Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

To feel so sorry for the hospitality industry?

95 replies

clartymare · 09/08/2021 13:08

We just got back from a UK hotel break. Previously been and it was lovely. While it was still lovely, the service was nowhere near what it was and the place needs some TLC. Friends have reported the same from various stays they've had.

It was disappointing, but we were chatting to the manager and he was saying how so many staff are off sick or isolating, and have been over the last month or so, that they're operating on a skeleton staff and have had to make adjustments in order to cope. Breakfast is no longer hot for example, continental only. No room service. Things like that.

The staff we came across, while lovely and helpful, were obviously run off their feet. Dinner service was chaotic largely for this reason - not enough staff again.

So many guests complaining, being very rude to staff, saying you wouldn't get these problems abroad etc (I disagree on that!) and although I came away feeling disappointed because it wasn't a patch on the stays we've had there before, I also felt desperately sorry for anyone working in the industry at the moment. It just seems like, despite the opportunity to boost UK breaks, they're spread really thin whatever they do.

Yes they're all fully booked, but they need to be after having being closed for so long. I had a look on trip advisor for reviews on some of the places we stayed and loved before lockdown when I got home, out of curiosity and it seems like many places are the same at the moment.

OP posts:

Echobelly · 09/08/2021 13:11

Yes, I do feel sorry for them and I hope people will bear with them that they can't expect usual quality of service necessarily. Brexit won't have helped on top of this as they'll have likely lost a lot of staff to that as well.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 09/08/2021 13:25

Prices might go up. Food is going up in wholesale, some things really a lot.

Thehop · 09/08/2021 13:27

I feel very sorry for them all.

My exh has a food/music/bar place and the last 18 months have nearly bankrupt him. I feel very sorry for him and have no idea how him and his wife have kept smiling. Power to him, he took any job he could to fill the gap but getting staff and making ends meet now is almost impossible.

Original poster

clartymare · 09/08/2021 13:31

It's awful isn't it. I can see why people are disappointed when it's more expensive, service standards are dropping etc but considering everything that's going on I don't know why anyone is surprised.

Hospitality and the arts have been so badly affected.

OP posts:

Elephantsparade · 09/08/2021 13:35

I feel so sorry for them. We just got back from holiday andcwe popped our head round a restaurant door to see if we could book for lunch and the owner said ' i have no staff in and no food deliveries able to come' she said she didnt know if it was furlough, isolating, brexit or other supply issues but she couldnt open for food just coffees. I just felt so sad for her. It was a great location but she could run..

Bythemillpond · 09/08/2021 13:35

I have adult children and we all are connected to hospitality for work.
The first day of lockdown last March we realised that none of us had any work.

All had to go on UC.

We applied for every job going and got rejected for everything we applied for.

Bit pissed off as friends dd who was home from university and couldn’t drive was offered a job as a supermarket delivery driver but i drive a huge van and applied to the supermarket and was rejected.

TorySteller · 09/08/2021 13:38

I agree.

We’ve noticed that restaurant service has been below standard every time we’ve eaten out since May. It’s never occurred to me to complain, I think most places are struggling with being understaffed, and lots of staff are new with little experience of the hospitality industry.

BoarOnTheFloor · 09/08/2021 13:57

YANBU. The first weekend back this summer a place near me posted on social media apologising that service hadn’t been up to scratch etc etc and they were inundated with complaints. Give them a break FFS.

ChunkySloth · 09/08/2021 13:58

Tip the people that are there. They will be working so hard, a thank you and a tip will really be appreciated.

I just got a job in a kitchen and its backbreaking work for a pittance. I will be upping my tips from now on!

uktrippin · 09/08/2021 13:59

@Bythemillpond a non driver got a job as a driver?

ChainJane · 09/08/2021 14:11

I think it's reasonable for people to complain if the service is substandard. While it's not the fault of the staff who are there that others are isolating, it's certainly not the customers' fault either. Hotels and restaurants are not lowering their prices to reflect the slow/limited service, if anything they are charging more to try to keep afloat.

I wouldn't be abusive to a member of staff but we should certainly not put up with poor service - if we do, restaurants will realise they can get away with being understaffed and once the pandemic is over they will maintain these lower levels. Basically by accepting it you are costing people their jobs.

icedcoffees · 09/08/2021 14:14

A friend of mine works in hospitality and it is absolutely hell for her. She's working 12-14 hour days, rarely gets her breaks and is exhausted when she gets home.

Everyone is working overtime, they can't find new staff for love nor money, and people are expecting 5* service with half the staff - it's unrealistic and unfair.

