Hilton Honors is a hotel loyalty program that we don’t frequently use. Despite having a co-branded Hilton Surpass AMEX card and earning a free night that must be used this year, our last stay at a Hilton hotel was at a Hampton Inn in 2022. It’s not that we have anything against their hotels, but we tend to stay at Marriott, Hyatt, or IHG hotels because we usually have free night certificates or points that need to be used before they expire.
Because of that, I don’t follow all the ins and outs of the Hilton Honors program. I knew that sometime in the past several years, they did away with the free breakfast benefit for Gold and Diamond members at hotels in the US, replacing it with a food and credit benefit. However, we hadn’t stayed at a property where we hadn’t had a free breakfast since then.
As Hilton Honors has returned to the policy of expiring points if there is no account activity, I decided to use the points in my account to book a hotel in Manhattan for our quick weekend trip to see Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden. Since I booked a hotel that’s part of the Tapestry Collection, we were each entitled to an $18 F&B credit per day.
Our Experience Using Hilton Food & Beverage Credit
This turned out to be one of the most useless benefits I’d ever received as a loyalty member.
As a frequent traveler, I’ve grown accustomed to the unnecessary perks that come bundled with an exorbitant resort or property fee. I find it rather pointless to receive complimentary phone calls or a $50 discount on a spa treatment, as they hardly make up for the inflated fees I’m already paying.
But this hit differently since the only place you could spend the credit was at The Pleat Cafe & Bar.
But The Pleat isn’t really a cafe or a bar. It’s the grab-and-go stand in the lobby.
The whiteboard sign over the hand sanitizer stand advertises their “New” bagel selection. So enjoy your $18 credit on a coffee and bagel, or pick up a Spindrift and a prepackaged salad.
There are two issues with The Pleat Cafe. First, there’s no seating available, so you’d have to bring the food to eat in your room. Second, the hours of operation aren’t convenient. It’s not even listed as a dining location on the hotel website, as the page for hotel dining is completely empty.
We planned on grabbing some snacks on our way out to the airport. However, when we checked out at 7:45 AM on a Sunday morning, the location wasn’t yet open. Whomp whomp!
Our first experience using the $18 F&B credit provided me with two vouchers, which I kept as souvenirs. The vouchers promised an $18 food and beverage credit at the cafe. I’m sure the credit is useful at a hotel that actually has a cafe and bar. But offering a credit instead of free breakfast and the only place you can use it is in the lobby grab-and-go stand, isn’t what I had in mind from a Tapestry Collection hotel.
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