When the media is at your door, give them nothing but the truth
Honesty is the only policy for hospitality companies caught up in "media storms" such as the high-profile fatal poisoning of an ex-KGB officer in London, experts have advised.
Both sushi restaurant Itsu in London's Piccadilly and the Millennium Hotel in nearby Mayfair have been splashed all over the media after radioactive traces were found in the venues following visits on 1 November from Alexander Litvinenko, who died last Wednesday (22 November).
When it became clear that Litvinenko had been poisoned in mid-November, Itsu instructed its solicitors to contact media organisations requesting they did not link his illness with any food eaten at the restaurant.
Andrew Smith, director at public relations company Triggerfish Communications, said this was a "proactive and positive" move that stated Itsu's position in an unambiguous fashion.
He added that hospitality operators should be prepared for all eventualities. "It is about being open and honest," he advised. "If you don't answer questions, you make it look like you have something to hide."
A spokesman from the Chartered Institute of Marketing agreed that honesty "is the only policy".
"You have to keep things in perspective and be respectful to those who have been affected," he said. "But where there are potential legal proceedings you obviously have to keep quiet."