GCAcademic · 09/08/2021 14:23

I feel sorry for them, but my experience is that prices in restaurants and pubs have gone up a hell of a lot, and the quality of food has declined perceptibly in the places we're used to eating at. As sorry as I am for the industry, I'm afraid I won't be spending that kind of money on poor quality food, and will be sticking to takeaways if I want a break from cooking.

Original poster

clartymare · 09/08/2021 14:25

@ChainJane I do understand that, but I think as it's the same all over and it's down to Covid, Brexit etc...I don't know, I couldn't bring myself to. They're aware of the issue, apologetic, it's obvious they're working hard - if it wasn't the case and they were obviously standing around not doing their job etc then I would. I'm surprised people are expecting everything to be the same when they go to these places tbh.

OP posts:

icedcoffees · 09/08/2021 14:27

@GCAcademic

And that's your choice.

But it's not the waiting staffs' decision to raise prices or buy cheaper food in. I wish people would stop taking their frustration out on them (not saying you do, just in general).

GCAcademic · 09/08/2021 14:31

No, I definitely wouldn't dream of blaming the waiting staff. My point is that I worry for the industry, but on the other hand I'm not prepared to pay the prices that are being demanded for the level of service (which has more to do with the meals themselves than the waiting staff). I think they are in a very difficult bind.

icedcoffees · 09/08/2021 14:33

@GCAcademic

They definitely are.

Another issue is that prices are rising for everyone - just as supermarkets are raising their prices, so are wholesalers. Prices can't stay the same forever, and if staff are made to isolate, there's not much the hotels/pubs/restaurants can do about it.

It sucks for everyone.

araiwa · 09/08/2021 14:36

they can't find new staff for love nor money,

Offer £20 an hour and they'd fix their staffing problems instantly. Instead they offer minimum wage and awful conditions and don't understand why they can't find staff

icedcoffees · 09/08/2021 14:38

@araiwa

they can't find new staff for love nor money,

Offer £20 an hour and they'd fix their staffing problems instantly. Instead they offer minimum wage and awful conditions and don't understand why they can't find staff

And if they paid staff £20 an hour, they'd need to increase all their prices accordingly.

People just don't want to work in hospitality at the moment - and who can blame them? Staffing restrictions, masks and shields still enforced for many, rude customers...I wouldn't do it for £20 an hour.

Shelovesamystery · 09/08/2021 14:41

I work in a restaurant, we are constantly short staffed. Many experienced hospitality workers found factory/warehouse jobs over the lockdowns and have stuck with them as the work is much easier and better money. We are desperately trying to hire but no one wants a job in hospitality atm. Every other restaurant in my city is in the same boat. Its a nightmare right now. I hate not being able to give customers the usual standard of service, I do my best but I know that it isn't really up to scratch. But there just isn't enough staff to look after people the way we would like to.

Really nice to hear that people are able to be understanding about the situation

rottd · 09/08/2021 14:43

I think it's awful. The same people who are rude to them probably blame them for being furloughed & lazy. You can guarantee they won't want to pay more though!

SchrodingersImmigrant · 09/08/2021 14:45

@araiwa

they can't find new staff for love nor money,

Offer £20 an hour and they'd fix their staffing problems instantly. Instead they offer minimum wage and awful conditions and don't understand why they can't find staff

It's kind of tied to the fact that customers want everything for a penny...

StrawberryPuff · 09/08/2021 14:45

Yes and no. I feel sorry for the staff who are having to deal with an impossible situation and for employers who have been trying their best for a while.

But a large part of the sector has offered low pay and increasingly casualised working patterns for a long time. It wasn’t a sustainable model.

I’m also aware that in many cases the owners feel that commercial pressures have forced them into those patterns because of the price customers are willing to pay. So some of this goes back to customers having unrealistic expectations, especially after years of cheap labour. And some of it is about bad business practices.

rottd · 09/08/2021 14:46

food costs have gone up generally so of course restaurants will be more expensive

mummymeister · 09/08/2021 14:46

we live in a high tourist area and previously worked in the industry. its a triple whammy this year.

very few EU staff taking on the temporary high season roles that they did in the past.
Lots of staff missing due to being pinged.
The economy works differently in these areas. staff working in hospitality have previously worked flat out during the high season, often in a couple of jobs and then had skeleton hours out of season. But this year, they were furloughed out of season on full pay so when it gets to the high season their bank account looks relatively healthy. so instead of doing what they usually do and working several jobs they have cut back and are working less. But the real problems will come in the winter when they dont have that summer money to tide them over and furlough money has run out.

Flip

1 2 3 4