The chic, minimalist lobby bar at Sao Paulo’s five-star Hotel Emiliano was packed on Thursday as guests sheltered from the soaring temperatures outside, nursing ice-clinking cocktails as they mingled. Some had availed themselves of the hotel’s helipad atop the 22-floor glass skyscraper to avoid the city’s traffic.
Cocktails are popular at the $1,200-a-night hotel, bar manager Valter Kwast explained as he adjusted a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch whisky, which sells for about £40 a measure. But he added: “General sales of spirits have declined a little bit.”
That a hotel like the Emiliano is experiencing even the slightest of problems amid the current economic downturn in the region is a worrying sign for companies such as the British drinks colossus Diageo. And it’s a sign that Debra Crew, the company’s new chief executive, is all too aware of — albeit somewhat belatedly.
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