An Unappetizing Discovery

Eyebrows--and, in at least a few cases, tempers--have been raised at the Westin South Coast Plaza in recent weeks, ever since the hotel started presenting customers with bills for traditionally free happy-hour hors d’oeuvres.

“I’ve probably stayed in a thousand hotels throughout the country, and I’ve never been charged for a couple of measly appetizers,” an angry Bruce Margolius, an attorney from Park City, Utah, said recently.

“Three of us had some drinks in the lobby lounge, helped ourselves to the hors d’oeuvres, the bill came and--pow!--$1.95 apiece, added to the tab for a couple of little chicken wings,” Margolius said. “They told us there was a sign, but we sure hadn’t seen it.”

The hotel’s general manager, Michael Deighton, defended the policy.

“We’re trying to do an upgraded version of appetizer,” he said. “Before, we didn’t have much activity with what we put out. This way we can cover the costs without raising the drink prices.

“We’re seeing this more in New York, L.A., Chicago,” he added.

However, a check with other hotels around the country found that the free happy-hour hors d’oeuvre is hardly an endangered species. The Biltmore in Los Angeles still offers free appetizers in its Grand Avenue bar (where drinks cost at least $1 less than they do at the South Coast Plaza).

In San Francisco, the Hurricane Bar in the Fairmont Hotel presents a complimentary buffet of Chinese and Polynesian fare. Despite Deighton’s claim of “upgraded” appetizers, the South Plaza on a recent afternoon was serving--or, rather, selling--egg rolls (billed on the hard-to-spot sign as “quiche”), chicken wings (the less-meaty half) and greasy calamari that could have used some lemon.

At the Chicago Hilton Towers, the Lakeside Green presents a complimentary buffet of veggies, cheeses and hot appetizers. Each Marriott hotel has its own policy, said a spokesman for the chain: Some offer a menu of appetizers with prices clearly shown, others present the traditional buffet. A charge for the buffet? “Never,” the spokesman said.

Even in Orange County, spokespersons at other hotels sounded as surprised as Margolius that the Westin’s happy-hour munchies now carry a price tag.

“Goodness, no, we don’t charge for hors d’oeuvres,” said Linda Barragan of the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach, where crudites, cheese, fruit and mini-pizzas are served.

“We have complimentary hors d’oeuvres,” concurred Barbara Edison at Le Meridien in Newport Beach. “It costs us $100 a day, but we feel it’s a service to our guests.”