travel
Irish hotel gets heat for US$42 bottled water
US$42 (RM160) per bottle anyone? A Belfast hotel has launched a luxury water menu. – AFP/Relaxnews pic, July 28, 2015.A luxury hotel in Belfast is getting flak for their newly launched water menu that features dedicated water butlers and prices a single bottle of Canadian iceberg water at US$42 (RM160).
Last week, the five-star Merchant Hotel invited members of the press to sample Ireland’s first dedicated water menu, curated to feature “exotic” waters sourced from Canadian glaciers, Fiji, France and Iceland.
The idea? To elevate plain old H20 onto the same plane as fine wine and spirits, with trained water butlers or sommeliers hired to help diners choose the right water – one must consider, after all, the right minerality and pH balance – for their meal.
But with prices ranging from £5 (RM30) to £27, the hotel has found itself the subject of ridicule and jeers on the internet, with critics lambasting the new service as “disgusting”, in light of water scarcity issues around the world, and insufferably “pretentious”.
“@MerchantHotel I think your new water menu is a disgusting idea. 783 million people have no access to clean water and you charge £26?!” reads one tweet.
In reaction to the news, another Belfast watering hole The Hudson Bar, posted a cheeky Facebook ad for their own version of a water menu poking fun of the concept with £20 water.
“We'd hate to get left behind on this newest innovation in beverage retailing so here's our brand new water list!”
In a shot at The Merchant, the bar adds: “If your level of daftness is not covered by the options above, please tell your server who will be more than happy to pluck a number out of the sky for you.”
Despite getting heat for its premium water menu, it’s not the first time a restaurant has tried to upsell water as a fancy elixir.
In 2013, LA restaurant Ray’s & Stark Bar at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art launched a 23-page menu featuring bottles sourced from 10 different countries.
And like The Merchant, where the Chateauneuf-du-Pape equivalent is sourced from a Canadian glacier (Iceberg), the most expensive bottle of water is also a US$20 brand called Berg, sourced from meltwater from a 15,000 glacier. – AFP/Relaxnews, July 28, 2015.
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