30 Starwood hotels give out cabbie meals

Abu Dhabi: Thirty Starwood hotels across the GCC including Sheraton hotel, Le Royal Méridien, Le Méridien, Sheraton Khalidiya and Aloft hotels in Abu Dhabi joined hands in launching "Iftar for Cabs" on Tuesday.

Staff from all departments within the hotels including catering, administration, and guest services worked together so that each hotel prepared up to 200 iftar packs for drivers.

"The purpose of the initiative is to give a little something back to cab drivers, who are always on the go and struggle to find time to [end] their fast during Ramadan," said Guido De Wilde, Vice-President and Regional Director, Starwood Middle East. "Many of these drivers come to our properties every day to serve our guests, so this is just a small gesture to show our appreciation," he added.

Hotels informed taxi companies and distributed packs of food and drinks to cab drivers to end their fast as they drove through the main entrance of each hotel.

Grateful

"We were surprised about the immense response from Abu Dhabi taxi drivers. I informed the taxi companies about our initiative but did not think we'll have such a rush for the iftar boxes. The taxis were lined up and all of them were so grateful for the box ," Matt Griffis, Front Office Director at the Sheraton Hotel, said.