Hotel served half-naked woman covered in chocolate with dessert buffet
A four-star resort in Sardinia has apologised after serving a bikini-clad employee on a dessert buffet for guests.
Voi Colonna Village, an elegant hotel and resort overlooking the Bay of Oranges in northeast Sardinia, asked a female employee to be drenched in chocolate and lie still for half an hour alongside dessert items.
Federico Mazzieri was on holiday with his 14-year-old daughter at the time who complained that the display was “disgusting”.
Mr Mazzieri said he asked to speak with hotel management but was fobbed off by staff who insisted the female employee was merely a “chocolate statue”.
He subsequently posted a photograph of the woman on the dessert table to his Linkedin profile with the message: “VOI Hotels Golfo Aranci – Group Alpitour, Ferragosto 2023 ... the female body as an object.
‘I was speechless’
“Last night, after a beautiful day in which many people worked hard to ensure that the many guests had a carefree day, I was speechless to see this scene,” Mr Mazzieri wrote in his post, later reprinted in Italy’s national newspapers.
“A poolside dessert buffet on a table with a girl in a swimsuit covered in chocolate lying among the pastries. After the first moment of dismay I ask myself: Voi hotels stands for True Italian Hospitality, but what does it mean?”
Mr Mazzieri pointed out that the hotel prides itself on “a family atmosphere” on its website, writing: “How can such behaviours exist in the structures, where the body of a woman, an employee, is considered equal to a dish just to satisfy someone’s wandering eyes?”
The hotel chain responded publicly to Mr Mazzieri’s post, offering “you, your family and in particular your daughter, as well as our customers, the most sincere apologies on behalf of all management.
“We deeply regret the incident,” the hotel added, as commenters piled on with concerns about food safety regulations and calls for full accountability about the unsavoury decision. “We will work tirelessly to ensure that situations like these do not happen again in the future.”
