http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2127793/When-high-tea-highway-robbery-Hotels-charging-85-champagne-scones.html?ITO=1490
I saw this article and thought it would be interesting to share it. Is luxury afternoon tea highway robbery?
Interested in your thoughts.
Regards,
Chris
AssuredCustomerExperience.com
@ace_chris
Surely you are not only paying for the tea, sandwiches and cakes but also the experience.
Some can be very expensive and great value - some can be much less costly and incredibly poor value! Why?
Because as food fan says guest go for the experience - they are paying for an experience - which happens to include tea, sandwiches and cakes.
Hospitality venues are in the business of providing experiences not afternoon teas
Hospitality venues are in the business of...being (and staying) in business which means making a profit on their goods and services. Value is always such an interesting and emotive subject !
Perhaps this thread should have been titled "Does the hotel afternoon tea experience represent good value for money?"
You get what you pay for, both in terms of experience and produce.
Surely a guest would not be able to reproduce the hand made, mini size pastries at home, or even find the choice of teas in offer at those hotels. I would argue that in most cases having afternoon tea is the cheapest way for not so wealthy people to experience top class service and opulence in some of the best hotels in the world.
In my experience I found that hotel owners focussed too greatly on afternoon tea as a profit generator due to the predominantly low cost of the required ingredients. This is in line with my observations of many of the afternoon teas on offer in luxury hotels which sell the opportunity to experience the hotel service as greater than the afternoon tea itself which is often overpriced in regards to ingredients and portion. This is one of the very reasons that it remains very challenging to create a successful afternoon tea, particularly when value and its visibility is gaining in importance for individuals of all wealths.
At the hotel I am employed at our Lounge has just raised it price per person for afternoon tea to a heady £19.50 per person, with this you get full service constant replenishment on your tea and replenishment of the sandwiches. The tea stand 3 levels bottom sandwiches then the second provides two scones, a plain and fruit scone, with clotted cream and home made Jam.The top has more dessert like items and everything on the stand is made from our own kitchen.
We have been placed eight in the nation by the AA, so the quality is all there. The service is top notch and goes beyond what one would expect.
There are still some complaints about what i consider a very reasonable price, the first comes from the public who are running on tight budgets the second is our accounts who want more profit.
There are some parts of our brilliant industry that are done for love and pride more than profit afternoon tea is one of these.