love you back. You're always only one quarterly dip in profits away from being fired.
Without those attachments to people, you're like a duckling that will imprint on whatever thing it sees first. For some unfortunate people, that ends up being a hotel or airline program.
Unfortunately not the case in some places like Hilton Sydney (Australia). I only got free continental breakfast at the restaurant there, and have to go to the exec lounge for a "fuller" breakfast (which isn't still as fully-featured as the restaurant's full buffet breakfast).
I think DCS and Tim Dunn should be married
It would be the ultimate last word in the world with all things Delta and Hilton and their brand supremacy.
All Hilton properties in Australia charge a $10.00 upgrade fee for the full buffet breakfast.
I read all of 3 sentences from the DCS letter and I thought wow, I'm glad I don't know this person. We would not be friends. I'm guessing he doesn't gagne many either at least not real ones. Incredibly insufferable. I would game b*tch slapped him already. ANNOYING!
@hbilbao How sad and unfortunate. I still remember back in 2016 when they offered you a set meal for breakfast. They offered a plate of French toast, waffles, omelette (egg white), tater tots and fries. But now they are playing games by offering you a 15 CAD credit but isn’t that just suppose to be for U.S. Hilton properties.
The real DCS has been summoned again and again to this "debate", and his name has been used in vain. So, here he is, with another hard-hitting comment (unless they've been censored and the comment won't even post).
Shortly after he put up this piece, @Ben emailed me the link, which arrived just seconds after I began typing the email below (touched up a bit to correct typos or missing words):
[@Ben] I just saw the piece seconds ago and was emailing you to say this: Next time, if you are going to divulge a private communication, please have the decency to ask the permission of the person you are communicating with. Not only that, I provided supporting evidence and links, which, unless I missed them, you did not post, meaning that you did 'selective editing'. Both infractions are considered unethical.
Alright, given that a private email was made public without consent, I have decided to un-boycott the site just to to provide the damned facts that would have gotten in the way of more gaslighting. Here it is (if it posts). Check out the facts. There is no need to try to contact me to apologize:
And here's the "coup de grâce": the attached PDF shows a few welcome letters that I have received at hotels overseas (you should have as well if you paid attention). Note [the] what they all say: breakfast is served in the exec lounge or, optionally, in the hotel restaurant, and it is NOT "continental breakfast". It is the full buffet.
https://bit.ly/48hbA3p [this is the evidence that but was omitted, which shows that overseas, HH Diamonds optionallyget free full restaurant breakfast or limited breakfast in the exec lounge, in writing.
Lastly, I wish to send you to my recent long comment at LoyaltyLobby, which thoroughly destroyed the following claim:
"Gold elite and Diamond members simply receive a food & beverage credit in the United States, which generally won’t cover a proper breakfast;..."
These links send you directly to my comments:
Long thesis on the subject : https://bit.ly/3K87pgm
Overall counterargument: https://bit.ly/3VjDxjx
Photo Gallery of Hilton free elite breakfast overseas as a "royal feast": https://bit.ly/4nBlj9qKeep on blogging and gaslighting, but as you can see, some of us can smell a skunk. This is now ready to just drop on your site the next time you recycle the bogus claim.
I will stay out of the fray, which's turned out be best policy.
Good luck.
If this posts, you will have the whole truth, and nothing but that...
Over and out.
Bruh
You live in Manhattan
Touch grass / get a life
See some art, eat omakase, take in an amazing opera, enjoy the mild weather before it gets hella cold
Stop with this Hilton stuff
It’s a deep embarrassment to WCM as well
I'm not sure its reasonable and it certainly isn't prudent to have an expectation when sending an email that it won't be made public unless that has previously been agreed upon and certainly not when the party to whom you are writing is a journalist or similar.
Lol his thesis is basically "more Hampton inns therefore more free breakfast" in the US. As if anyone is suffering because there is no Hyatt in glamorous towns such as Bakersfield. Totally misses the part no one is saying out loud: obviously these discussions center around luxury properties. Compare an elite members breakfast at a US Waldorf or Conrad with a Park Hyatt or Andaz. No one cares about free powdered eggs in 2000+ American towns
Lol his thesis is basically "more Hampton inns therefore more free breakfast" in the US. As if anyone is suffering because there is no Hyatt in glamorous towns such as Bakersfield. Totally misses the part no one is saying out loud: obviously these discussions center around luxury properties. Compare an elite members breakfast at a US Waldorf or Conrad with a Park Hyatt or Andaz. No one cares about free powdered eggs in 2000+ American towns
At Hilton Port Moresby there is an Executive Lounge, but as a Gold member I've once or twice not gotten upgraded to executive floor and was told only continental breakfast is available in the downstairs restaurant, upcharge for hot breakfast items. Their cold spread in the buffet, included for Gold, is probably decent compared to what others describe (more than pastries and coffee) but unless you like salad for breakfast, it's easy to see why people pay up to the "real food" if they aren't able to have the (much smaller) complete breakfast in the lounge.
