Costa Coffee is now pouring at more than 2,200 Holiday Inn Express properties across the United States — complimentary with every stay — marking the full domestic deployment of an exclusive partnership with The Coca-Cola Company announced last year. For hospitality operators watching beverage strategy closely, the rollout signals how branded coffee programs are becoming a core differentiator in the select-service segment, not just an amenity footnote.
The Research Behind It
To anchor the campaign, Holiday Inn Express commissioned Talker Research to survey 1,000 Gen Z adults and 1,000 millennials about their post-experience habits. The numbers make a credible case for investing in breakfast space and beverage quality. Sixty-five percent of respondents called coffee a non-negotiable part of a proper post-trip debrief — millennials more so than Gen Z (68% vs. 63%). More than half (55%) said the morning recap is actually more exciting than the event itself, and 64% called it "an absolute must" after any big trip or night out. The average debrief runs 85 minutes, and 52% of respondents admitted they've extended a hotel stay specifically to make time for one.
For property operators, those figures carry a direct implication: a well-appointed breakfast program doesn't just satisfy guests, it actively encourages longer dwell time and, by extension, potential incremental spending. Top debrief foods cited were eggs and omelets (51%), bacon or sausage (50%), and pancakes (45%) — a lineup that maps closely to what Holiday Inn Express already offers through its complimentary Express Start Breakfast.
Content, Cards, and Coffee
The brand is amplifying the Costa rollout with an influencer-led digital campaign called "Unpacking at Holiday Inn Express by IHG," featuring Brooke Averick and Connor Wood of the "Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast" franchise. The two appear in a branded video set at the hotel's breakfast table, using the moment to model exactly the kind of unhurried, in-person conversation the survey data describes. It's a format well-suited to a Gen Z and millennial audience that increasingly consumes hospitality content through podcast-adjacent creators rather than traditional travel media.
Complementing the campaign is a limited-edition Morning Debrief card game — a 30-prompt deck structured in three acts — available at select Holiday Inn Express properties and distributed through social surprise drops. Justin Alexander, vice president of global brand management at Holiday Inn Express by IHG, noted that the brand has spent decades building its breakfast offering across more than 3,000 locations worldwide, and that the campaign is designed to remind travelers that those unhurried morning conversations are themselves part of the travel experience.
What It Means for Operators
The Costa Coffee partnership is worth watching beyond the Holiday Inn Express footprint. With Coca-Cola's distribution muscle behind it, Costa is expanding its hotel channel presence at scale — a move that puts pressure on independent select-service operators and competing brands to sharpen their own coffee positioning. Beverage program trends in hospitality have been moving toward premium, recognizable brands for several years, and this deployment is the largest single-brand hotel coffee rollout in recent memory at the select-service tier.
For foodservice and restaurant hospitality professionals tracking breakfast strategy, the survey data also reinforces a broader consumer behavior shift: younger travelers are actively seeking comfortable, analog social environments after digital-heavy experiences. Properties that invest in breakfast ambiance — seating layouts, acoustic comfort, beverage quality — may find a measurable return in guest satisfaction scores and length of stay. The Morning Debrief card game is a low-cost, high-visibility example of how operators can manufacture reasons for guests to linger without adding significant overhead.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
