Luxury Hotel Apologizes For Serving Chocolate-Covered Woman For Dessert In Front Of Kids

While staying at Sardinia's Voi Colonna Village, Federico Mazzieri and his 14-year-old daughter were in for a bizarre surprise.

They saw a lady employee getting covered in chocolate syrup and placed on a table full of desserts for about 30 minutes.

A luxury Italian hotel has been forced to apologize after it covered a bikini-clad woman in chocolate on a table for at least 30 minutes, as part of a dessert buffet. Federico Mazzieri/LinkedIn

This shocked them so much that Mazzieri, who's also an HR manager, posted about it on LinkedIn.

He talked about how he and his daughter felt upset about the hotel treating "the female body as an object."

"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," Mazzieri wrote, according to a translation by the Telegraph.

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

The guest expressed instant "dismay" at the sight, which his teenage daughter found "disgusting," he said.

'What on earth were the hotel management thinking of? It was simply objectifying the female figure.

'She was covered in chocolate and must have been there for half an hour. The hotel had been promoting the day before a chocolate statue and it was clear what they meant.'

Mr Mazzieri, from Milan, added: 'We had spent the evening elsewhere in the hotel and the management announced an evening buffet would be served pool side.

The shocking display was at the Voi Colonna Village in Sardinia. VOIhotels

'When we got there we just couldn't believe it. One of the entertainment staff was on a table, in a bikini and she was stretched out and covered in chocolate, amid all the food.

'I work in HR and I just thought, who on earth allowed this to happen ? It was thoughtless and disgusting.

'Some of the other guests started taking photos as well but after a few minutes we decided to leave.

'The morning after, I did ask the hotel reception what was the idea of the buffet but they didn't seem bothered.

'So when I got back, I posted what I saw on Linkedin and then it all exploded and I know the hotel has apologised on social media but I've not heard from them at all.'

"How can such behavior exist … where the body of a woman, an employee, is considered equal to a dish just to satisfy someone's wandering eyes?" Mazzieri complained.

When he tried to talk to the hotel management about the incident, they allegedly downplayed it by saying that the chocolate-covered woman was meant to be a "chocolate statue," according to his account.

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

In a grovelling apology VOI Hotels – which is used by British holiday firms easyJet and Thomas Cook, said: 'Above all we would like to offer our customers who were at the hotel our most sincere apologies.

'We would like to strongly emphasize that every day we are committed to practicing the declared values, among which in a priority are respect for our staff and guests.

'We will continue to work tirelessly so that situations like this do not happen again, and we are taking immediate action to address this incident and ensure no customers are offended in the future.'

Cristian Solinas, regional governor for Sardinia, which attracts thousands of British holidaymakers every summer, slammed the hotel, saying, ' This episode offends everyone and has also left me embarrassed.

'This is a scene which we should never have seen and it goes completely against the welcoming image of Sardinia.'

While Paolo Manca, of Italy's Federation of Hotels, said: 'This is unforgivable and in very poor taste but I don't think it's the modus operandi of the chain.'

Following his social media post that triggered a wave of anger, the hotel finally reacted by extending an apology.

They addressed Federico Mazzieri, his family, especially his daughter, and all their customers with the utmost sincerity on behalf of the entire management team.

"We deeply regret the incident. … We are taking immediate action to address this incident constructively and to ensure that no customer should feel offended in any way in the future," it added.