Table talk
And you can just drop in any time
What's in a brand name? Are they just picked out of the air? Not at SAS International Hotels, parent company of Radisson SAS and Malmaison, which has been busy renaming itself Rezidor SAS Hospitality. As president and chief executive officer Kurt Ritter explained: "Deciding on Rezidor SAS Hospitality has been a long and meticulous process. But the work has paid off. With an unmistakable character of its own, Rezidor echoes words like "reside"… and "door", "residence" in many languages and… "d'or" in French, meaning golden. Adding ‘SAS' to the name puts us aptly on the global arena." And that from a grown man.
A nasty case of the midnight munchies
On holiday in Tenerife, a colleague woke up in his Sun Club timeshare apartment feeling something sharp on his head, touched it, and felt blood. He heard a scuttling noise and realised that a rat had been chewing his forehead. He checked on his son, who had a bloodied shoulder but had slept through the chomping episode. He managed to find the rat, a sleek, glossy, and well-fed specimen, trapped it in the minibar fridge, put it out on the balcony and went back to sleep. In the morning, the rat had miraculously disappeared, but how it had managed to get the fridge door open is not clear.
He who pays the piper changes his tune
After a recent press conference, Kim Howells was asked if he had any regrets over his attack on high prices and low wages shortly after becoming tourism minister (Caterer, 12 July, page 10). He replied: "I certainly don't. In fact I had the great pleasure of launching a training initiative yesterday under the sponsorship of the British Hospitality Association (BHA), who backed what I said 100%." Erm… would that be the same BHA which called Howell's comments ill-timed and blamed Government policy for the industry's problems? With commendable aplomb, Howells said his criticisms had been "a great way of breaking the ice in a room full of people you don't know."
Sorry, the main attraction isn't quite ready yet
The Norwegians clearly have more faith in their builders than the British. In May the Hotel Opera opened in Bj¿rvika, Oslo, with rooms named Aida, La BohŠme and Salome in homage to the nearby Opera House, which hasn't been built yet and isn't scheduled to open until 2011. But this has not deterred general manager Hans Reinmann, who said: "We have a name, style and special feeling that we hope lasts 100 years."
Oh, and stop sleeping next to open French windows
Why do Scandinavian men have great big smiles on their faces when they have the flu? David Brooks, general manager of Dean Court hotel in York, had absolutely no idea until recently. On seeing him suffering from a heavy cold and persistent cough, Rikke, his stunning blonde Danish receptionist, murmured: "Oh, poor Mr Brooks, you need to go to bed with a hot tottie." Brooks says he is feeling much better now, thank you.
