STAFF AT THE Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel were busy this week performing a task not normally associated with the hospitality industry - removing the alcoholic contents of 250 minibars.
It was all part of their preparation for an onslaught by 24 teams taking part in the Credit Suisse First Boston Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, the fifth consecutive year the Tsim Sha Tsui hotel has played host to the tournament's players.
More than 400 players, coaches, managers and physiotherapists need catering to before and during the championship, which starts tomorrow and ends on Sunday. Occupying more than a third of the hotel's 665 rooms over nine floors for a week, the teams together make up the largest group booking the Marco Polo receives - which means one of the busiest times of the year for staff and a great deal of advance planning.
Out goes the booze. In go bottles of mineral water. Bathrooms are stocked with stacks of fresh towels - about 1,000 are used each day - with more on hand for players to take to training and games; extra toiletry supplies are ordered in to cater for frequent ablutions. VCRs are installed in every coach's room to review the day's action; cars and minibuses are booked and schedules co-ordinated to ensure each team will get to where it needs to go on time. Bellboys flex their muscles to deal with the 40 or so pieces of luggage accompanying each team, and the housekeeping department carefully plans which nationalities can room on the same corridor and which arch-rivals it needs to keep apart.
'Some teams ask in advance not to be placed next to others,' says assistant housekeeper Nelson Chan, who declines to mention names. 'But actually we rarely get any trouble. These players are professionals representing their country and are real gentlemen.'
Staff favourites include the New Zealanders, particularly captain Eric Rush, and the Scottish team who, if the chambermaids are to be believed, are the most handsome of all the players.
Perhaps the hotel's biggest challenge is faced by the food and beverage teams in terms of the sheer quantities needed, the food preparation and the logistics of serving it hot to everyone at the same time. The players typically eat a high-carbohydrate diet - fuel for their rigorous training and matches. And they literally eat tonnes of food. For example, last year, players consumed 1.6 tonnes of potatoes, 800kg of bananas, 750kg of pasta, 250kg of toast and 25,000 eggs.
