Putting on the Ritz
WE recently popped into the Ritz-Carlton to learn about plans for the first International cigar celebration, which is being held simultaneously at Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts worldwide on April 19.
The black-tie event, sponsored by the hotel company and Cigar Aficionado magazine, builds on a tradition of cigar-smoking evenings which began at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston a decade ago. It will consist of a champagne reception, four-course dinner and a ritual pairing of specially-selected cigars with port and Hennessey XO - some of which are so rare that they are no longer available for sale. All this for $1,588 a head, with some of the money raised going towards Cuban medical relief.
No prizes for guessing that David Tang will host the event. BRITISH Airways will today launch its swish new television commercial. We hear it chose TVB as the local medium through which to tempt people to take its services because it believed its audience reach was more cost-effective than that of ATV.
For those who like statistics, the advertisement cost $17 million and features 300 supporting actors and actresses, 40 boats, a team of helicopter pilots and 400,000 square feet of red, white and blue silk, used to drape a desert island. The spectacle will be seen by almost a billion people in 38 countries.
