Hotel guests’ fury as they are served a bikini-clad woman covered in chocolate during family buffet

An Italian hotel has issued a fawning apology after a bikini-clad female employee was covered in chocolate and used as the centerpiece of a buffet.

Holidaymakers were shocked to show up for the midday spread of sandwiches, cakes, pastries and canapés – and the half-naked woman.

HR manager Federico Mazzieri was one of the guests of the four-star Voi Hotels in Golfo Aranci on the island of Sardinia and was stunned when he saw the poolside buffet.

Mr Mazzieri said: ‘I was with my 14-year-old daughter and we were both shocked by what we saw.

“We were both speechless. My daughter said to me, ‘Dad, how disgusting, this is not a country where women can achieve things.’

‘What on earth was the hotel management thinking? It was simply objectifying the female figure.

‘She was covered in chocolate and must have been there for half an hour. The hotel had promoted a chocolate figurine the day before and it was clear what they meant.’

Mr Mazzieri from Milan added: ‘We had spent the evening elsewhere in the hotel and management announced that an evening buffet would be served poolside.

“When we got there, we just couldn’t believe it. One of the animation staff sat on a table, in a bikini, and she was stretched out and covered in chocolate, in the middle of all the food.

“I work in HR and I thought, who the hell let this happen? It was thoughtless and disgusting.

‘Some of the other guests also started taking pictures, but after a few minutes we decided to leave.

‘The morning after I asked the hotel reception what the idea of ​​the buffet was, but they didn’t seem bothered.

So when I came back I posted what I saw on Linkedin and then it all exploded. I know the hotel has apologized on social media, but I haven’t heard from them at all.”

Sources at the hotel said the woman was a 20-year-old member of the entertainment staff.

In a fawning apology, VOI Hotels – used by UK holiday companies easyJet and Thomas Cook – said: ‘Above all, we would like to offer our most sincere apologies to our customers who were at the hotel.

“We would like to emphasize that we are committed every day to putting into practice the stated values, among which respect for our staff and our guests is a priority.

“We deeply regret this incident and would like to reiterate that we have never had the intention of misrepresenting anything other than the values ​​we stand for.

“We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that situations like this do not happen again, and we are taking immediate action to address this incident and ensure that customers are not offended in the future.”

Cristian Solinas, regional governor of Sardinia, which attracts thousands of British holidaymakers every summer, denounced the hotel, saying: ‘This is an episode that offends everyone and has embarrassed me too.

“This is a scene we should never have seen and it completely goes against the hospitable image of Sardinia.”

While Paolo Manca, from the Italian Federation of Hotels, said: “This is inexcusable and in very bad taste, but I don’t think this is the modus operandi of the hotel chain.”