To think the hotel is in the wrong?

[MiddayMass]

My sister and her husband had their 10 year anniversary party at a local hotel yesterday. They had a free bar on them, £1500 tab.

Dsis was suspicious over some things as tab was sucked dry very quickly and she’d seen people at the bar and yet not with a drink at the table, so she asked for a receipt of everything ordered throughout the night.

It’s turns out somebody (or several people) were buying full bottles directly from the bar. Not just wines but spirits, one cheeky fucker bought an entire bottle of Remy Martin. Others only got chance to have a lime and soda or a coke on the tab before it was sucked up. A few late-arrivals got fuck-all.

Me and Dsis both suspect who the culprits are but we can’t really prove it.

Dsis has spoken to the manager who confirmed that people were buying bottles on the tab (this amazes me, surely it breaks some kind of licensing law) and that they did not see it as a problem as Dsis and her husband never specified that they wanted it limited. Dsis feels it was a given. We’ve also heard from a family friend that one of the bar staff was telling people “You can buy the bottle if you’d like?” when they ordered the same spirit more than once. We feel it was an obvious attempt to suck the tab dry quickly to get people buying drinks again. The bar staff looked barely 18 so I imagine the manager had told them to upsell bottles.

Whilst people were cheeky fuckers, AIBU to think the hotel was in the wrong?

@FangsForTheMemory We presume they took the bottles of spirits home.

The suspected Remy Martin culprit had been on Carlsberg all night. We know it was probably him because it was his wife who was buying the rounds for his table yet he still went to the bar and seemed to return with no drink. I was on the table next to him and remember noticing. Many individual shots were racked up also on the receipt which I suspect was him. This individual is known for being a twat and me and Dsis figured it was probably him straight away. The other bottles of spirits were more cheap, such are Smirnoff and Jack Daniel’s but still cheeky. That may be other culprits though.

Dsis says she wouldn’t have minded if the spirit-bottle buyers were taking them to share with their table at the party. The part that is pissing her off I think is that they just took it all home.

so even though in the op it says shes been told it was the hotel asking do you want the bottle instead of a single its stil the sil fault?

sorry but the hotel were taking the piss out of them trying to get more sales

The hotel and some of the guests were in the wrong, the cf guests are free loaders who took advantage of their generosity.

@PetulantClerk

O would say the bar fell foul of the UK Licensing laws:

Gin, rum, vodka and whisky

These four spirit drinks are required to be served by the glass in one of these quantities:

25 ml
35 ml
multiples of 25 ml or 35 ml

AND
Irresponsible price promotions should not be used - for example:

buy one get one free
all you can drink for £10</div></div>

but does this apply at private events? It certainly does not apply at cocktail bars.

I don’t really blame the bar staff. My own 19 year old is in hospitality and I know a lot of the time training is absolutely horrendous. They only looked young and fresh on the job. Absolutely a management issue.

I can never work out whether people are being serious on these threads or amusing themselves.

Last time was when someone posted a picture of her hair dyed random shades of brown with patches of grey. People were saying she should not only pay the salon but let them have another go.

[quote MiddayMass]@FangsForTheMemory We presume they took the bottles of spirits home.

The suspected Remy Martin culprit had been on Carlsberg all night. We know it was probably him because it was his wife who was buying the rounds for his table yet he still went to the bar and seemed to return with no drink. I was on the table next to him and remember noticing. Many individual shots were racked up also on the receipt which I suspect was him. This individual is known for being a twat and me and Dsis figured it was probably him straight away. The other bottles of spirits were more cheap, such are Smirnoff and Jack Daniel’s but still cheeky. That may be other culprits though.

Dsis says she wouldn’t have minded if the spirit-bottle buyers were taking them to share with their table at the party. The part that is pissing her off I think is that they just took it all home.[/quote]
If they took them home, then the hotel is in breach of its licence unless they also have an off-licence. As this is a risk when selling whole bottles, they should be taking precautions to prevent it (and keeping an eye on the drinking) such as removing the lid of the bottle, watching departing guests.

Again, in the real world, we all know this is less likely to happen, but if the guests confirm they did it, it's a complaint to the licensing authority. Your sister could even just tell them she has her suspicions and the hotel would need to explain how they made sure the drinks were consumed on premises.

@MiddayMass taking stuff home is even worse
Especially as a PP said, you're not paying retail prices but 20 or 30 times the shot prices.
I'd never invite them anywhere ever again!

but does this apply at private events? It certainly does not apply at cocktail bars.

A licence is a licence - an event taking place on licenced premises falls into the same conditions. And cocktails are provided for separately in legislation.

Something similar happened at a works do. Some people are just takers.

TBH I would think blame was split between the cheeky fuckers taking advantage, but also the hotel too.

We had a smaller amount at our wedding but very few guests. They came to us and told us one family in particular were caning the bar, so they had told them the tab had run out. There was £150 left for us. We didn't need anywhere near that, but it was good of them to do.
CFs went up to bed quite sharpish after that, I'd asked the hotel to send a few bottles of wine out for guests who were still about.

They ended up with about £80 left at the end of the night, but only because the hotel managed it

@FangsForTheMemory

Dsis is extremely upset, it’s terrible. Her and her husband did the bar tab because they wanted to be hospitable and wanted their guests to have a good time at their party without then having to worry about the cost. Then people just took stuff home.

I’m having to give some people the benefit of the doubt that they genuinely don’t understand what a free bar tab is and that somebody somewhere would still be footing the bill.

If you really do know that the bar staff were encouraging people to buy bottles then I would definitely flag it up.

