Free breakfast and more: A beginners guide to hotel lounges

Like many major airports, hotels all over the world have lounges. Hotel lounges can give travelers a quiet place to work, a spot to gather with family and friends, or a place to grab breakfast or a drink during their stay.

Related: Which hotel has the best free breakfast? TPG ate 10 meals to find the winner

Sounds pretty nice, right? Unfortunately, hotel lounges won't just welcome everyone in with open arms. You need to meet certain eligibility requirements to gain access. In this guide, we'll demystify hotel lounges and share how you can access this valuable hotel perk.

What is a hotel lounge?

A hotel lounge is an exclusive space inside a hotel that is only available to certain eligible guests. You'll find hotel lounges at popular upscale hotel chains but also at all-inclusive resorts and hotels at Disney World and Disneyland, among other locales.

Most lounges serve complimentary food and drinks, including breakfast in the morning, grab-and-go snacks and drinks throughout the day and a cocktail hour with hors d'oeuvres in the evening.

Aside from refreshments, hotel lounges provide a comfortable place to commune with friends and family outside your hotel room (i.e., nobody has to sit on your bed while you chat). Most have lots of comfortable seating, outdoor patios or balconies, TVs, board games and computers with internet access.

Which hotel brands have lounges?

Not all major hotel brands have lounges, but here's a look at some of the brands where you will often find a lounge:

Hilton

• Hilton Hotels & Resorts
• Conrad Hotels & Resorts

Hyatt

• Hyatt Regency
• Grand Hyatt

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Marriott

• JW Marriott
• Marriott Hotels
• Sheraton
• Delta Hotels
• Le Meridien
• Autograph Collection Hotels
• Westin Hotels & Resorts
• Renaissance Hotels
• Ritz-Carlton
• Courtyard by Marriott (international locations)

IHG Hotels & Resorts

• InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
• Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts

Not every brand listed will have a lounge at every location, and some brands that aren't listed may occasionally have a lounge. The best way to find out if the hotel you are looking at visiting has a club lounge is to call the hotel directly or check the hotel's website.

You will also often find club-level or concierge lounges at hotels not affiliated with any major hotel brand, including at Disney World, Disneyland and independently owned hotels. At those properties, you will usually need to book a club- or concierge-level room to gain access to the lounge.

How do you get into a hotel lounge?

You don't need a secret password to get into a hotel lounge, but you do need to either book a club-level room or hold a certain level of elite status to gain entry.

Anyone, regardless of elite status, can buy their way into most hotel lounges by booking a club- or concierge-level room with lounge access. When searching for a room online, look for rooms called "club level" or "concierge level." Some hotels will have an entire page on their site dedicated to their lounge and other club-level amenities. Certain hotels also allow guests to purchase lounge passes even if they aren't staying on a concierge floor.

Regarding loyalty status, the specifics vary per hotel and loyalty program. In some cases, if you are staying at a hotel without a lounge but have lounge access via elite status, the hotel will offer you an alternative method for free breakfast (i.e., a food-and-beverage credit or access to a complimentary breakfast buffet). For programs that limit how many guests you can bring into the lounge with you, you may be able to pay for additional guests.

Let's look at the loyalty thresholds for the major hotel brands that have lounges:

Hilton Honors

Hilton Honors members with Diamond status get executive lounge access for themselves and up to one other guest registered to their room.

Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy members with Platinum, Titanium or Ambassador Elite status get lounge access for themselves and up to one other guest registered to their room.

World of Hyatt

World of Hyatt members with Globalist status can access the lounge, along with up to two additional adults and two children registered to the same room. Hyatt members can also select two club access awards as Hyatt Milestone Rewards when they reach the 20 qualifying nights or 35,000 base points milestone, as well as the 30 qualifying nights or 50,000 base points milestone.

IHG One Rewards

IHG One Rewards members with Royal Ambassador status earned through the InterContinental Ambassador membership program get lounge access at InterContinental properties. IHG One Rewards members can also choose an annual lounge membership as one of their IHG Milestone Rewards after staying 40 or 70 nights.

All-inclusive resort lounges

Many all-inclusive resorts affiliated with major loyalty programs offer club or lounge experiences. This might have you scratching your head and asking, "Isn't everything included already?"

The answer, typically, is yes, and the perks of a lounge might be nominal at certain resorts. However, some club-level, all-inclusive rooms come with more benefits than just access to a lounge (if there even is a physical lounge). Those benefits might include top-shelf alcohol in the lounge (and oftentimes throughout the resort), access to private pool areas, access to club-level-only dining experiences or restaurants, and the opportunity to make reservations at restaurants or have early access to restaurant reservations.

Being able to make reservations or getting early access to reservations might be worth the potential $100 per night surcharge. It means you're not competing for walk-up space at popular resort restaurants — especially at teppanyaki restaurants where people love the chance to get shrimp catapulted into their mouth.

Can a credit card help you get into a hotel lounge?

Yes and no. Unlike airport lounges, there are no credit cards that grant you automatic access to a hotel lounge. That said, there are credit cards that can help you climb the elite status ladder more quickly. These cards could be your "key" to hotel lounge access:

• Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card: This card offers automatic Marriott Bonvoy® Platinum Elite status as a cardmember benefit, granting you lounge access at hotels where one is available.
• The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card: This card offers automatic Marriott Gold Elite status, but you can spend your way to Platinum Elite by spending $75,000 on purchases annually. Cardholders also receive three club-level upgrade certificates each year.
• World of Hyatt Credit Card (see rates and fees): Cardmembers get five elite nights each year and two additional nights for every $5,000 spent on the card, which can help you reach the 60 elite qualifying nights required to earn Globalist status.
• Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: This card offers automatic Hilton Honors Diamond status, granting you lounge access at hotels that have them.
• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: This card offers automatic Hilton Honors Gold status as a cardmember benefit. You can upgrade to Diamond status through the end of the following calendar year when you spend $40,000 on your card in a calendar year.

The information for the Ritz-Carlton card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Bottom line

There you have it — everything you've ever wanted to know about what's behind the doors of a hotel lounge and how you can gain access to these exclusive spaces. This is just one of the many perks of hotel elite status, but it's also one of the most valuable.

Related reading:

• Guide to World of Hyatt club lounge access awards, including how to use them for someone else
• Are Disney club-level rooms worth the extra cost?
• Best credit cards for hotel stays