One Boracay resort offers this experience at P4,500 for two.
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Travellers are swapping their breakfast in bed or early morning buffets for a scrumptious food spread at the pool. Called floating breakfasts, the hotel room service typically includes fruit, coffee, toast, or even full-on rice meals placed on a tray and served, as the name suggests, “floating” in the guest’s hot tub or private pool.
The delicious and picture-perfect experience has been steadily gaining popularity in the last year or so at tropical paradise destinations around the world including its widely-believed origin, Bali in Indonesia. In the Philippines, luxury resorts have been offering the trendy food experience to guests.
So why are these floating breakfasts so popular and where can it be experienced here?
Safe and unique experience
With COVID-19 and its variants still a big concern, travellers have been choosing to dine in the safety of their rooms.
What the infectious disease has taken away in the typical hotel breakfast experience, however, a meal at a private pool might make up for. It also comes with what perhaps makes dining even more inviting—a breathtaking view of nature.
In Grand Park Kodhipparu, a luxury private resort island in Maldives, eating breakfast at each room’s infinity pool is as good as dining at the sea’s deep blue waters.
In Cavo Tagoo, a five-star hotel in Greece, guests can avail a heart-shaped floating breakfast in a cave pool with a view of the sunrise at the island of Mykonos.
In Hotel Chalet al Foss, an exclusive experience hotel in Italy, guests can feel full not just with their meals afloat an infinity pool, but also with the view of the alps.
In Lalaland Villa, a resort in Bali, any meal of the day—even a cheese spread—can be served at the pool, placed on clear trays to intensify the “floating” while dining experience.
For the ‘gram
A dip in a private pool and a breakfast with stunning views are what Instagram dreams are made of and vacationers are willing to pay and wake up early just to get the picture worth posting.
Given that it’s a unique and fairly new experience, even with the tragic possibility of food and drinks spilling or getting pool water, travellers are more than eager to share it on social media.
On Instagram alone, the hashtag #floatingbreakfast presents 67,860 posts featuring picturesque experiences from around the world. On Facebook and Youtube, content showing floating breakfasts rack up thousands of shares and views.
New Experience Made Local
In the Philippines, resorts are slowly but surely hopping on the floating breakfast bandwagon.
At Crimson Resort and Spa in Boracay, a floating breakfast worth P4,500 has generous servings of the following: parma ham and fresh mozzarella cheese; granola and yogurt parfait; foie gras, truffle and egg en cocotte; English muffin, smoked salmon, creamy egg, trout roe, homemade hash browns,and brie en croute; croissant in raspberry, chocolate, and pistachio flavors; sliced seasonal fruits; fresh orange juice; and coffee or tea.
In Bohol, Amorita Resort is showing that floating food trays need not be limited to a morning meal. It could also be for refreshments like coconut juice.
For relatively new, Bali-inspired resorts in the country, the floating breakfast is served with the local palate in mind, too.
Tropical Stay by Souq in Pampanga, for instance, offers a floating food tray featuring a Filipino favorite, silog with the famous Pampanga tocino, a plate of fruit, and a drink of their choice in a private outdoor tub. That’s included in the P5,500 overnight stay for two.
Whether this new experience will be just another fad or become a mainstay in local travel destinations remains to be seen. For now, just the thought of making a vacation one for the books despite the pandemic could be enough reason for vacationers to give floating breakfasts a chance.
Banner Photo from @cavotagoomykonos on IG
