As an early riser and big morning coffee drinker, one of the challenges that I often face on the road is getting access to a decent cup of coffee at an early hour. For that matter, often I’ll find myself staying at an airport hotel where breakfast only starts at 7AM, which sure seems late to me, especially with many people catching early flights.
Well, I think I’ve found the hotel that might just do early morning coffee and breakfast better than any other property in the world.
In this post:
Breakfast starts at WHAT TIME?!?!
I just spent a night at the Le Meridien Cairo Airport, which I’ve stayed at several times over the years, though during my most recent visit I made a new discovery (I’m not sure if this is a new policy, or I just didn’t notice in the past). At check-in, part of the conversation went something like this:
Front desk agent: “You can enjoy breakfast in the club lounge on level five from 7AM until 10:30AM, or in EVOO on level B1 from 4AM until 10:30AM.”
Me: “I’m sorry, I think I misunderstood you. Did you say 4AM… like four… in the morning?”
Front desk agent: “Yes, there’s a buffet from 4AM until 10:30AM.”
Me: *speechless*
I mean, I’ve heard of hotels offering 24/7 breakfast via room service, or Vegas hotels having 24/7 buffets for drunk people who need food in the middle of the night, but in the hundreds of hotels I’ve stayed at in my lifetime, I’ve never, ever heard of a 4AM breakfast buffet. And the Le Meridien Cairo Airport isn’t even winning this by a small margin — I can’t think of any hotel I’ve ever stayed at with a breakfast buffet starting before 6AM.
I wondered if maybe this was a situation where if you show up at the restaurant in the first couple of hours, there’s a small menu you can order off of, or something, and they progressively set up the buffet. I figured I had to investigate, so I did what any normal person would do — showed up at 4AM on the dot.
I wondered if this was all a miscommunication, and if I’d show up at a locked door. To my surprise, I found cheery staff ready to serve, and a fully set up buffet. And I’ve gotta say, it was an excellent buffet no less, with barista made coffee and freshly squeezed juice to boot.
Not only did I show up at 4AM, but I figured I had to sit there for some time and see when other people would show up. Is there actually demand for breakfast at that hour? Well, after about an hour, a second person showed up…
While 4AM might be a bit extreme, this was such a nice contrast to all the airport hotels that don’t even have any sort of half decent coffee option before 7AM.
There’s also 24/7 barista coffee!
Here’s the other thing I love about the Le Meridien Cairo Airport, which I remember from previous stays. The hotel also has Latitude Coffee Bar in the lobby, which is open 24/7, and serves all kinds of coffee creations and sweets.
I’m happy when a hotel offers good coffee at all, but it’s especially nice when you can get a delicious coffee any hour of the day or night. This is useful in a place like Cairo, where a lot of flights operate in the middle of the night.
As if it isn’t good enough already, it’s also common for the hotel to put vouchers in the room for a free espresso or cappuccino, which you can redeem at the coffee bar. So I didn’t even have to pay extra for the above coffee.
Bottom line
While the Le Meridien Cairo Airport might not be the flashiest or most cutting edge airport hotel, it gets the basics right, including a convenient location, friendly service, and generally good elite recognition. As an early riser and coffee lover, I almost feel like this hotel is designed around me, between the 4AM breakfast and the 24/7 coffee bar. Those are two features I haven’t found at any other properties.
To fellow morning people, what’s the earliest hotel breakfast you’ve ever encountered?
One 4* hotel in Madrid (Axor Barajas) has a coffee machine and you cannot buy a cup of coffee from a barista until gone 10am. Thankfully, a few hotels in the area do offer free proper coffee and pastries from 4am or so. For goodness' sake, it's an airport hotel, so why do these places persist in using a schedule fit for a city centre hotel?
As others pointed out, this is quite common at airport hotels, at least here in Europe. I recall a few that do 4 AM (one of the Radissons at OSL does, for example) and 5 AM is absolutely normal at airport hotels. It's usually only non-airport properties that tend to start at 6.
Within the US, 5am start was pretty common in Hawaii; I remember Hyatt Place in Honolulu (8-yrs back). Most folks staying there are 3-6hrs ahead in time zone so that was really helpful.
I travel 2-3 nights/week and stay at full service Marriotts because of the availability of fresh brewed coffee early in the am. I wake up between 4:30-5 daily. These hotels always have complimentary coffee available for all guests by 5. Because of this, I continue to stay at these 3 hotels. One has an M Club available 24 hrs with an automatic coffee machine
No, there's a Best Western hotel in Gotenburg Airport which starts already at 3am!
Well, the sunrise in Gothenburg in June is 3:30-4 a.m. I remember the first time I went to Sweden in June. I tried waking up to take sunrise photos. It was so weird to be walking around see all the other people getting. It felt like 8 or 9 am and everyone was going to work. In reality, they were going home from partying.
