Hilton Honors Elite Breakfast Benefit: Gaslighting Vs. Reading Comprehension

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.

One thing I struggle with is people who are clearly very smart (in some ways), yet have astonishingly bad logic, but still remain convinced that they’re correct. That’s probably something I just have to get over, because it feels like this is becoming a bigger issue in day-to-day life.

So yeah, let me give one of those people a platform for a moment, and I’ll let y’all decide who is being the logical one (and if I’m the one in the wrong, by all means call me out, because I’m not all-knowing, and I’m always happy to learn and evolve!). Am I gaslighting, or am I being gaslit with gaslighting claims?

Hilton’s biggest fan takes issue with my elite breakfast claims

Yesterday, I published a post about World of Hyatt’s Globalist breakfast benefit, and how it works. I briefly mentioned how World of Hyatt’s policy compares to that of other programs, and wrote the following about the Hilton Honors breakfast benefit:

Hilton Gold elite and Hilton Diamond members simply receive a food & beverage credit in the United States, which generally won’t cover a proper breakfast; outside the United States, Hilton promises a continental breakfast when there’s not a club lounge, though many hotels go above and beyond and offer a full hot breakfast

That wasn’t intended to be controversial, or anything, and I’m actually a big fan of the Hilton Honors program, in general. However, apparently I wasn’t spinning things enough.

Hilton’s biggest fan, DCS, sent me quite the email. He boycotts OMAAT, or so he claims, but then he also emails me when he takes issue with something I write about Hilton, and I guess he thinks he’s extending me some courtesy by doing this in private, saving me the public humiliation.

But he doesn’t have to be so kind, so let me just give him the “mic,” because he claims I’m gaslighting the OMAAT community. I’m all for giving people with different perspectives a platform, so here we go:

I corrected the claims below, one of which you simply made, and the other is just completely disconnected from reality, but both designed to satisfy a morbid need for World of Hyatt to be a superior loyalty program. As they say in French, “À bon vin point d’enseigne”, which literally meeans “A good bottle of one does need a label”, so if WoH were as good as you claim it to be then, you would not need to make up stuff to support the point. That you continue recycling clearly unsupported claims is largely why I am avoiding sites like yours. Below is the evidence, inncontrovertible and exact, which debunks the following two points privately, so that you would not feel cornered and try to make up more stuff to try to justify the original gaslighting of your readers:

“…outside the United States, Hilton promises a continental breakfast when there’s not a club lounge, though many hotels go above and beyond and offer a full hot breakfast.”

Wrong: outside the US, Hilton hotels invariably offer free and full restaurant breakfast by default — something you know to be true because you have stayed at Hilton hotels overseas as an “Aspire” Diamond.

Nevertheless, supposing you truly believe that claim, then here the way to know that it is bogus. It’s a simple syllogism: 

1. Hilton Golds have access to the exec lounge only if they upgraded to a room on the exec floor.
2. However, we know that Golds get free breakfast even when not staying on the exec floor.
3. Therefore, conclusion is logically inescapable: overseas the hotel restaurant is the default venue for HH elite free breakfast because if your claim that “Hilton promises a continental breakfast when there’s not a club lounge…”, then HH Golds’ not upgraded to the exec floor at hotels with an exec lounge would be out of luck. Because we know that HH Golds get free breakfast [in the hotel restaurant!] even when they are not upgraded to the exec floor, the hotel restaurant must be the default venue for HH elite free breakfast, and that claim that you’ve recycled for years is utterly bogus. Simple logic wins.

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.

See? Even at hotels with an exec lounge, HH Diamonds and Golds upgraded to the exec floor get free full restaurant breakfast. The optional exec lounge or restaurant breakfast is automatic for HH Diamonds because they have exec lounge privileges even when not staying on the exec floor, otherwise they too would be entitled to free restaurant-only breakfast by default, like Golds are. The evidence is there, incontrovertible. You have been gaslighting your readers for years and still are, despite, I suspect, knowing that you’re gaslighting them. One possibility is that you’ve been telling the lie for so long that you fell for your own fabrication (“The Josef Goebbels Syndrome”) because, as I have pointed out multiple times, what you claim is a Hilton policy, which is not written anywhere (other than the expectation-lowering “continental breakfast”, a leftover from the days when breakfast was universally served in the US), is actually a writtenWorld of Hyatt policy:

“(d) Club Lounge Access/Breakfast Benefit. When staying at a participating hotel or resort that has a Club lounge, Globalists will receive access to the Club lounge. When staying at a participating hotel or resort that does not have a Club lounge (or if Club lounge is closed), Globalists will receive daily complimentary full breakfast”

See? You as a WoH Globalist get free restaurant breakfast only when there is no club lounge, i.e., precisely what you claim is Hilton’s policy, but it is in the WoH T&C! Up is down, left is right…don’t you get dizzy!

Let’s unpack that logic for a moment, can we?

DCS takes issue with this claim of mine:

“…outside the United States, Hilton promises a continental breakfast when there’s not a club lounge, though many hotels go above and beyond and offer a full hot breakfast”

I think that’s pretty straightforward, but let me just say it again, since seemingly we don’t all read the same way. I claimed that outside the United States:

• Hilton promises a continental breakfast
• Many hotels go above and beyond to offer a full hot breakfast

Is that wrong? Well, let’s consult the Hilton Honors terms & conditions regarding the elite breakfast benefit:

“When selected as a MyWay Benefit by a Gold or Diamond Member, daily complimentary continental breakfast is provided for the Member and up to one additional guest registered to the same room each day of Member’s stay at hotels located outside of the United States. The complimentary breakfast applies to the one guest room in which the Elite member is staying. Breakfast is only served in the hotel’s designated restaurant or Executive Lounge. At the discretion of the hotel or where breakfast is a brand amenity, the hotel may provide full breakfast or in-room service. Complimentary continental breakfast is not available as a MyWay Benefit at hotels in the U.S.”

How dare I suggest that Hilton only promises continental breakfast for elite members, eh? Where could I have gotten such an outlandish idea? 😉 What’s so bizarre here is that DCS basically is trying to redefine what I said:

• The first thing worth noting is that I said “outside the United States,” and he seems to redefine that as “overseas,” and I’m not sure if that’s deliberate or not
• Second, DCS seems to argue that if restaurant breakfast is being offered, then it must be full breakfast and not continental

And of course all of that is complete hogwash. I completely agree with him that most Hilton properties “overseas” offer a full restaurant breakfast for elite members. I suggested nothing to the contrary. But arguing that all properties (“invariably”) offer “free and full restaurant breakfast by default” is simply false.

To give one example, the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos (which is a lovely property) offers continental breakfast to elite members, which includes a fruit plate, pastries, and yogurt. If you want to upgrade to the buffet, there’s a fee for that. Are we defining that as a full breakfast?

DCS, how about you instead put your energy toward blasting Hilton Honors for the lack of promotions that we’ve seen, plus the huge devaluation to Hilton Honors points, rather than criticizing me for *checks notes* accurately quoting Hilton Honors’ terms & conditions.

Bottom line

I know it can be inconvenient when loyalty program rules and terms don’t match what we’d like them to say. However, in those situations, maybe it’s best to just keep those thoughts to yourself, rather than gaslighting someone, and claiming they’re gaslighting by telling the truth.

Outside the United States, Hilton Honors promises elite members continental breakfast, though many (most, I’d estimate) properties go above and beyond, and offer full breakfast. However, that’s absolutely not the case 100% of the time, and I’m not going to lie about what a policy is in order to suit my narrative. G’day!

Sound off in the comments, please — if I’m wrong, call me out!