“Petit Déjeuner Compris” – Is It Really Free? Evidence from French and Italian Hotels

Despite the old claim in economics that “there is no such thing as a free lunch,” some of the recent work in behavioral economics and in other fields of study implies the contrary. In this paper I study whether French and Italian hotels actually provide a “free” breakfast when, as is done by many hotels around the world, its provision is included in the room price. The data indicate, using both cross-sectional comparisons and hotel-specific changes in breakfast provision, that there is no such thing as a free breakfast. In France and Italy hotels that offer, respectively, “petit dejeuner compris” and “compresa la prima colazione” appear to raise their room prices by 10 to 15 percent.