Rooms at a major five-star hotel chain are as much as £100 cheaper when guests ask for breakfast to be included, rather than simply paying for the room.

The Four Seasons hotel chain this week admitted that people can make huge savings at certain times of the year by ordering breakfast at the time of booking.

A spokeswoman pointed out that the standard rate at the Four Seasons Provence is £474, while guests who ask for a B&B stay can pay £369 – a difference of £105.

At the chain’s Dublin hotel, the standard room-only price is £301, while the B&B package can be as low as £200. Meanwhile, the B&B price in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt is £150, £30 less than simply booking a room.

With full English breakfasts at Four Seasons costing about £24pp, the overall savings when asking for breakfast in advance are even higher.

But why are prices so topsy-turvy? The spokeswoman said: “B&B prices are very much dependent on seasonality.”

Miles Quest, of the British Hospitality Association, was nonplussed: “I’ve never heard of this before.”

Details: Four Seasons (00800 6488 6488, www.fourseasons.com).