Table talk
Today, the Hotel Investment Forum, tomorrow…
It's the Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin again this week, and law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner is up to its old gags. Delegates this year have all received a fluffy white towel with a card from the firm reading "Something to help you reserve the best seat at this year's Berlin conference." Wonder if they sent it to the German delegates as well.
How do you take your coffee tights, madam? If you think your thighs are oversized and dieting isn't your cup of tea, why not pour your legs into a pair of coffee tights? Austrian lingerie firm Palmers is selling tights laced with caffeine which, it claims, are guaranteed to get rid of fat.
It insists the gradual release of the drug into the skin speeds up the metabolism and burns calories. But experts say the tights seam like a gimmick (geddit?) Catherine Collins of the British Dietetic Association said: "Caffeine can produce a tiny increase in the metabolic rate but not enough to help you lose weight. Women would be better advised to watch their diet and do a little bit of extra walking."
From Russia to the Metropolitan with love
The Metropolitan hotel in London has a new slogan: "Never say Niet at the Met." This follows the success enjoyed by general manager Tom Orchard, whose three sales missions to Moscow have proved winners. "The Russian market seems to love the Metropolitan," Orchard says. "For me there's no such word as niet. It's da da da all the way."
What's Welsh for ‘Sex on the Beach?' Microbrewery Tomos Watkin has devised a drinkers' dictionary aimed at promoting the use of Welsh in pubs.
The guide features 10 commonly used pub and bar phrases translated into Welsh and spelt out phonetically. For example, iechyd da, which means good health, carries the phonetic spelling ye-kid-da.
Other useful phrases include "Can I get your phone number?" "Do you come here often?" and "It's your round". The Swansea-based company is distributing its dictionary to bars and pubs across Wales.
I'm a scruffy celebrity, let me in here Next time you visit Rome, don't turn up at the Exedra hotel looking like something the cat dragged in and expect to get a room.
Hollywood heart-throbs Brad Pitt and George Clooney did just that, and were immediately refused entry by a zealous doorman. He relented only when someone pointed out who he was barring.
All of which goes to show that when in Rome, you must dress as the sartorially sophisticated Romans do.
Reckon this diet would get a Chile reception Chefs sweating away to create high-protein dishes for customers bewitched by Dr Atkins and his bonkers no-carb diet will be interested to hear of a newer, even more bonkers diet sweeping Chile.
Women there have taken to drinking apple vinegar to lose weight, despite warnings that it can cause stomach problems, including gastroenteritis. It sounds like a misguided way of shedding pounds - but menu development would be much easier if it caught on here.
