The Hilton Muffin Drama Gently Winds Down
An Inspector General report found last week that the government spent $16 per muffin at a 2009 conference inside a Hilton Hotel. The news, which spread around the internet faster than spilt coffee on a tablecloth, snowballed into a broader condemnation of both the government's extravagance and the hotel chain's greediness.
But everyone can calm down now. ABC News is now pointing out a receipt error that misrepresented the total cost of the continental breakfast, which was served each morning during the five-day conference. So rather than actually serving $16 muffins, the invoice had simply mis-labeled the entire cost of the continental breakfast (which included fresh fruit, coffee, juice, function space, tax and tips) as "muffins."
So if you were saving up for an unreasonably expensive hotel breakfast, you'll now have to look elsewhere.
Of course, the Inspector General is standing by its report. But now that the receipt has been itemized, a $16-per-person charge doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore. Here's what Hilton had to say:
"Dining receipts are often abbreviated and do not reflect the full pre-contracted menu and service provided, as is the case with recent media reports of breakfast items approved for some government meetings. In Washington, the contracted breakfast included fresh fruit, coffee, juice, and muffins, plus tax and gratuity, for an inclusive price of $16 per person."
We think the lesson has been learned here. Always, always take advantage of a company-paid breakfast—because you never know when someone's going to screw up on the receipts and ruin the fun for everyone else.
[Photo: Simply Recipes]
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