The Lexicon

A British social meal eaten between lunch and dinner, codified into a hotel service ritual in the late 19th century. The sequence runs through three courses on a tiered stand: savouries (finger sandwiches) first, scones with clotted cream and preserves second, cakes and pastries third. Tea is poured by staff; the timing is 3-5pm. Often confused with high tea, which is a different meal entirely.

A lodging or travel product priced as a single fee covering accommodation, meals, drinks, and a defined set of activities or services. The model traces to Club Méditerranée in the 1950s and spans four distinct tiers today: mass-market beach resorts (Sandals, Iberostar), mid-market lodge-based programmes, ultra-luxury operators (Singita, Aman on packaged tours), and small-ship cruise lines (Silversea, Seabourn, Regent Seven Seas).

A senior front-of-house service role, French in origin (both the title and the practice trace to Parisian apartment buildings), now found in luxury hotels, branded residences, yacht charters, and private aviation. The concierge is the guest's single point of contact for arrangements outside the standard service package: reservations, transport, access, problem-solving. Membership of Les Clefs d'Or, the international association founded in 1929, is the standing professional credential.

A passenger transport service tier denoting the top grade of accommodation and service. The phrase originates in 19th-century British railway classification and migrated successively to trans-Atlantic ocean liners (late 19th century) and commercial aviation (post-WW2). In contemporary use it refers predominantly to airline cabin tiers, though the tier has thinned since the 1990s as upgraded business class narrowed the gap.

A wine ranked in an official French classification, most commonly the 1855 Bordeaux Classification commissioned by Napoleon III. The classification sorts the leading red wines of the Médoc (and Château Haut-Brion of Graves) into five tiers from Premier Cru Classé through Cinquième Cru Classé. Parallel classifications cover Sauternes (1855), Graves (1953), and Saint-Émilion (revised approximately decennially).

A trained wine specialist working a restaurant floor, responsible for the wine list, cellar, beverage programme, and pairing advice. The contemporary professional track runs through the Court of Master Sommeliers, the Institute of Masters of Wine, and the Wine and Spirit Education Trust - the trio of bodies whose qualifications distinguish a working sommelier from staff who carry wine to tables.