Huh, interesting! Just took a look since I was curious and it seems like their published hours are 4:30-9:30 on weekdays, with cold breakfast available starting at 3:30.
https://www.landvetterairporthotel.se/en/breakfast
Helsinki Hilton has a decent smaller buffet from 3:30-6:00 and then the full buffet until 10:00
LHR Sofitel full buffet starts at 6:00.
The best I've ever seen was recently at the Mandarin Oriental in Singapore.
Interesting article. I agree many hotels especially airport hotels should start their breakfast earlier but about the coffees at most of the luxury hotels you tend to choose the in room coffee should be decent or good or just ask the butler if at the St Regis.
Hilton Helsinki Airport offers an early breakfast buffet at 3:30am and I was there last week at 3:45am. There was already a person before me sitting there. But then it was a continental breakfast buffet with no staffs serving. The front desk staffs will come up every thirty minutes to clear some dishes.
It is impressive to have a full hot breakfast buffet set up at this time of the day.
Novotel Bangkok Suvarnabhumi...
Hilton Helsinki Airport offers an early breakfast buffet at 3:30am and I was there last week at 3:45am. There was already a person before me sitting there. But then it was a continental breakfast buffet with no staffs serving. The front desk staffs will come up every thirty minutes to clear some dishes.
It is impressive to have a full hot breakfast buffet set up at this time of the day.
Novotel Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport has an early breakfast buffet too. But I can't remember the start time.
Hotel Star Inn Lisbon Airport. 2am continental, 5am full (and very good), tho we were there at 3:30am and full was in full swing (with many patrons). Bonus: 5 minute walk to the terminal.
Hotel Star Inn Lisbon Airport has an elaborate breakfast buffet that starts at 2am.
There are lots of crazy early or crazy late, depending on your perspective, flights out of Cairo. I believe Dubai is also like this to some degree as well. It's nice to see a hotel recognize this, although I prefer menu breakfasts and not buffets. I am generally surprised at the number of big-city AIRPORT and downtown city center hotels that don't have ANY breakfast options before 7 am on weekdays. Breakfast should be available on weekdays at 6 am.
They have nice buffets most of the day at Le Meridien Cairo Airport. I find breakfasts at an airport hotel mostly irrelevant as I would rather check-in and head to the lounge.
Jumbo Stay Arlanda (yes I know it beneath a blogger) starts at 3am
I stayed at the China Southern Airlines hotel in Shanghai back in 2015, and the breakfast buffet opened at 5 or 5:30 AM. I went down as soon as it opened since I was jetlagged, and most of the patrons at that hour were China Southern crew.
Not sure if still the case post-covid but the Doubletree in Darwin, Australia used to serve its breakfast buffet from 3:30am. Catered to FIFO workers heading out to the mines, other travellers on early morning departures down to the southern states and of course the many tourists heading off on day trips, which thanks to the large distances between basically anything in the NT often leave at 5 or 6am!
Makes sense. Never stayed there, but have stayed at the Hilton up the road, and they were open at 6.
My guess is that early breakfasts are common in Muslim-heavy countries. You have Ramadan for sure, but even outside of that there's the ?daily? pre-dawn Fajr prayer that according to recent Googling occurs around 90 minutes before sun-up. If Cairo has a 5:30 AM sunrise then Fajr is around 4 AM, and I imagine a good portion of Muslims would start their breakfast shortly afterwards and not want to wait 3-5 hours until "typical" breakfast...
My guess is that early breakfasts are common in Muslim-heavy countries. You have Ramadan for sure, but even outside of that there's the ?daily? pre-dawn Fajr prayer that according to recent Googling occurs around 90 minutes before sun-up. If Cairo has a 5:30 AM sunrise then Fajr is around 4 AM, and I imagine a good portion of Muslims would start their breakfast shortly afterwards and not want to wait 3-5 hours until "typical" breakfast hours. I'm not Muslim so I could be totally off.
Novotel BKK airport, at least 4 am, I think I remember they actually start earlier (3am).
Also have an 24h CI/CO policy.
More airport hotels should do this. Well, maybe not the whole buffet but at least some early breakfast options would be fantastic.
As others have noted, there are many flights with early departures. This is the mid east and most European airlines coordinate there mid-east schedule so the pax can transfer to tatl flights, often there is another turnaround so arriving tatl pax transfer to TLV, CAI and others.
I am not sure if this is a factor but takeoff and lift are generally better in the less hot AM hours.
When I briefly stayed there in 2018 it seemed to be heavily used as a crew hotel and an arrivals lounge facility for a few airlines, at breakfast (6am) it was mostly crew.
Can we get a review trip that covers only breakfast buffets that start before 5am? :)
I always wonder why many other airport hotels start breakfast at 7am. The main purpose for staying at an airport hotel is to arrive late or depart early. Departing early means often means departing without breakfast. I would love to have breakfast at 4am.
Cost savings! Every breakfast you don't serve saves you, and so does a rushed breakfast!
