A cake for all reasons
During my time of having worked over three decades in the hospitality industry, I’ve had the opportunity of befriending several guests. Of the many conversations we’ve had, one in particular, was how hotels and restaurants treated them when their birthday happened to fall during a hotel stay or when dining out to enjoy the occasion.
Since my retirement a decade ago, my wife and I have done a fair amount of travel, where in many instances , we’ve stayed in some hotel or another during either of ours birthdays. For the most part, it appeared that hospitality venues were pretty accommodating and usually came up with something special to celebrate the occasion. Any why not… Aren’t we in the hospitality business where those little gestures count?
However, what we discovered mostly and one that resonated with the stories that my friends shared with me on how hotels handled birthdays and special occasions, was that for the most, it was a ‘celebration in a box’ approach. Interestingly and over time, the box, has become smaller…meaning a 250 gm cake can be rather mean-spirited, especially when a booking to eat, drink and make merry on that special occasion brings around a dozen family members and friends. But who am I to complain? After all –one may argue, it’s the gesture that matters.
This one though takes the cake! A few years ago, I booked a table at a restaurant in a 5-star International hotel. Mentioning that it was a family dinner to celebrate of my son’s birthday, I requested that a table in a nice area be reserved. It was a pleasant surprise to hear the order-taker tell me ‘”Then we will arrange a complimentary cake for the occasion”. Cometh the day, cometh the dinner, cometh the bill and cometh no cake!
Having the cake and not being able to eat it. One guest related his whilst on a business trip to Brazil. On checking in to the hotel on his birthday, the receptionist said “Happy Birthday” when she noticed the date of birth on his passport. After that he thought nothing of it until four days later. Just before checking out, he opened the mini-bar – to find a four-day old birthday cake sitting in there.
During my conversations with hotel guests on how hotels or restaurants recognise birthdays, one thing that we all agreed upon was that every time we let a hotel or restaurants know that we were celebrating a special occasion at their property, not once were we asked to provide proof of such occasion.
So I was intrigued to come across what someone had written, having read a post in the FlyerTalk thread where UserFly613 wrote about a pre-stay correspondence with the Waldorf Astoria Maldives. “In their welcome email the hotel asked if I’m celebrating any special occasion. I wrote back that I’ll be celebrating my wedding anniversary (which is true).They wrote back: May we please have the copy of wedding certificate to verify anniversary amenities”. Whoa…hold that thought for a moment.
Asking for proof of a special occasion is every hotelier’s right, especially since there’s no denying that hotel guests do lie to get an upgrade or freebie. On the other hand, if verification is required, the hotel or restaurant must be prepared to go the whole hog and come up with something that goes far beyond an insignificant cake. It should work both ways!
Nowadays, when I make a restaurant reservation, there’s that rare occasion when I am asked if I am celebrating anything? I usually reply “living”.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier
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