SOFITEL AND NESPRESSO REVISIT THE FRENCH CAFÉ-CROISSANT RITUAL
From 1 September to 26 November 2026, Sofitel and Nespresso bring a new interpretation of the French café-croissant to 20 hotels worldwide. Through the limited-edition “Please Disturb” experience, three pastry and coffee pairings turn an everyday ritual into a considered in-room tasting experience.
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The café-croissant has always carried a particular sense of ease. A flaky pastry, a cup of coffee, a little time before the day begins. For Sofitel, the familiar combination becomes the starting point for a more playful exploration of flavour through its latest La Haute Croissanterie collaboration with Nespresso.
Running for three months across 20 selected Sofitel properties, the “Please Disturb” experience brings specially created croissants together with Nespresso coffee recipes, served privately in guests’ rooms. The concept takes its name from a gentle reinterpretation of the traditional hotel “Do Not Disturb” sign: rather than closing the door on the outside world, guests are invited to open it to an unexpected gastronomic moment. The pairings can be ordered through room service or by placing the dedicated “Please Disturb” door hanger outside the room, and are available throughout the day.
At the centre of the collaboration is La Haute Croissanterie, Sofitel’s global pastry concept dedicated to exploring the croissant through different ingredients, techniques and local influences. At Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk, the concept was introduced to the region in January 2024, with the hotel developing croissants that incorporate ingredients associated with the Middle East. The Dubai property continues to position the collection as an expression of Sofitel’s French approach interpreted through its local setting.
For this edition, three pairings move between caramelised sweetness, spice, chocolate, citrus and roasted nuts. Le Brûlé combines a cappuccino mousse brûlée with a crispy honey cream croissant. Almond provides a connecting note between the pastry and coffee, while orange blossom and fresh orange zest bring brightness to the combination. The decaffeinated cappuccino is finished with a lightly burnt character that echoes the honeyed pastry, creating a pairing built around contrasting textures and familiar French pastry notes.
L’Épicé takes a darker, more pronounced direction. A coffee-chocolate croissant filled with a smooth coffee-chocolate ganache is matched with a spicy chocolate coffee prepared with oat milk. Espresso and dark chocolate form the richer base of the pairing, while passion fruit introduces acidity and freshness. Sichuan pepper provides the final aromatic accent, bringing a subtle heat to an otherwise indulgent combination.
The third creation, Le Tonique, approaches the ritual from a more refreshing perspective. A Paris-Brest croissant filled with hazelnut praline diplomat cream and roasted hazelnuts is paired with an iced orange espresso tonic. The pastry’s nutty richness is offset by the bitterness and effervescence of the coffee-based drink, while orange zest and orange blossom water add a floral citrus character. It is perhaps the most overtly contemporary of the three, taking ingredients associated with classic French patisserie into a cooler, more spirited format.
The experience is deliberately designed to extend beyond the arrival of the tray. Each pairing receives a finishing gesture in the room, bringing an element of preparation and theatre to the otherwise private setting. Depending on the creation, that may involve brûléed sugar, an aromatic citrus mist, or freshly grated dark chocolate and Sichuan pepper. The final details give the guest a glimpse of the craft behind the finished pairing without taking the experience away from the intimacy of in-room dining.
That sense of ritual sits comfortably within Sofitel’s wider approach to hospitality. The French luxury hotel brand traces its origins to 1964, when its first hotel opened in Strasbourg, in France’s Alsace region. Its expansion beyond France began in 1975, followed by its joining the Accor group in 1980. From its beginnings, Sofitel has developed its identity around French hospitality interpreted through the cultures and traditions of its destinations, an approach it continues to describe through its idea of “French zest”.
The collaboration also reflects the role of coffee within the contemporary hotel experience. Rather than treating it simply as an accompaniment to breakfast, the Nespresso partnership makes coffee an ingredient in the construction of the pairing itself. Hot and cold recipes, milk, citrus, chocolate and spice are used to create different points of connection with the pastry, giving the coffee an active role in the tasting rather than leaving it as a supporting element.
In Dubai, the experience takes on an especially fitting setting at Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk. Located in Wafi City on Sheikh Rashid Road, the hotel combines Sofitel’s French design language with Art Deco references and elements drawn from Dubai’s cultural landscape. Its culinary offering includes Bijou Patisserie, home to La Haute Croissanterie, while the hotel itself is directly connected to Wafi City.
The hotel’s existing interpretation of La Haute Croissanterie provides a local context for the collaboration. Previous creations have incorporated regional ingredients such as saffron and flavours associated with Dubai’s history as a crossroads for spice routes, demonstrating how the concept can move beyond a single traditional recipe while retaining the layered structure of French pastry.
Beyond Dubai, the limited-edition menu is being served at a carefully selected group of Sofitel properties, spanning London, Luxembourg, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seoul, Mexico City, Riyadh, Rabat, Marrakech, Singapore, Montreal, Paris, Barcelona, Cartagena, Sydney and Brisbane. The selection includes four Paris addresses, alongside destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North America and Australia.
The experience is therefore deliberately temporary: available from 1 September through 26 November 2026, it occupies a particular point in the calendar rather than becoming a permanent addition to the menu. At Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk, guests can discover it within the hotel’s existing La Haute Croissanterie offering at Wafi City.
What makes the collaboration interesting is its attention to a ritual that needs little explanation. The croissant and coffee already belong together; Sofitel and Nespresso simply give that relationship new dimensions through texture, temperature, aroma and finishing touches. In the privacy of a hotel room, the familiar breakfast gesture becomes something slower and more deliberate — a small reminder that even the most established rituals can leave room for discovery.