Breakfast-included rates are priced as a package, not itemized, which makes them harder to evaluate than they look. A hotel doesn't simply add the à la carte breakfast price to the room-only rate — it usually prices the bundle to be a modest discount versus buying both separately, as an incentive to choose the higher-margin package rate.
That's genuinely useful information if you were going to eat breakfast at the hotel regardless. It's much less useful if your actual plans involve an early flight, a full day out, or a preference for cheaper food elsewhere — in which case you're paying for a meal you won't use, and the room-only rate is the better deal even though it looks like the worse number on the page.
The gap between the two rates is the number that actually matters, not the sticker price of either one alone. A property showing a $15 gap between room-only and breakfast-included is a very different decision than one showing a $45 gap, even if the base room rate is identical at both.
Worth checking, too: some properties apply the breakfast-included rate as the only refundable option, with room-only locked to non-refundable. In that case the real comparison isn't just about the meal — it's whether the cancellation flexibility is worth the premium on its own.
