Meals at a hotel: room only, breakfast, half board and all inclusive
The same room in the same hotel, at four different prices. The difference is what you eat.
4 min read ·
The five options, one line each
The rate decides what the stay includes. These are the names you will meet:
- Room only: the room and nothing else.
- Bed and breakfast: the room plus breakfast, usually a buffet.
- Half board: breakfast and one more meal, normally dinner.
- Full board: three meals a day.
- All inclusive: meals and drinks under the hotel's own policy, which differs from place to place.
What is usually not included
Even all inclusive has edges: imported drinks, a speciality restaurant inside the hotel, room service and the minibar are normally charged separately. The exact policy is in the rate description, not in its name.
On half board the second meal is usually dinner, though some hotels will swap it for lunch. If that matters, ask before arrival.
Who each one suits
In a city where you eat out anyway, bed and breakfast is enough most of the time. On a beach holiday with children, half board or all inclusive saves both money and daily decisions.
The arithmetic is simple: the difference between the rates against what those meals would cost outside, times the number of days.
Questions that keep coming up
Is breakfast included for everyone in the room?
Usually, though children under a certain age are sometimes priced separately or free. It is in the rate conditions and the hotel's child policy.
Can meals be added after booking?
Usually yes, with the hotel and at the hotel's price, which is not necessarily the price that was in the rate when you booked.
Buffet or menu?
A buffet is self-service from a fixed spread; a menu is dishes you order. Cheaper half board is normally a buffet or a short menu.
Rahlio shows the board type on every room on the hotel page, so rates can be compared by what is actually in them.