During a 300-guest gala last night, a guest asked which hotel first put chocolates on pillows with turndown, and I realized I don’t know. I’ve heard the Cary Grant story tied to The Mayfair in St. Louis, but if you’ve got a definitive source, I’d love to share it with our VIP turndown and banquet welcome teams.
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I’ve always credited The Mayfair in St. Louis — ‘1950s, Cary Grant asked for chocolate on the pillow’ — and we use that as a quick one-liner in our VIP turndown huddle. Small caveat: Hotel Hershey and a few others claim variations, so I frame it as ‘widely credited to the Mayfair’ rather than definitive, which keeps the story sweet without overpromising.
For our VIP turndown script, we hedge: ‘Often attributed to St… Louis’s Mayfair in the ’50s, later adopted by luxury brands,’ and if someone presses during a 300‑guest gala we add there isn’t a single definitive citation, just the Cary Grant anecdote. Keeps the huddle consistent without overpromising a source.
Quick tip: for big nights like a 300‑guest gala, I go with ‘mid‑1950s at the Mayfair in Missouri, later picked up by U.S. luxury brands,’ then move on. , every time I hunt for a primary source it’s just recycled hotel lore — @g_waters4, have you seen anything earlier than a ’60s trade blurb? If you want a safe line for scripts: ‘Popularized mid‑20th century; exact origin disputed.’.