To give a family run Hotel a Poor Review

[MistressMia]

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.

But only you thinks being an (almost) vegan is forward thinking as opposed to a pretty niche diet choice. As everyone else has pointed out, there were vegan options on the breakfast menu, just not the (almost) vegan option of hash browns and some soya milk. Which there could have been had you bothered to ask for them earlier. Which you could have done because it's not as if you just turned up and had breakfast. Blaming a hotel because you didn't actually give them a chance to have your dietary requirements met is laughable.

But keep banging on about how reasonable, forward thinking and London-tastic you are because you're certainly not taking much on board from anyone here.

The Provinces = dark, foreboding places where milk comes from nipples (YUCK!) and Soya is a charcter from Lost from off of the telly box

I liked Sawyer. He was so sarcastic. Would have fit lovely in here

Mistress, I don't know what kind of work conference you were attending. But if you're this much of an uncompromising twerp in real life, then I pity anyone who has to work with you.

Hopefully this is just you being a bit stubborn on an Internet forum (and it's been fun to read, so thanks for that). If not, you REALLY need to learn to stop being such a special snowflake and communicate non-passive-aggressively (ie direct communication with people who have problems with, not anonymous reviews). Are you this insecure usually?

I liked Sawyer. He was so sarcastic. Would have fit lovely in here

Yes he would. And he was very pretty too. So very pretty.

God you sound more and more insufferable the more you write op. I think you've now mentioned your business credentials more often than your veganism now.

Look I'm from the midlands. I live in the Home Counties now. I'd say it's entirely reasonable to expect a veggie breakfast. But not reasonable to expect non-dairy milk, as a rule.

So, as trillions of people have said on this thread, you need to ring / email in advance if it's that important to you.

And, as an aside, give the "everything great starts in London" bollocks a rest eh? Because a. It's not true b. It's really annoying to the majority of people who don't live and work there and c. It makes you sound like s knob

London Hilton gave my ds cakes with nuts in despite him telling them twice he was allergic to nuts. They took the plate away and came back with what were supposed to be nut free cakes , but ds suspects it was the nut cakes they bought back. He was sick from eating what was invisible ground almonds.
Whats more Hilton never once responded to my complaint. On their facebook page they said contact us again. Again they ignored my email. Trip advisor wouldnt allow me to review them because i wasnt there at the time.
I get really annoyed when people complain about their lifestyle choice not being catered for, when people with serious allergies have no choice about eating certain foods.
5guys annoy me because they dont have any buns without sesame. They were happy to serve burger without a bun, but it wasnt clear on menu there were sesame seeds. Ds does like his burgers but sesame is a big allergen so they could have a few seed free buns in n the freezer.
Soy is an allergen as well. My vegetarian nephew is allergic to soy, so soy milk wouldnt be a good dairy free alternative.

bruffin excuse my ignorance but I noticed in five guys the other day that the chips are fried in peanut oil. Does that mean that they're verboten for nut allergies, too?

. There will be no complaint. In fact no mention of it at all. I simply won't be returning there.
If you liked everything else about the place there's no reason not to go back. Just mention what you need when you make the booking. Simple.

There's only one insufferable person on this thread..

Yes op, you get behind your keyboard and help make it even harder for small businesses to compete with 'London standards'

Have a don't worry...its animal-free.

Highly processed Oils like peanut oil should be ok, because the process removes the proteins that cause the allergen. Ds isnt allergic to peanuts anyway.Sesame oils and other nut oils tend to be less refined so they can be a problem.

Soya milk isn't generally provided as standard as most people agree it tastes like arse. If you wanted it you should have called ahead.

How unfair OP not to go back to this place especially as it's family run. That's just mean. Why not give them the chance to make amends and warn them in advance you want soya milk? Just to boycott them is horrible especially as you said upthread I rhink, that you take lots of people with you.

It makes me think of a horrible review on TripAdvisor when the owner of a cafe or restaurant has had to blast back at something very unfair posted on there by a diner. The owner is usually saying... you ate all your meal, you left a tip, no one had any idea how awful you thought everything was because you didn't say. Or... your party was so drunk and disruptive I'm surprised you can remember what you ate!

Just be fair, OP, you talk about your business credentials... use them and give the family run hotel a chance. You sound like you have a huge axe to grind with them, yet you were more than happy with everything else.

