If you follow any “travel influencers” on social media, odds are decent that they’ve posted a picture allegedly eating a ridiculously large breakfast in a pool. I just don’t get it, so I’m curious if this is just my (at times) Larry David-esque view of the world, or if I’m the only one who doesn’t find this concept appealing in the slightest?
The trend of breakfast served in the pool
There has been a trend in recent years whereby many people have posted pictures on social media of them eating a very large breakfast in a pool. Rather than getting room service on a tray that you can enjoy in your room, you instead get room service on a tray you can enjoy in your pool. I guess this is supposed to be an evolution of the concept of breakfast in bed.
For example, below is a video from Chalet Al Foss, of the “floating breakfast” (that’s like 18 pastries and some fruit — what a breakfast!). Speaking of Chalet Al Foss, do people actually pay to stay there, or is the hotel primarily designed for travel influencers? And if so, what’s the business model there?
Before I share my primary objection to this concept, I have to point out that I don’t think I’ve ever stayed at a hotel that offers breakfast in the pool? Like, I’ve stayed in a fair number of very nice hotels, but I don’t ever recall calling room service to order breakfast and being asked whether I wanted that served on a regular tray or a floating tray, even when I had a private pool.
So is this actually something that’s widely offered, or is the Instagram travel influencer crowd in cahoots with the floating tray industry in an effort to make us request that hotels offer this? I dunno…
Eating in the pool is exceptionally unappealing to me
Eating in the pool has zero appeal to me, and I’m curious if it’s just me:
- Aren’t we worried about food falling off the tray and into the pool?
- The trays are always overflowing with food, so how are two people supposed to eat their dishes off a tray at the same time?
- How do you keep your hands dry, so they’re not dripping with pool water as you reach for various things on your tray? What do you do if your hands get dirty? Just clean them in the pool water?
- My priority when ordering room service is that the food is still the right temperature when I eat it, and the longer it’s “exposed” and being set up, the less likely it is to be the right temperature
- What happens if I want a coffee refill?!
- I simply don’t get the “evolution” from breakfast in bed (which is amazing and logical — who doesn’t like enjoying an effortless cup of coffee?) to breakfast in the pool…
I guess what my question boils down to is whether there’s any appeal whatsoever to eating in the pool beyond getting a shot for Instagram? I can appreciate that there are things that are fun for the novelty (like showering on an Emirates A380 — though I’d argue that never gets old), but I feel like even if I were served a floating breakfast tray, I’d just take it out of the pool and go sit somewhere else.
Bottom line
Based on the frequency with which you see floating breakfasts on Instagram, you’d think you could order one of these via Uber Eats. I get it’s intended to be aspirational, but to me it’s just highly uninspiring, and the logistics side of my brain is triggered by the whole setup. What’s the next hotel amenity — showering in bed, or sleeping in the bathroom?
Where do you stand on floating hotel breakfasts? Would anyone like one of these if they weren’t allowed to take a picture?
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