Are you considering a stay at the Residence Inn and curious about the breakfast arrangements? You may be wondering what to anticipate.
Will it be a grand feast that fills you with delight, leaving you gleefully strolling down the hallway with a contented stomach? Or should you brace yourself for a disappointing start to your day?
In this exploration of the breakfast experience, I will share everything you need to be aware of regarding breakfast at the Residence Inn. I’ll cover the different types of menu options and also go into details on the hours as well.
Is the Residence Inn breakfast free?
Yes, the Residence Inn breakfast is included in the cost of your room, so you don’t have to pay extra for it.
Related: What Hotels Have Free Breakfast?
What to expect with a Residence Inn breakfast
You’ll be pleased to know that Residence Inn properties often offer a breakfast spread that goes beyond the basics of a simple continental breakfast.
A typical Residence Inn breakfast is buffet-style, allowing you to savor a range of offerings.
Residence Inn properties usually provide a comfortable and inviting breakfast area where you can enjoy your meal.
Some locations may offer spacious dining areas with cozy seating arrangements, including TV screens so you can catch up on the latest news or weather forecast in the morning as you prepare for the day.
If you don’t want to eat breakfast out with everybody else, or you are struggling to find an open table you can always take your meal up to your room.
What will be included?
At a Residence Inn, you can usually find an assortment of both cold and hot breakfast options.
For the cold options, you can expect a selection of bagels, croissants, and muffins/pastries. The specific types of pastries may vary depending on the property. Don’t expect highest quality in the world but sometimes you can get by with some decent options.
Condiments such as jelly and different butter options will be available for your bread. To toast your bread or bagel, a 4-slotted toaster should be provided for your convenience.
In addition, you’ll likely find a range of cereals like Cheerios, Froot Loops, Rice Krispies, and other popular choices such as Frosted Flakes.
The cereal can come in different forms including individual boxes, individual sealed plastic bowls, and from the dispensers. Sometimes the Residence Inn might even switch up how they offer the cereal every few days. And you usually have a choice of skim milk or whole milk for your cereal.
You can also enjoy yogurt and possibly some fresh fruit like oranges and bananas. However, the quality and variety of fruit may vary.
Oatmeal is another staple you can expect to find. This may come in a large container or an individual packs such as apple cinnamon and plain. Often times, you have a lot of condiments to choose from, which could be things like brown sugar, nuts, and chocolate chips.
Moving on to the hot items, you may find traditional breakfast options such as scrambled eggs, potatoes (hash browns, tater tots, home fries, etc.), and proteins like sausage, bacon (US or Canadian). There may also be a container with French toast, French toast sticks, or mini pancakes.
In terms of the quality of the eggs, they are pretty much your standard bulk-made scrambled eggs but not those terrible, inedible eggs you may have encountered at cheaper properties.
Sometimes the Residence Inn switches up how they serve their eggs but I’ve seen some that simply serve basically the same scrambled eggs every morning. If you’re on an extended-stay, this can start to go old really fast so it helps if you get creative.
For one, always look for some salsa or picante sauce to spice up your eggs a little bit. Throw on some shredded cheese if it’s there and salt and pepper as all of that will help give you some unique flavor.
You can also turn to the breads to make things better. Try to make your own egg sandwich with some of the bread selections and you likely won’t be disappointed.
Some hotels will switch the type of sausage they serve and rotate bacon, pork sausage, and turkey sausage patties or links throughout the week. But I’ve seen some properties that simply randomly alternate this so it makes it really difficult to predict what will be down there in the next morning.
Typically, a potato dish is commonly included. You can expect choices like hashbrowns or house fries, among others, although there may be occasions when no potato dishes are available.
You can expect to find biscuits and gravy on certain days. For example, they may be available every Saturday offering you a nice country-style breakfast option. Some properties may do something special like offer omelettes, breakfast burritos, croissant sandwiches, or other special items but that’s never a given.
One of the perks of staying at the Residence Inn is that sometimes you can have a waffle or pancake maker to enjoy your own fluffy creation. Butter and syrup will also be available.
Always make sure to spray down the waffle maker before using it to prevent your batter from sticking (assuming they offer you that option, of course)!
When it comes to the beverages available at the Residence Inn, rest assured that you’ll have a diverse selection to satisfy your morning thirst. You can indulge in freshly brewed coffee, tea, and the refreshing flavors of a variety of juices.
Orange juice is pretty much a given but you also may be able to choose from other types like a cranberry juice and apple juice. Sometimes, a juice may go out and not be replaced for quite a while.
Coffee lovers will be delighted to discover a choice of regular and decaffeinated options, and there might even be a variety of roasts available, ranging from light to dark. All the cream and sugar you require will be conveniently placed next to the coffee canisters, ensuring you have everything you need to personalize your favorite cup of coffee.
It could be just bad luck but the Residence Inn hotels that I’ve stayed in have not had the best tea selection. Often, you can find a wide variety of tea flavors down in the breakfast area at a hotel but at the Residence Inn this has not been the case in my experience.
Sometimes extended-stay properties get busier quicker for breakfast.
I think it may have to do with the routine people get into at extended stays where they get ready for breakfast quicker or perhaps the business workers travelers who are staying there that need an early start. But just be prepared for the breakfast area to get busy in a hurry at some locations.
The good news is that there will be a staff member there to make sure the breakfast area remains kept well.
A good Residence Inn will have someone constantly replenishing all of the items so that you’re never left hanging or dealing with things like overflowing trash cans. Sometimes there is also a tip a jar for them which you can use to show your appreciation.
