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The ‘Blue Coast’ has become synonymous with luxury and ostentation, as the favorite destination of the creative elite or the ‘starsystem’ with personalities such as Beyoncé, Jay Z or Leonardo Dicaprio. A place suspended in hedonism in which to see and be seen during the summer season, among places like the iconic Nikki Beach Club, the Indie Beach restaurant redesigned by Jacquemus or the new Louis Vuitton café under the culinary direction of Arnaud Donckele.
Well, all is not all that glitters in today’s Saint-Tropez, replete with extravagant stories revolving around the denial of reservations at its luxury restaurants for not guaranteeing the minimum expenditure of 5,000 euros.
It is a controversial act that has already been denounced by some visitors, and even by Mayor Sylvie Sirique, who claimed that these ‘despicable practices were ruining the image of the town’.
A utopian reserve
‘When you make a reservation, they tell you, “We have a table for €5,000, is that OK with you?”‘ one prospective diner told local newspaper Var-Matin. ‘If it’s not, then there are no more tables.’
In this sense, if the client declines ‘the offer’ to invest several thousand euros in a single dinner, the establishment directly denies his reservation, excusing that ‘there are no tables available until September’.
Other customers have reported that some restaurants in the area even have a database of their past customers, including how much they have spent, and base their availability on the amount on file.
However, these ‘extortion or blackmail’ practices can go even further. As reported by the Nice Martin newspaper, one of the diners was chased to the restaurant’s parking lot because the employees said his €500 tip was not enough, ordering him to return to pay another €500 in compliance with the ‘fee’.
Faced with this whole paradigm, the mayor has acted by stating that any restaurant found guilty of ‘extortion and racketeering’ -especially if they are among the premises that are forcing customers to pay high tips or maintain customer databases- could risk losing their night-time operating licenses.
According to The Guardian, more than 1,000 stickers have been distributed in Saint-Tropez to remind both tourists and local residents to contact the town hall and the consumer fraud service if they have been scammed, intimidated or otherwise ripped off by a restaurant.
