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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To complain about rats outside country hotel?

57 replies

zookeeper · 26/12/2011 17:37

I've just got back from a three night stay in a travel lodge in a rural location. The hotel was fine but for me the stay was made uncomfortable by rats running around outside.

Driving up to the hotel drive on the first night I stopped the car because I thought there was a rabbit in front of it - it was a big rat just sitting there. In the two minutes or so that it took to drive to the the hotel carpark two more rats ran across our path, the second just as we were walking into the hotel (running!)about a metre from the door. In fact every time we left the hotel in the morning and came back in the evening we saw at least a couple of rats running in the car park.

The dcs thought it was hilarious but it wasn't fun pulling into the carpark especially at night.

I mentioned the rats to the receptionist who looked at me as though I was mad and asked me what I expected from a hotel in a field with a farm not too far away....

So would I be unreasonable to complain to the head office? Laughing aside, I did feel really uncomfortable whilst I was there at the thought of the rat population partying outside.

OP posts:
Original poster
zookeeper · 26/12/2011 17:38

oops have posted this twice!

OP posts:
PeaceofCakeAndGoodWineToAllMN · 26/12/2011 17:39

There's rats everywhere.

iscream · 27/12/2011 10:21

I think the receptionist should have said something more along the line of "It is due to the farmers field near by, but to rest assured that they have never been in the hotel." What she said was rather cheeky, as a customer, you should not be asked "What do you expect" which sounds quite rude to me.

I would complain about her. And mention you won't be staying there again due to the rats around the building.

I have never seen a rat anywhere in my life, other than ones in pet stores. pet rats in petstores.

iscream · 27/12/2011 10:22

Not sure what happened to my last sentence!

Bunbaker · 27/12/2011 10:23

Sorry, but what do you expect? Even if you can't see them you are never far from a rat in this country. I live in a rural area and rats and mice are par for the course.

I agree it isn't nice to see them, but what can the hotel do? Lay down rate poison all round the grounds?

Ripeberry · 27/12/2011 10:28

FGS! Rats are all over the place. There are just as many in the city as in the countryside. As long as they are not in the buildings, then they are not harming you. What would you have done if a Badger had come running along or even a fox?
I live in the countryside and get all sorts of creatures in the garden, including deer and badgers that like to raid the bins. You just accept it, they have to live somewhere as well.
The receptionist is maybe fed up of people complaining about the wildlife and I bet she gets people moaning about the cows and sheep being too noisy Hmm

Bloodymary · 27/12/2011 10:34

iscream have you really never seen a rat in your life?

OP, sadly you are never far away from one, tho I do think the receptionist could have worded it a little better.

MollyTheMole · 27/12/2011 11:20

hmm rats in country shocker Hmm

ivykaty44 · 27/12/2011 11:28

you know there are rats just 7 foot from your home now? will you complain to the owners of your house as this is uncomfortably close?

yabu

what are you going to complain about? rats outside running about like they do in the country side and urban areas?

edam · 27/12/2011 11:31

What everyone else said - there are rats everywhere, town as well as country. But they are probably bolder and more visible in the country.

ScorpionQueen · 27/12/2011 11:34

At least they were only outside the hotel...

Original poster
zookeeper · 27/12/2011 16:50

There;s another thread on this; fwiw I think you're all mad.

OP posts:
MrsCampbellBlack · 27/12/2011 16:51

They are quite mad Zoo Smile

Seriously - I live in the country and rats aren't galumphing round my garden all the time - thats not normal at all.

rainbowinthesky · 27/12/2011 16:52

OMG, animals outside running around and in the countryside?? What ever next!

fallon8 · 27/12/2011 17:03

Next time, take a cat with you.

scrappydoodah · 27/12/2011 17:13

I live in the country, in a naice house, and yes, sometimes we get rats in the grounds. It's the country, it's life. I also had a rat walk into my house, bold as brass, when I lived in London though, so maybe it is just me Grin

The receptionist dealt with it really badly, so yes, complain. Rats by the door suggests the rubbish isn't being dealt with properly, so a kick from head office might not be a bad thing.