Departures from the standard
It’s always possible that a Residence Inn property will depart from the ideal breakfast experience. For example, they may have limited hot items during the week or offer grab and go options.
Lots of these instances have been due to the pandemic as some properties have not fully adjusted back to normal.
For that reason, if you are going to settle down at a Residence Inn for a while, it might be a good idea to call ahead and ask about the breakfast options.
Residence Inn breakfast hours
As for the Residence Inn breakfast hours, typically breakfast will begin at 6 AM or 6:30 AM on a weekday and last until 9 AM or 9:30 AM.
On weekends, breakfast usually begins a little bit later such as about 30 minutes later and remains open until about 9:30 AM or 10 AM. (On occasion you’ll find a property where are the hours remain the same during the weekday and on the weekends.)
To give you a sense of some real world breakfast hours at the Residence Inn, we’ve supplied the breakfast hours for various properties across the country below.
| Hotel | Weekday | Weekend |
| Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Times Square | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Midtown East | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Central Park | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Weehawken Port Imperial | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn New York Downtown Manhattan/World Trade Center Area | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn New York Downtown Manhattan/Financial District | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Jersey City | 6:00am – 10:00am | 6:30am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Secaucus Meadowlands | 6:00am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn New York JFK Airport | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Los Angeles L.A. LIVE | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Los Angeles Glendale | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Los Angeles Pasadena/Old Town | 6:00am – 9:00am | 6:30am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Beverly Hills | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Los Angeles Burbank/Downtown | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Los Angeles LAX/Century Boulevard | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Los Angeles LAX/El Segundo | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Los Angeles Redondo Beach | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Marina del Rey | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Los Angeles LAX/Manhattan Beach | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Chicago Downtown/Loop | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Chicago Downtown/River North | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Chicago Midway Airport | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Chicago Wilmette/Skokie | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Chicago Oak Brook | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Chicago O’Hare | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Houston Downtown/Convention Center | 6:00am – 9:30am | 7:30am – 10:30am |
| Residence Inn Houston-West University | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:30am – 10:30am |
| Residence Inn Houston Medical Center/NRG Park | 6:00am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Houston by The Galleria | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Houston Westchase on Westheimer | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Houston West/Beltway 8 at Clay Road | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Houston Pasadena | 6:00am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Houston West/Energy Corridor | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Houston Sugar Land/Stafford | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Houston Northwest/Willowbrook | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Phoenix Downtown | 6:00am – 9:00am | 6:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Phoenix Airport | 6:00am – 10:00am | 6:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Tempe Downtown/University | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Scottsdale Salt River | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Phoenix Glendale Sports & Entertainment District | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Phoenix West/Avondale | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Phoenix Mesa | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Phoenix Chandler/Fashion Center | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Scottsdale North | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Phoenix Glendale/Peoria | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Philadelphia Center City | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Philadelphia Bala Cynwyd | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Philadelphia Airport | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Deptford | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Cherry Hill Philadelphia | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Philadelphia Conshohocken | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Mt. Laurel at Bishop’s Gate | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Philadelphia Willow Grove | 6:30am – 9:00am | 6:30am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Philadelphia Montgomeryville | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn San Antonio Downtown/Market Square | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn San Antonio Airport/Alamo Heights | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn San Antonio SeaWorld®/Lackland | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn San Antonio North/Stone Oak | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn San Antonio Six Flags® at The RIM | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn San Marcos | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn San Diego Downtown/Gaslamp Quarter | 6:00am – 9:00am | 6:00am – 9:00am |
| Residence Inn San Diego Downtown/Bayfront | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn San Diego Downtown | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn San Diego La Jolla | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn San Diego Chula Vista | 6:30am – 9:00am | 6:30am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn San Diego Sorrento Mesa/Sorrento Valley | 6:30am – 9:30am | 6:30am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn San Diego Rancho Bernardo/Scripps Poway | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn San Diego Del Mar | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Jacksonville Downtown | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Jacksonville Butler Boulevard | 6:00am – 10:00am | 6:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Jacksonville Airport | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Jacksonville-Mayo Clinic Area | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Jacksonville South/Bartram Park | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Columbus Downtown | 6:30am – 9:30am | 6:30am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Columbus OSU | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:00am |
| Residence Inn Columbus Airport | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:00am |
| Residence Inn Columbus Easton | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Columbus Dublin | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Columbus Polaris | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Charlotte City Center | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Charlotte Uptown | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Charlotte Airport | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Charlotte SouthPark | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Charlotte Northlake | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Charlotte Steele Creek | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Charlotte Piper Glen | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Charlotte Concord | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Charlotte Lake Norman | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Seattle Downtown/Convention Center | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Seattle Downtown/Lake Union | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Seattle University District | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Seattle Bellevue/Downtown | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Seattle Bellevue | 6:30am – 9:30am | 6:30am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Denver South/Park Meadows Mall | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Denver City Center | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Denver Downtown | 7:00am – 10:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Denver Cherry Creek | 6:30am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn Denver Central Park | 6:30am – 9:30am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
| Residence Inn Corpus Christi | 6:30am – 9:30am | 6:30am – 9:30am |
| Residence Inn by Marriott Tucson Airport | 6:00am – 9:00am | 7:00am – 10:00am |
Final word
Overall, you can assemble a satisfactory breakfast at the Residence Inn, particularly when there are special items like biscuits and gravy on the menu. If you’re staying for an extended period, it’s advisable to get creative and mix up the items to avoid getting tired of eating the same things consecutively for several days.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