My experience is that almost all airport hotels offer early breakfast (7 AM would be late even for a city hotel). But keep in mind that departing early means that the pax already has to cut their sleep significantly, so waking up another half an hour early to have breakfast is something most people choose not to do. Besides, many people can't eat for the first hour or two after waking up anyway.
Holiday Inn Lima Peru airport also at 4am.
Ramadan.
...ended a month ago. What's that got to do with anything?
As an expat in the ME for more than a decade by now, I've also stayed in this hotel many times since 2014 (actually when it just opened as a Starwood hotel, they used to almost automatically upgrade you to a gigantic panorama suites when you're a Starwood platinum, now as a Marriott Platinum member, my automatic upgrade is either tiny club room or studio-style junior suite, haha... lol). Anyway breakfast from 6am is pretty...
As an expat in the ME for more than a decade by now, I've also stayed in this hotel many times since 2014 (actually when it just opened as a Starwood hotel, they used to almost automatically upgrade you to a gigantic panorama suites when you're a Starwood platinum, now as a Marriott Platinum member, my automatic upgrade is either tiny club room or studio-style junior suite, haha... lol). Anyway breakfast from 6am is pretty common in a lot of the Middle East hotels so being an airport hotel, 4am is not really surprising at all. Actually the hotel's lobby is pretty large and extended, and there is a 24hour lobby cafe in this hotel, so when I need to kill about 6-7 hours @ CAI airport, I just come to this hotel (connected to Terminal 3) and crash in one of long hotel lobby sofa at the corner... sort of free, temp accommodation. lol
The Clarion at Arlanda (Stockholm) has a full spread ready at 4am.
Clarion even does a simpler breakfast before 4am for "those that wake early". And Radisson Arlandia full spread starts 4.30am.
"I figured I had to investigate, so I did what any normal person would do — showed up at 4AM on the dot."
This is the hard-hitting journalism we have come to expect from OMAAT - bravo! :)
I have seen this in Cusco, where most tours to Machu Pichu depart before 6 AM
Hotels in Indonesia may open spme semblance of a breakfast/all day buffet during Ramadan for pre-dawn meals for Muslim guests. They may start as early as 3:00, even at The Melia where I stayed
I’ve stayed at the jumbostay 747 at Arlanda airport and they start breakfast at 2:45am
The Hilton Helsinki Airport has an early breakfast buffet too. I don't remember it being this early back in my stay from a few years ago, but they have limited buffet in a room right next to the front desk that opens at 3:30am.
Movenpick Aswan is similar. Open at 4am for those making the early bus journey to Abu Simbel.
Was recently in the Novotel in Cusco (great property) and I’m fairly sure there was a pre-5am breakfast start to accommodate people heading to Machu Picchu
That makes sense for a number of reasons (at least I understand the thinking).
For one, from my experience, the Le Meridien and nearby Novotel both have mostly international guests from other countries. They are often staying at the airport after arriving or just before departing to their country. That means their body clock may be on a different time zone, they might be jetlagged, etc., which is why a 4am breakfast would make sense....
That makes sense for a number of reasons (at least I understand the thinking).
For one, from my experience, the Le Meridien and nearby Novotel both have mostly international guests from other countries. They are often staying at the airport after arriving or just before departing to their country. That means their body clock may be on a different time zone, they might be jetlagged, etc., which is why a 4am breakfast would make sense.
A lot of people also have early morning flights, and Cairo has a lot of flights throughout the night (mostly on foreign airlines, it seems Egyptair doesn't have that many 3am connections like Emirates or Qatar).
Egypt also has a culture of people staying up at night, so that may also play into it.
All of these reasons on paper make sense for starting breakfast at 4am. Whether or not people use it consistently is a different story. But I'm a fan!
"...if I’d show up at a locker door." You meant LOCKED door.
Ah, yes. THE positioning/mileage-run airport over the years…
No real surprise, as CAI (and so many other MidEast airports) have several major trunk routes that depart in all manner of the night.
But otherwise, can't fault the hotels, as the amount of people (or even early travelers) interested in a full dining experience pre 6-7am, has got to be extremely limited, no matter where you are.
I would love this. So many hotels don't start breakfast until 7am and if traveling for work i am usually out of the hotel by 7am and have to stop somewhere to grab a bite. I wish more hotels would offer a grab n go as part of their elite recognition.
This would’ve made a lot more sense using Ramadan, but not in May…
Makes sense for airport hotels with flights leaving at early hours but might not be economical for the hotel if for like your case only 1 other person showed up after an hour! Thats why I avoid staying at luxury hotel brands or using programs like FHR when have a early morning flight to catch as wont be able to make use of the breakfast benefit usually!
An Ibis near Rio de Janeiro's SDU (the small domestic-only airport) had breakfast from 4:00 AM, but that was pre-covid, I don't know if it still does.
For airport hotels this should be the standard. One stays at airport hotels either because they're a traver blogger doing a review trip, and/or because they have an early flight (which might be well before 7:00 AM), so I find it infuriating when it's not possible to have breakfast because it only opens "late".
That's going to be some dried out food by 10:30