I would guess that 90+ percent of guests in Cabo are from the US, and that the Cabin properties have therefore adapted the US rules. Niagara Falls? That property is less than 1 mile from the US border, so I guess the same. As for Seychelles, been there twice, stayed in 2 HH properties as a lifetime diamond and all breakfast was complimentary. Was in Australia very recently, and while not the Sydney Hilton, experienced the same. Yes since they have joined there has been some friction with the odd SLH hotel that either does not know the rules or is still integrating. However I have stayed in more than 200 Hilton related properties outside the US, and breakfast is always free. Furthermore when there is a lounge, I would say that 95+ percent will allow lifetime members to eat in either.
Why do people on the spectrum, with little grasp of the English language, such as this DCS incompetent, get to post such falsehoods and intellectually dishonest drivel to begin with? Ignore the kid and his jumbled illogical prose seeking attention. You have the facts versus the feckless kid's inane attempt at 'spin' with a dash if off colour buzzwords.
He probably also believes tariffs work too.
You only said facts, unsure why that dude is so upset at the facts.
No one should tell him pineapple belongs on pizza 😉
PARTING SHOT
Why do people on the spectrum, with little grasp of the English language, such as this DCS incompetent, get to post such falsehoods and intellectually dishonest drivel to begin with? Ignore the kid and his jumbled illogical prose seeking attention. You have the facts versus the feckless kid's inane attempt at 'spin' with a dash if off colour buzzwords.
--Jim LeJeune (aka "The Immature One"]
Except that you would not know proper English language if it hit you in the face, and have pointed at no falsehood or intellectually dishonest drivel, or jumbled logic.
Look at the evidence, if you can even fully grasp it, or simply can it. It is easy to write drivel when you do not have to substantiate it against a mount Himalaya of objective evidence.
As for "jumbled illogical prose seeking attention", again, look at the facts (an impossible and taxing exercise you, I am sure).
That applies to anyone who would write that type of fact-free, well, drivel.
/resume boycott
You say you can handle the trolls and all, in reality your only material like this entire posts come from 5 yr old trolls with nothing better to do than argue and use their finite life already further shortened by eating dairy past puberty and dead bodies that belong in a cemetery , when they could be doing better. When you're wealthy it don't matter. Talking about pointless things like breakfast credits is same as talking about whoever that Kirk dude is. I don't watch news, he don't pay bills here, so it's a waste of time I could use to become wealthy or enjoy myself in a positive vibration. Sheeple gonna be sheeple like whoever posted this entire waste of an article and brain power . I don't read replies or will ever be back here. Blocking the entire site on all my devices
Lol I love petty drama. But would like to flag how ridiculously silly all of this is. People arguing about hotel loyalty perks is about the weirdest thing — but at the same time a welcome break from the doomscrolling of what’s on the internet lately!
Oh kid, I'm sorry you were triggered. Your non-responsive 'response' speaks volumes; now do us a favour and try re-reading the initial posting and respond with a sourced fact not feckless drivel, opinions, and falshoods; or just continue your boycott to everyone else's endearment so we adults that actual travel and leave our timezones can discuss actual news, postings, facts, and even future concepts. I'll type slower for you next time. Your place on the spectrum dictates such for easier comprehension kid.
MOST OF THE HILTONS SERVE FAKE EGGS....THEY MIX EGG POWDER WITH
HOT WATER.....IT IS GARBAGE......
What is the point to make public the private email he sent you.. ?
You wasted time and your blog space to reply to one person..
You could have used your time for example to write a meaningful comparison of the leading hotel loyalty programs
Ben -
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
While the post itself, is uninteresting to the extreme ravel-wise (seems like a college nerd fight), I also find reading it fascinating when you look at the psychology here. I am not arguing that I am the most stable person in the world, let alone the smartest, but DCS is exhibiting some very concerning personality disorder traits. From a meaningless obsession to paranoia (suggesting Ben is trying to badmouth the object of his obsession). Definitely hope that DCS lives in a society that limits access to guns, and that he finds a way to focus on something even marginally meaningful.
Good question mate. Get a good psychology book or just watch a season or two of You 🙂
People with big voids in their lives try to fill them, typically with the most mundane things in the most unusual way. The fear of not having their love reciprocated drives them into loving the vulnerable or very young.
Loving a brand is actually healthier in the sense that it doesn't hurt other people (accept the blog readers 😉 )
A good therapist would suggest loving a pet and, at some point, yourserlf.
Pre-pandemic the breakfast was complimentary for Gold and Silver--menu or buffet. Simple, easy, complete.
Now Hilton's $10/day per person pays for nothing as you noted. Hilton Honors rewards its elites less and less all the time. Plus in the new austere era, no $10 the day you check out. Previously there a breakfast breakfast each morning.
Hilton provides new reasons each year to be less loyal
Hilton Melbourne, Doubletree Melbourne, curio collection Sydney - no hot breakfast for gold/diamond member.
First time staying in Hilton after being gold member and have to say it’s absolutely not worth it - continental breakfast only is a joke + full charge of 45Usd for each person who wants to have an omelette in Moorea. Recommend staying at small boutique hotels instead and eat breakfast at nice little coffee shops;