I've never heard of people buying bottles on a bar tab!! What a bunch of CFs. I agree that the bar staff shouldn't have been stuggesting it to people, and in fact should have told people it wasn't allowed. YANBU.

I think a letter of complaint to the local licensing authority is in order here, plus culling of their friendship group!

I remember me and Dsis were having a natter at one point and the friend comes up and says “You know the bar staff are trying to sell people full bottles!” but Dsis was very tipsy by then and I don’t think she processed the implications.

Awful, I would tell them not to be too upset by and hopefully they can laugh about it in the future. I can’t believe some people would be so brazen and selfish about it.

And the hotel should reimburse them, it is clearly not what you intended to buy. If they bought the bill on credit card, get them to do a section 75 claim against the card company and claim a breach of contract.

The people who took the piss are largely to blame, but it's pretty standard for the person paying the tab to put stipulations on it. I've worked the bar at many a private party with a tab and it's usually no doubles, no shots, house wines only etc. Others, usually corporate / finance companies have been no limits whatsoever, complete free for all.

A lesson for next time for sure.

to be fair, a free bar restricted to cheap drinks isn't really in their financial interests

So they shouldn't take one on then hmm

Businesses make deals or headline offers all the time in a the hope of securing the trade, but they aren't going to fall over themselves to let you take full advantage of it, are they?

If a supermarket has loss-leaders on bread and beans, they aren't going to tell you to put the uncompetitively-priced goods back and buy more beans, are they? They'll encourage custom with a 3-for-1 deal, but if you then buy two items at £10 and one item at £2, they won't urge you to grab another £10 item to get free and then just pay separately for the cheap one.

It would have been helpful for them to have suggested putting limits in place, but it isn't incumbent on a profit-making business to deliberately put themselves out in order to limit the amount of profit they end up making.

Not 'helpful' –part of the job.

How is it 'part of the job' to advise you to buy less from them? Is it part of Tesco's job to tell every customer presenting a 'Finest' item at the till that they could swap it for a 'Value' one instead and pay much less?

It's not the hotels fault, it's whoever ordered the bottles

How is it 'part of the job' to advise you to buy less from them? Is it part of Tesco's job to tell every customer presenting a 'Finest' item at the till that they could swap it for a 'Value' one instead and pay much less?

The Licencing Act obliges bar staff to ensure that a customer ordering a drink is aware of the smaller measures available. All recent revisions to the law are designed to minimise consumption and encourage people to drink more responsibly, so the actions of the bar staff at this event were directly the opposite of that.

See this explanation:

Provision of smaller measures

Providing smaller measures of alcohol can play an important part in making sure your customers can keep their consumption to a minimum, should they wish. According to guidance, the licensee or designated supervisor must make sure that there are smaller measures available for the following:

Beer or cider: Half-pint glasses
Gin, rum, vodka, or whisky: 25ml or 35 ml measures
Still wine: 125ml glasses
The availability of these smaller measures must be clear on menus, price lists or other printed materials, and these must be accessible by customers on your premises.

When a customer orders a measurable drink — one that isn’t available in a set volume (a bottle of beer, for example) — and doesn’t specify a volume, they should be made aware of all serving volumes, including smaller amounts, either by being told verbally or directed towards a list or menu.

i find it shocking that folks would order bottles, does seem rather odd to me. At a recent wedding the bride and groom had to go to he bar to inform the staff they had put 1500 on a tab so guests could have a drink on them. Not one person went off and ordered large bottles of spirits etc.

Whoever has done that are shit bags

Open bars are common in my culture.

However, the bridal party always set parameters beforehand. They can be, for example:

• a "bar menu" of included drinks
• house wine, beer, single spirits with mixers, no shots, doubles or bottles permitted
• a drinks pass for immediate family or list of names provided to the bar of those who can order whatever they want then drinks vouchers for everyone else
• agree a flat corkage charge with the venue and provide your own drinks. No bottle rule still applies.

However, people there are used to how open bars work now so don't tend to take the piss (the piss takers are usually identified at earlier events and not invited to subsequent events...).

You don't know what the situation was. If the bar staff said "oh you might as well just take the bottle" to someone who was ordering a round who was unfamiliar with open bars, they might have thought that was how it worked.

Did the guests know there was a tab or did they just assume it was an unlimited open bar?

Expensive lesson for your sister but I think everyone was in the wrong slightly.

I'd definitely be following this up with the hotel though. The idea to ask guests if anyone had ordered bottles because there was an issue with the bar tab is a good one, just in case the venue are pulling a fast one. If anyone owns up, you'd get clarity on how the situation of them walking away with a bottle came to be.

Both are to blame, but really, what kind of people go to their friends'/family's party and shaft them by ordering full bottles of spirits and taking them away? How would that ever cross your mind? When I've been to a party where the hosts were picking up the drinks tab, it's made me more aware of what I am drinking as I don't want to take advantage.

When a customer orders a measurable drink — one that isn’t available in a set volume (a bottle of beer, for example) — and doesn’t specify a volume, they should be made aware of all serving volumes, including smaller amounts, either by being told verbally or directed towards a list or menu.

So if somebody asks for 'a whisky' and the bar staff tell them that it's available by the bottle, are they not technically doing this?

I'm not saying they shouldn't have tailored what they told customers based on it being a pre-paid bar, but lots of places will advertise or tell you that it might work out 'better value' for you to buy the whole bottle. If most of their events are customers each paying for themselves, this may already be an ingrained upselling technique for them, just like when the assistants in WH Smith try to sell you a bar of chocolate or bottle of water along with whatever you're buying.