Madam Medusa

...just called a restaurant to book dinner this evening, and was told the only availability for an outside table was at 7.30 or 9.30pm (i wanted 8pm)...i asked her whether it was genuinely busy, or were they just holding tables in case hotel guests rocked up, because the last time we were told there was nowhere outside, when we turned up there were plenty of tables...

so she double checks...and tells me she will make my reservation at 7.30pm, but will inform the restaurant that we will be arriving at 8pm, lmao...only in dubai, eh...

MM, xx

lionheart

Some of the busier hotel restaurants, especially those doing buffet style meals, organise two sittings so that all their tables are fully utilised. The Blue Elephant does this. You book for the first sitting and then arrive late, but you may be encouraged to leave before the second sitting.

commander

haha classic..

Madam Medusa

this isn't a buffet though...it just seems ridiculous that they can't simply book me in for 8pm without having to go through this pallaver...oh well...

MM, xx

Roadking

There is an old sales technique that states you should never agree appointments on the hour as people do not feel they are actual agreed times, but around that time. So you use 5 past, 20 past, quarter to, etc instead as that is a more definite time.

Maybe the F&B manager read the book somewhere.

Madam Medusa

hahaha...this is dubai you're talking about, so i seriously doubt it...

MM, xx

The Dean

Good point though - I tend to agree. It makes you sound professional and well-organised. The same applies to project deadlines - I always say 'it will be finished by (say) next Monday afternoon', rather than, say, 'within a few days'.

On the restaurant thing - I once took a client to Vu's at lunchtime (never again BTW - it wins the "All Pretension and No Substance Cookery Award"), and found it, as expected, virtually empty.

They wouldn't let us in without a reservation (the policy has been relaxed now, I've since heard), so I dialled there and then the reservations number from my mobile and booked a table "immediately" without difficulty.

My booking then popped up on the screen at the desk, and the man who had refused me a table about two minutes earlier, welcomed me with a smile and, with no sense of self-conscious irony, led us to our table...........

[PS: A bit naughty of me - I told him that this "wasn't the table I booked" but it passed him by completely]

Spugsy

I'd like to see someone 'encourage' me to leave.

Spugsy

I would have left anyway, anywhere that pretentious isn't worth shit.

Madam Medusa

weird, i've never found vus pretentious, just amazing food and service, with a stunning view thrown in...i was just there last week for dinner and i'd forgotten just how good it was...

MM, xx

Hello.Kitty

We went for the Cavalli Club experience (hilariously bonkers décor, but great food & service imo... once you got inside). Booked a table for 20h by phone - no problem ma'am - get there a few minuted before 20h to find the doors locked shut... strange. A chap then comes out and we say we have a table booked at 20h and he replies that they don't open until 20h so could we come back then? It was then about 4 minutes to eight... rather surreal.