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.

Basically, the OP thinks veggie options = quorn, and vegan options = processed soya crap
Ignoring all the naturally veggie and vegan choices on offer
Plus she doesn't even KNOW if they do provide additional options because she never asked, is just miffed that it wasn't laid out for her without her telling them about her preferences..

Harverina - I believe there were plenty of vegetarian options available. What is not vegetarian about tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans (egg even, for the veggie option), cereal with juice, etc? OP is complaining that there were no 'not-fully-vegan' options. With no forewarning.

We are going round in circles now. All these points have been addressed already.

As a veggie l use fresh orange in my cereal, eat from the breakfast what l can and don't complain.
Life is too short....................

Surely, veggie is about eating vegetables. I don't really see the point of non-meat disguised as meat.
The beans should have provided most of the required protein, anyway, which is fine for a veggie meal.

I tried vegetarian sausages once and they were awful! Like eating sawdust encased in leather...

Op you are being unreasonable btw...

Surely, veggie is about eating vegetables.

No. Being vegetarian is about not eating animals.

You can eat cheese sandwiches and no vegetables at all and still be vegetarian.

That's not really a veggie option though is it? It's the normal breakfast with the main items missing

What is a 'normal' veggie breakfast option, outside of what has already been suggested? Grilled aubergine on a rice cake maybe?

I wonder if a family run hotel anywhere even in London would be expected to cater without notice for the following dietary requirements?
halal
kosher
nut free
gluten free
lactose free
diabetic
organic
vegetarian
vegan
etc etc etc?

All are common and fairly 'mainstream' requests that hotel chefs should be familiar with. (Although I'd bet that vegans are less common than most others on the list). But being surprised that the altenatives are not lined up on the breakfast buffet table without any prior request being made is ridiculous.

Would you expect the hotel to organise a rabbi to come in and declare a kitchen kosher just in case an observant Jew might one day book in without notice? Or would it be fair if a peanut allergy sufferer disclosed their allergy and complained only after leaving the hotel that there was no nut free muesli on a day they fancied a swiss-style breakfast? Of course not. You would ask how the hotel could possibly be expected to predict all the possible variations of dietary requests that may be made without prior notice by the guests.

I wonder if you had mentioned your dietary requirements at the point you checked in, if the hotel may have been able to rustle up some soya milk by breakfast. I somehow suspect they would.

But vegans can't eat dairy products or eggs, so cheese would be out completely. But OP is not fully vegan, so maybe cheese on toast might have been permissible ... for her.

these days veggie and vegan cook books are not about making or using fake meat and dairy in place of meat and dairy.

A place near me does a smashing vegan breakfast! there's not a fake sausage or fake egg in sight! There's beans, mushroom, tomatos, sour dough and potato cake

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.

I stayed in a Hampton by Hilton (not sure of its relationship to the main Hilton brand) for work a month or so ago see how important I am. It was fab - one of the biggest, brightest rooms I've ever stayed in, and a lovely buffet breakfast. I didn't notice whether there was soya milk and yoghurt because I'm nearly omnivorous and I never touch the stuff. My only complaint was that haggis, neeps and tatties weren't on the evening bar menu, and deep fried Mars bars weren't available as snacks. But I accept it was my own fault for venturing south of the border into Englandshire.

hiltons are a mixed bag. One hilton I stayed in was by far the worst dirtiest scruffiest room I've ever stayed in (including student hostels), but the most recent one I stayed in was nice'n'posh

Maybe they're having a tidy up and bringing them back up to standard recently? They were aweful for a long time though

There's beans, mushroom, tomatos, sour dough and potato cake

And that would have been lovely. But that wasn't what was on offer. There was no substitute to the bacon, eggs & sausages, you're just expected to choose from the remaining items.

What I'm trying to get across is not that the hotel should be specially catering for a specific diet, but that they should have had a broader offering of common everyday items, such that a wider variety of tastes and requirements can be accommodated without people having to put in specific requests in advance.

Some thought should go into what those who don't have dairy will have as an alternative on their cereal / in their coffee / on their toast. You're charging these people the same, so surely you should make some effort to have catered for them. It's like going to a restaurant and being told there are no Veg mains, just eat from the side dishes.

I'm not expecting anyone to go to huge extra costs and expense. And I'm not suggesting that they attempt to cater for every dietary requirement and allergy, but simply by the addition of a few things, many of those on the list posted by someone above could go away having had a satisfying breakfast and feel that they've had parity in terms of what has been provided for them.

So did you actually ask them if they could rustle you up some beans, mushrooms, tomato, potato cake and toast then?

MistressMia - from your OP The hot breakfast consisted of bacon / eggs / beans / mushrooms & grilled tomato

Yet now you're saying beans, mushrooms and tomato were not on offer

Blimey, are you still droning in bout this.
There was loads of food you could have eaten especially as you are not a vegan.

Maybe there was soya milk in the kitchen but you didn't ask for it.
You said you didn't mention your needs to anyone so how would they know what you need?

We've talked on this thread about wastage so maybe they only open a carton of soya ( or whatever) when it is needed.

The Hiltons aren't great. I said as much in a post earlier. But at least they have a better selection as standard.

Also I'm not from Yorkshire - whoever posted that was was mistaken. Born and raised in the Home Counties and then studied and stayed in London.

My dietary choices are also nothing to do with fashion and fads but due to not agreeing with the way animals are treated in food production.

I don't have time to answer all the other vitriol criticisms that has been directed at me just now, as away for the rest of the weekend.

People like OP are why no one likes vegans and people with dietary restrictions are so often ignored.

It's not just the overwhelming smugness, or even the blindness to the overwhelming smugness, it's the insistence that we are just too stupid to understand that they aren't being smug. No self-awareness whatsoever.

When we stay at an hotel (and as I said further back, DD has several allergies, so we take along extra bits and bobs), all of those things you mention are on offer to us all. We don't all choose to eat everything. I don't like beans, DC don't like mushrooms, DD doesn't like egg or tomato, DP and DS don't like sausage or tomato. We all just choose from whatever is on offer. It is not compulsory to eat everything. You just choose what you like or are able to eat. I'm really struggling to understand you. You could have had a perfectly satisfying breakfast, from what was on offer.

soya is one of the most polluting industries on earth, which is one of the reasons why most vegans avoid it (the other being health reasons). replacing dairy with soya for ethical reasons is only a small step down in "evils" TBH

It's hardly vitriole to ask you if you asked for the things that you are complaining about not being provided

People like OP are why no one likes vegans

Hilarious!

away for the rest of the weekend

Oh, have a lovely time. I do hope that wherever you are staying, you called ahead to tell them of your exacting dietary needs. Otherwise we're going to have to relive this on Tuesday Waaaaah

Oh dear god just think of the poor staff wherever she is staying
Imagine the threads from disgruntled staff next week....

Aounds like the op is a "hobby vegan"
Like a friend of mine picks some sort of "thing" as a personal hobby horse and acts all "right on" about it for weeks without ever really understanding the issue probably and ends up sounding utterly ridiculous.

Properly not probably