There will be no complaint. In fact no mention of it at all.

from my own thinking as a business owner who constantly looks to provide what customers are looking for and to exceed their expectations.

Can you not see then contradiction here, OP?

This was a two-part AIBU. You asked about posting a review criticising the breakfast, and you were told YWBU to expect vegan options as standard. Fine. But you would be really, really U as a fellow business owner NOT to feed back to the management. I refer you to my earlier point - are you really willing to post 30+ times on a MN thread but refusing to engage with the actual stakeholders here?

Look. Copy and paste the following into a quick email:

Dear [Manager]

I stayed at [hotel] on the night of XX April. Overall I enjoyed my stay and found my room clean and comfortable, and the location convenient. However, I would like to offer one item of feedback.

As a vegan [leave out the 'almost] - it does you no favours] I was disappointed to find that I was unable to eat breakfast due to a lack of vegetarian and vegan options. I would have appreciated the option of a non-dairy milk alternative, such as soya milk, and perhaps of hash browns or vegetarian sausages as part of a cooked breakfast.

Perhaps you would consider reviewing your breakfast offer to ensure that it caters for vegans in the future.

Kind regards

MistressMia

How hard is that?

Please stop saying your from London, you're embarrassing us!

I was at an extremely trendy, and also extremely exclusive restaurant in London last night, they certainly would have needed to know your dietary requirements beforehand. They definately wouldn't have had things waiting around.

Your point about major coffee chains all having it? Yes cause their main purpose all day, every day is to serve a drinks, many of which have milk in them, the will have alternatives. The average family run hotel won't.

Oh btw, Hilton's are basically Travel Lodges with a few extra spangly bits, they aren't really a sign of good taste.

I love that the op thinks that everything good come from large chains. Really not cool there and won't do your almost vegan trendy credentials any favours.

Ah, Sawyer.

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

Just going back to the OP, OP, you're not vegan (you can't be 'a bit' vegan) so you actually could have had the milk, I assume. You say you haven't had it for a while, but you're not actually vegan. That means you're someone who hasn't had milk for a bit. If you don't want cow's milk, for ethical reasons, for example, fine. But 'I'm nearly fully vegan, y'know' is a bit attention seeking.

And you could have the cooked breakfast minus eggs and bacon.

I know it's obvious, but it is a bit bloody obvious it?

Hahahaha. This is hilarious. Is it a spoof post?? If not of course YABU to expect everywhere to stock sodding soya milk. Get a grip woman!

I agree about Hiltons btw. Every one I've ever stayed in looks like it's seen better days. I think 'Hilton' was a watch word for posh in the 80s but not so much now.

'There will be no complaint. In fact no mention of it at all. I simply won't be returning there. '

That's for the best. For them.

I am pleased for the owners that the OP has decided not to complain or to return.

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

I don't understand what the hash browns would have brought to this party? They are starchy empty carbs and fat
If you wanted a cooked breakfast, you could have ordered the beans, mushrooms and tomatoes with some white bread and margarine for the same overall nutritional effect.
This is nothing more than being professionally offended and attention seeking.

If you don't eat eggs why would you want hash browns

I actually have lost patience with you, OP, and I think in future you should go self-catering as you sound hard work. (That is a polite way of saying spoiled and entitled).

I would've had juice, herb tea, porridge with water (if on-demand porridge is possible, which it often is) and honey on top, and mushrooms and tomatoes on toast in your position, and probably not been able to eat the rest of the day. Perfectly good breakfast. Get over yourself.

FFS

I am pleased for the owners that the OP has decided not to complain or to return.
Me too - and as I said upthread, I hope she posts the tripadvisor review with the sneering stuff about "London standards" as it would be an encouragement for me to stay there - knowing there's less likelihood of encountering people like her there.

No, not fair to give them a bad review at all for this.

You should always notify them in advance of special dietary requirements so you are not dissappointed like this.
Very rare that smaller establishments would have Nut free/Vegan/ Gluten Free/ Diabetic food in stock. Just does not make good commercial sense.

You can't give these people a bad review because of this, that is not really on.
You could write to them nicely explaining your expereince, and advise them to ask guests in advance, but to be honest the onus is really on you.

These days people have so many different lifestyle choices/ allergies/ intolerances, it is not realistic to expect smaller establishments to cater to them all, they just cannot afford it.

Your responsibility, not theirs I'm afraid. x