Five Star Hotels

[mollywheezy]

Would a five star hotel in London, the sort where one can rent an elegant ballroom for the evening, for instance, for a wedding reception, have a coatroom/cloakroom--a small room where all of the guests can hang their coats/cloaks instead of putting them on the backs of chairs. Also, would there be an attendant or a coatcheck (someone who takes

Comments

[borolin]

Dunno - but I do know the "coatcheck" would be called a cloakroom attendant, or similar. I'll need to add that one to my Britpicks list....

[ringbark]

Yes. Mostly there would be a cloakroom with an attendant. Normally free of charge, with a tip expected.

[nineveh_uk]

For the amount you'd need to pay to rent a ballroom in a five star London hotel, I'd hope that there would not only be a cloakroom with attendant, but people busily coming forward to take my coat off my back and into storage.

[borolin]

Yeah, it would be stunningly expensive. I'd think it would be more normal to find an up-market pub with a large function room, or hire a marquee (very large tent) if you had the ground space for it

[syntinen_laulu]

'Normal' depends not only on the income bracket you and your social circle belong in (there are people, especially in London, for whom 'stunningly expensive' is not only normal but obligatory) , but also on their social attitudes. My husband's family and all their circle of friends, who are petty-bourgeois to their boots, would be truly horrified at the notion of holding a wedding reception in anything with 'pub' in its name, however upmarket; they would have it in a golf club or anything calling itself a 'hotel', even if the decor was ropey and the food tasted like cardboard.

[dorsetgirl]

Not moving in those sorts of circles, I can't answer the question, but I can tell you that you wouldn't rent a ballroom, you would hire it. Renting sounds like you're planning to live in it, or keep stuff in it for a couple of months.

Hiring "an elegant ballroom" is to me serious amounts of showing off, and I would be surprised if anyone other than Lucius would think of it or be able to afford it. I realise this isn't actually what you were asking, but even for a really special do most people would be more likely to hire a "function room" in whatever class of hotel they felt pleasingly stretched by, socially.

If this is Draco's wedding, then serious amounts of showing off would obviously be entirely expected, but it might be worth bearing in mind that even nowadays, afaik, the bride's parents tend to do most of the organising and paying.

[syntinen_laulu]

Except that the really status-laden 'old money' way of doing things is to have the wedding at the bride's father's house, thus demonstrating to all and sundry that he *has* a house large enough and plush enough to entertain a three-figure number of guests. In those circles, people who hire a wedding venue - no matter how fantastically expensive and luxurious - are rather looked down on, like 'people who have to buy their furniture'. In fact, spending too ostentatiously on a wedding is a bit chavvy altogether.

[inamac]

I suggest that you pick a five star hotel in London and look at their web page to see what their wedding package is - this one offers the dining room and two other rooms for receptions - I would certainly expect them to have arrangements to look after guests belongings - if not a formal cloakroom then a secure room accessible by the hotel porter.