Hotels begin annoying cost cuts

Anyone who regularly travels for business knows how much it sucks. Cost-cutting by major hotel chains is making the experience even more unpleasant.

According to the Wall Street Journal,(subscription required) guests of the Courtyard and other Marriott chains now have to ask at the front desk for those little bottles of hand lotions because they are no longer being provided in the rooms. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts are providing fewer towels, and Ritz-Carltons are cutting back on the operating hours of restaurants, spas and retail shops, the paper said.

Before you get into a tizzy about not having a cucumber-scented hand cream or two dozen fluffy towels, the chains are also are taking the axe to one of the quintessential elements of the hotel experience. Yes, I am talking about the breakfast buffet.

"Marriott International Inc., the country's largest hotel company, recently began telling some chains they can cut back on breakfast offerings," the Journal reports. "The company's Courtyard, SpringHill Suites and Residence Inn brands are all reducing the variety of fruits they are offering in breakfast buffets."

It's not clear whether this means that the hotels will only offer one type of melon or only provide berries in season. Perhaps they will only offer one type of bread next or curtail the omelette station entirely.

Hotels better be careful with these cost cuts or they risk annoying the dwindling numbers of people who can afford their services.