Original poster
zookeeper · 27/12/2011 17:21

"sometimes" getting rats in the country is not what I described.

OP posts:
RainboweBrite · 27/12/2011 18:00

I agree it isn't nice to see them, but what can the hotel do? Lay down rate poison all round the grounds?
Em, yes, if they want to at least try to keep on top of the problem!
YANBU, OP.
I don't think the way the receptionist spoke to you was very polite, and I don't think any hotel should have rats so visible, so I agree that the rubbish isn't being dealt with properly.
I left a camping trip in the summer, as there were rats around our pod in the daylight, and I wouldn't have slept a wink knowing they were so close by. We saw them pretty much straight after we arrived, but even so, it took me about an hour to work up the courage to make a dash for the car.

RainboweBrite · 27/12/2011 18:00

Sorry, should be rats so visible outside the hotel.

AnotherMincepie · 27/12/2011 18:04

YANBU. It's quite possible to keep rats away if they are becoming a nuisance. There are no prizes for refusing to take measures to deter pests.

Hassledge · 27/12/2011 18:08

I know there are rats everywhere and I should learn to love them or summat but if my drive to a hotel had been interrupted by giant rats just sitting there or scampering around the car park I would have had a massive hissy fit and ran screaming like the girlie I am. I don't think I'd have even checked in.

ivykaty44 · 28/12/2011 00:11

It isn't as simple as laying down poison around the ground so the rats eat the poison and die. If it was that simple then we wouldn't have the number of rats in this country that we do have.

As for the rubbish being a problem, as far as I am aware most hotels will put food waste down the waste disposer and only paper, cardboard etc in the bins - usually only the private bin companies will refuse to take food waste so they can't put in the bins provided. Possibly the hotel may have found a company to take food waste but why pay when it can go into the sewage for free.

Introducing wild rabbits to the same area is probably the best bet to get rid of rats - but getting wild rabbits is another issue as they are wild and you need to know where to get them from, then they get myx and so either die or need to all be put down for fear of it spreading.

marriedandwreathedinholly · 28/12/2011 00:22

Not nice for you I admit but I have to agree there are rats very close. We had one in the house once. It chewed its way through a wooden ventilation grill under the back door (quickly replaced with metal) and was making a nest in a void between the kitchen cupboard and the outside wall. It was making it's way along the back of the skirting and getting into the bin cupboard. It hadn't been doing it for long because it was lining its nest with teabags and they were all round and I had only changed to that type about 4/5 days previously. I never saw it but it was very noisy.

Rentokil were marvellous. We hadn't been in the house for very long but because we back onto the river we do have to be very very careful and we do lay safe boxes and have three cats and every possible hole plugged - wire wool is good.

The girls attitude could have been better but I might just drop a note about how surprised you were rather than trying to be too complainy.

TroublesomeEx · 28/12/2011 09:12

I think the receptionist might have sounded a bit Hmm because observing that there are rats in the countryside is a bit like observing there is soap in the bathroom or laundry in the basket. What do you expect?

I'm surprised you felt the need to comment on it tbh OP. Or do you not venture into the countryside much?!

oldmum42 · 28/12/2011 12:16

If the rats were bold enough to be seen in the car park, it indicates a MASSIVE infestation in the area. They will generally avoid human contact.

"there are rats in the countryside" is not a good response from the hotel staff. No, there are rats where there is FOOD available to them, they set up nests close to food sources.

I live in the country side, there are wheat/barely fields all round us, and because of this, a constant influx of rats/mice to our property - the garden, not house as we have an established "kill zone" round the property (proper, locked bait boxes for the rats/mice, and live catch cages which will trap rabbits and rats, but allow other animals to be set free). Even though we KNOW there is a huge rat problem, the only rats we have ever seen here are the ones that get caught in the live-catch cages.

Rodent infestation is not trivial, they damage they can do to property is immense, and the health risks to humans and livestock is considerable.

Regarding the PP comment on Myxomatosis in rabbits - affected rabbits will be culled if seen, to end their suffering, NOT to stop it spreading - this disease was introduced to rabbits deliberately to cull them.

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