I was trying to book a 4-day stay in Lyon, France, in a 3-star hotel belonging to a major chain. Their website advertised a rate with a slight discount, a counterpart to a slightly restrictive cancellation policy.
The rate was listed as "including breakfast". However, upon requesting details, I was in for a surprise, as the breakfast is only included for the first two days, as shown here :
(Screenshot edited for brevity and to remove the hotel name).
Having travelled quite a bit in multiple countries, I never faced having a service offered only part of a stay. Has it become a common occurrence in an attempt to drive rates down ? Do major hotels actually engage in such deceptive practices or is it likely a mistake or bug in the website ?
EDITED Oct 25th : December 26th and 27th are a Saturday and a Sunday. Breakfast is similarly not included on the 19th and 20th if I try to book a week earlier. However the standard rate (with free last-minute cancellation) does include the breakfast even on weekends.
The cost of two days' worth of breakfasts is about 2/3 of the difference between the discounted and the standard rate.