The rise of the floating breakfast, travel’s most insufferable flex

A floating breakfast platter at the Yellow Nest in Tulum. Photo / Natalie Compton for The Washington Post

Your eggs might get splashed, but that’s not stopping luxury hotels from offering an assortment of in-pool dining.

Through the sliding glass door of my jungle hotel room, I could see my breakfast had arrived. A plate of huevos rancheros were waiting in the pool. Not by - in.

A woven basket tray bobbed in the water, topped with a decadent spread begging to be photographed. At the Yellow Nest, a boutique hotel a short drive away from the beachfront in this Caribbean hot spot for influencers, my floating breakfast included the Mexican egg dish, black coffee, a tropical juice, half a bagel with sliced fruit and granola, fake flowers and an array of condiments.

The precarious meal service is the social media era’s answer to breakfast in bed: lavish, photogenic, incredibly impractical.

Some see it as the height of luxury. To others, like David Hawkraven, the owner of Designed Travel, it’s “for lack of a better word - and I hate to say - a gimmick”.

To determine which camp I fell in, I lowered myself into the pool, moving carefully to avoid any food splashing or tray tipping. The water came up chest high. I dried my hands and hovered over the lip of the basket to eat. Inevitably, water dripped into my coffee cup. A few morsels may have gone for a swim.

The huevos rancheros were wonderful. Their floating delivery was not.

The verdant scene at the Yellow Nest in Tulum. Photo / Natalie Compton for The Washington Post

Who invented the floating breakfast?

For me, floating food is a bridge too far. While I’m definitely not alone in that opinion, the amenity’s popularity far outweighs its detractors - at least online, where posts flaunting such trays draw armies of glowing fans. It has become a staple for honeymooners and influencers travelling anywhere vaguely pool-friendly, and it shows no sign of waning.

You can find floating sushi in Antigua, floating bar bites in Singapore. Outside of hotels and resorts, catering companies are delivering floating cupcakes in Curaçao and floating chicken and French toast in Atlanta.

According to hospitality legend, the floating breakfast was born in Indonesia.

It originated in Bali, said LaDell Carter, a Baltimore-based luxury travel planner who founded Royal Expression Travels.

A 2016 news release from the Ritz-Carlton in Bali may be one of the earliest mentions of the trend. Announcing a new “enhanced villa experience”, the release advertises “an impressive floating breakfast” along with a reserved beach cabana, access to a 24-hour butler service, personal shopper, wellness specialist and chef. (Bali has since taken the concept a step further; a hotel now serves floating dinner, as in, a table and chairs on a floating platform.)

Science fiction writer John Varley may have invented the concept before Bali. In his 1998 book The Golden Globe, the main character wakes up from a nap in a spaceship’s spa pool (keyword: science fiction) to discover: “A floating breakfast tray had found me. On it was a steaming mug of coffee, a huge glass of orange juice, a Bloody Mary, and a bowl of what looked like oatmeal.”

Earlier still, there’s an Associated Press photo called “Floating Luncheon” from 1939 that routinely pops up on social media showing three women eating spaghetti off an inflatable mattress by the isle of Capri. According to the AP, “swimming waiters push out the floating tables bearing meals which include wine and spaghetti”.

The appeal is obvious; humans love the water. Eating and drinking on it is the ultimate indulgence. (See also: the swim-up bar, which debuted in Las Vegas in the 1950s.)

“There’s something quite dreamy about the idea of being served an indulgent breakfast afloat in a private pool with the most incredible backdrop of a tropical paradise,” said Chloe Esme, co-founder of the Maldives travel agency Amazing Escapes.

The floating breakfast trend is a natural progression from other photogenic amenities at hotels. Photo / Natalie Compton for The Washington Post

Strictly for the ‘gram

Esme, who has lived in the Maldives for nearly 20 years, started noticing floating breakfasts trending in 2018; the timing coincided with the rise of influencer culture. It was a natural progression from the other photogenic amenities hotels offered, like serving branded coconuts or setting up dinners on the beach.

But Esme says most people don’t seem to actually be interested in consuming their floating breakfast.

“In my experience, a lot of people would only order them just for Instagram photos,” she said. “They would sort of prop everything up for the poses and then they would send it away. Maybe the champagne might have been opened, but I don’t think there’s any substance to it, really.”

I’d heard about the same in Tulum. The hotel employee who delivered my tray had asked if I would like my picture taken, and the owner had told me many guests don’t touch the food at all. This isn’t just a meal, it’s a flex.

That’s part of what makes it special, said Carter, who has arranged floating breakfasts for clients on trips in Bali and Africa.

“It’s normally in a private pool with a scenic view,” she said. “It’s indulgent and exclusive, relaxing and elevated. After all, it’s not every day you get to eat breakfast in a pool on a safari with elephants walking in the background.

“It’s like, who does this?” Carter added. “It’s so memorable.”

Despite its reputation as a splurge, the experience can be found on the cheap. My breakfast cost 500 Mexican pesos, about US$25 ($41.16) for guests staying at the hotel. It’s also listed on Airbnb Experiences, Resort Pass, Expedia and Viator at prices between US$70 ($115) and US$90 ($148).

At nicer properties, they can be much pricier. Esme says travellers can expect to pay around US$100 ($165) to US$200 ($329) in the Maldives.

However, Esme said the more high-end the property, the less often she sees demand for floating breakfasts. Ultraluxury resorts may sell 10 a week, while “mass-market” resorts do 10 per day. Hawkraven said the same.

But both travel planners agreed the trend is here to stay, no matter how little sense it makes to eat wet eggs.