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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To give a family run Hotel a Poor Review

568 replies

MistressMia · 30/04/2016 09:55

I stayed at a family run hotel earlier this week in the Midlands and while on the whole it was a nice place a few things bugged me, notably the vegetarian / vegan option or lack off.

It was only 1 night with breakfast included.

Perhaps I'm just too used to London standards, but it really amazes me that things like soya milk / soya yoghurt are not available as standard.

I'm not fully vegan, but haven't drunk milk for ages now, so couldn't have the breakfast cereals.

The hot breakfast consisted of bacon / eggs / beans / mushrooms & grilled tomato. I don't eat eggs. Don't usually have a problem as used to having the option of hash browns. and other veggie alternatives.

AIBU unreasonable to expect establishments to fully cater for those with different diets ? It really peeves me off, considering the charge is the same and veg options don't cost more.

OP posts:
Watchingnetflix · 30/04/2016 14:18

Fair play OP, your commitment to not being unreasonable is very firm! Grin

YABU

EvansOvalPies · 30/04/2016 14:18

And this was the only reason why I mentioned London, because it certainly isn't niche around here

London covers a very large area actually, and there are most certainly some niche places in and around. There are also others that aren't! You clearly don't regularly travel very far from your London front doorstep. When you say 'London' do you mean only the City of, or all surrounding city areas (which are also London). I might be wrong, but I think even Kingston is considered London.

You are also picking out certain comments you want to reply to, and completely ignoring others. Typical of someone asking AIBU, then stamping their feet when told that, actually, they are BVU.

Whether attending a conference or going to a holiday destination - it all boils down to the same thing. If you don't want to be disappointed, call ahead before you get there. Particularly at such short notice. Or take you own (as we do, as a precautionary measure). DD has had food allergies for 15 yrs, but it would be ridiculous to expect any establishment to know this when we book a room or table. UNLESS WE TOLD THEM BEFOREHAND.

roundaboutthetown · 30/04/2016 14:19

I'm not aware of vegetarians being unable to consume milk... Stop conflating different things and concluding you have reasonable expectations! Vegans are in a significant minority group.

woollyminded · 30/04/2016 14:19

Thanks for the support m-netters, it's good to get it out at last. You know what we're like beyond the wall, don't like to gob off to strangers with our opinions all over the shop.

WizardOfToss · 30/04/2016 14:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ScreenshottingIsNotJournalism · 30/04/2016 14:20

I do love to visit niche vegan restraunts and fairs etc OP, and honestly they don't always stock soya milk. More likely to find their own home made nut milks or coconut milk these days.

You keep banging on about the vegan market, but your understanding of current trents in veganism is as wobbly as your understanding as food waste TBH

ThatsNotMyRabbit · 30/04/2016 14:20

Oh ffs get over yourself 🙄

If London is the pinnacle of places to be to sleep and eat breakfast, then bloody stay there and stop inflicting your pretentious demands on normal people.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 30/04/2016 14:21

Oh ffs you aren't even vegan.

mateysmum · 30/04/2016 14:21

A hotel or restaurant is in business to provide a service and make money. By tailoring their offering to appeal to as a wide a variety of market segments surely makes good business sense.

Making money and catering to as wide a variety of market segments as possible are not necessarily the same thing. watches too much Hotel InspectorThis hotel manages its costs and still offers a breakfast that I think 90% of people would find acceptable. The 10% who have special requirements really need to tell them and then they will no doubt try and accommodate your needs.

YonicTrowel · 30/04/2016 14:24

"When you went to have breakfast, did you ask the hotel staff then if they could supply soya milk? "

I would like to know the answer to this. As it's possible there was a long life carton somewhere, or even that a staff member could've popped out briefly.

EvansOvalPies · 30/04/2016 14:24

Hotel Staff, preparing breakfast table:
"Let's put out everything we can possibly think of, to cater for every possible dietary need, every single morning. Then throw most of it away, because 99% just want either a Full English, or cereal and toast. With normal milk."

So Soya milk and yoghurts, Coconut, Hazelnut and Almond milks and yoghurts, all kosher products - in the bin.
Once a carton of anything has been opened, then it only has a certain shelf life. So if Soya milk has been opened and no Soy-drinker stays in the hotel for the next couple of days, it will have to be discarded. What an unutterable, unreasonable waste!

BillBrysonsBeard · 30/04/2016 14:25

London is a different world though OP, you can find most of what your heart desires.. But not always. My friend lives in London but has to go to Brighton to find a decent vegan cafe. It's just not viable in othe cities.. If the demand was there then they would provide it, simple as that. You need to adjust your expectations when anywhere other than London otherwise you will alwyas be unsatisfied. Just take your own milk and save yourself the stress..

AndTakeYourPenguinWithYou · 30/04/2016 14:26

A hotel or restaurant is in business to provide a service and make money

Yes, and they do this by giving people what they want, with as little waste as possible, and with the highest profit margins. Having every option available all the time despite knowing that most people won't touch them is not the way to make money.

Again veggie / vegan food is not exclusively consumable and appealing to vegetarians and vegans only

True enough, but Soy yoghurts? Most vegans and vegetarians wouldn't touch soy yoghurts. It's not the 1980's! And neither would anyone else. Same for quorn sausages and fake bacon...nobody wants that crap.

Haudyerwheesht · 30/04/2016 14:27

I'm vegetarian and allergic to milk and try not to eat eggs which I am not sure are truly free range.

I have toast with jam / mushrooms and tomatoes and beans etc etc.

Also, you said you're not strictly vegan? So you're not vegan. It's not a sliding scale. It's a yes or no thing.

ScreenshottingIsNotJournalism · 30/04/2016 14:28

True enough, but Soy yoghurts? Most vegans and vegetarians wouldn't touch soy yoghurts. It's not the 1980's! And neither would anyone else. Same for quorn sausages and fake bacon...nobody wants that crap

Yup yup
I think the OPs idea of a vegan breakfast would leave most vegans rather disappointed!

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 30/04/2016 14:28

You don't really know much about being a vegan do you op

Noodledoodledoo · 30/04/2016 14:28

I have a family member who has been Vegetarian for over 30 years - don't seem to have this issue, even managed to live in the middle east for 3 months with no problems.

They don't feel sidelined or poorly serviced these days (they may have done in the 80's when they first switched) Even managed to go on a trip to Switzerland/Germany with a Vegan family member without this amount of fuss.

I live in the suburbs of London and can't think of many vegetarians/vegans that I know of so still niche near me!

Haudyerwheesht · 30/04/2016 14:29

honnob why would she? She isn't one.

EvansOvalPies · 30/04/2016 14:29

Penguin - agree! I have tried soya milk and yoghurts and veggie sausages (and Quorn, and almond milk too). Yeuch!

Whathaveilost · 30/04/2016 14:29

Again veggie / vegan food is not exclusively consumable and appealing to vegetarians and vegans only
There was cereal, tomatoes, beans, presumably toast and also jam. There was also eggs. Again I presume you could have had them fried, scrambled, poached, hard boiled, as an omelette. There are usually juices available as part of the breakfast spread.

There is plenty to eat there either as a veggie or vegan.
I, as a veggie, would be full with that variety and I'm not keen on eggs in the morning!

You are just being awkward.

DoreenLethal · 30/04/2016 14:31

So you didn't actually ever ask for the fucking soya milk?

I suspect if they were of a Midlands standard, they would look down on your soya milk, and keep the almond milk away from you and your London types. Soya milk is so 80s. Get with it!

CobblerBob · 30/04/2016 14:33

OF course YABU.

you went to a hotel, didn't tell them you are vaguely vegan to give them some notice, didn't tell them again at breakfast to see if the could have catered for you but want to leave a poor review because.... I dunno... Maui?

I loves a hash brown with mushrooms and a poached egg.

UnGoogleable · 30/04/2016 14:33

Same for quorn sausages and fake bacon...nobody wants that crap.

Ooh I love Quorn sausages me. Not fake bacon though, the idea of that makes me heave. Mind you I'm from up-North so I probably have embarrassingly un-refined tastes!

OP you're being daft. If you have specific needs / preferences, you ought to have told them. If you didn't then you get what you're given, which in your case would still have been a perfectly adequate breakfast of toast, beans and mushrooms.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 30/04/2016 14:35

I really pity people who work in the hospitality industry dealing with wankers like this.

UnGoogleable · 30/04/2016 14:35

and the idea of a Soya yoghurt makes me throw up in my mouth a little.

For the record, I'm vegetarian. But today I ate some bread and salad, so I guess I'm a little bit vegan until I scoffed half a pound of cheese