Covid Isolation Hotel Nightmare

[Suppermumzy]

Stuck in this London Isolation Hotel...food is terrible...if you are lucky to go out for exercise you are hurriedly sent back in as there is always a list waiting to go out and use the outdoor space which can safely have 4 people in at a time..i will add photos of food. Cost for 11 days £2285.

I asked today "Would they stop me if I wanted to leave?" Answer No..but you will be reported as an absconder and may face a £10,000 fine....Surely this is not voluntary nor is it fair...who is monitoring this system..we seam to be a forgotten minority rotting away behind fences..

I am coming back from Africa to bury my 99 year old father who died 1/08....and I couldn't have not gone...I had to see him through....Surely this is not voluntary imprisonment as without the hotel booking reference you are not allowed on your flight at the departure airport...

AIBU to feel aggrieved by the system..when i left England the hotel fee was £1750...when I went to book it had gone up £500....NHS nurse looked after British public throughout the Pandemic but I feel that I am incapacitated to look after my own..including my young kids...

Can nurses nor quarantine in their hospital? I though the two exceptions were if you're coming to the uk to work for the nhs or go to boarding school?

Also

Compassionate reasons
In extremely limited circumstances, where it is not possible to accommodate a visit to a severely ill or dying relative or member of your household from within managed quarantine, you may be able to be exempt.
You will need to supply evidence, including from the hospice or medical facility that you will be visiting.

There will be a public inquiry and would be good to see some time spent on where the £2285 went. It's £208/night.

This includes transport & admin, I suppose, and a deep room clean afterwards, deep clean of the initial transport, any empty room time between cohorts? , security, all meals delivered and distributed, and some thing to do with hazardous waste disposal of the waste food containers.

There must be journalists looking into "where does the money go?"

@ragged I'm not being dramatic, unfortunately if I ate like that (bread or rice with every meal) my blood sugars would be sky high and I would be quite poorly.

I do hope they offer a separate menu for coeliacs, diabetics, dairy intolerance etc.

Surely this is not voluntary nor is it fair...who is monitoring this system..we seam to be a forgotten minority rotting away behind fences..

Bit over dramatic don't you think. The conditions are not ideal but should we just let in everyone from red countries to spread even more variants of covid etc and further clog up our hospitals and infect vulnerable people

OR

Let people spend 11 days in a quarantine hotel (give over with the rotting away - it's 11 days - you won't rot)

Suppose admin costs are about £200 by combined govt & hotel
Suppose security costs are... (3 security guards at any one time for 30 people, 3 shifts day, 9x£200/day = £1800 for 30 people, £60 per person per day

PPE for security guards, £5/day per resident?

2 Tests also included, I gather the commercial rate is about £100 each.

11 days food? Call it £15 day for food itself (since all prepackaged stuff and with delivery), £5 for food packaging disposal = £20*11 = £220.

Those hotel rooms were paid for in advance by govt who didn't know how much demand there would be, they were trying to recoup the cost from individuals. Mostly basic hotels, right? No daily cleaning but presume that balances costs of transport, deep cleaning too, so should be £100/day, £1100

£60+£1100+£220+£200 = £1580
That leaves 2285-1580 = £705 not easily accounted for.
What did I forget to include?
Just guessing at these numbers.

Interesting how OP hasn't bothered to answer any questions about whether they chose the Asian menu, or whether the food is much the same each day. They can't provide examples of one day's menu and expect a balanced judgement.

@gofg

Interesting how OP hasn't bothered to answer any questions about whether they chose the Asian menu, or whether the food is much the same each day. They can't provide examples of one day's menu and expect a balanced judgement.

Agree . Pointless unless she explains fully .

The costs are not just for a room and food, they will cover admin, cleaning, security, exclusive use of the hotel etc.

Yes it might be dull, but you can exercise indoors also (maybe some yoga). The food might not be great but it is food. I think there's an awful lot of drama about how inhumane it is on this thread. Inconvenient, yes. Expensive, yes. Tiresome, yes. Inhumane? Have we become so soft? Let's hope there's no wars in the offing or even a more severe pandemic.

Covid isn't over, it only takes a variant that resists the vaccine who knows, one could be brewing in someone's body right now. It's easy to be nonchalant after over a year, but remember the fear and uncertainty of March 2020. The panic buying, the totality of the first lockdown, the feeling of anxiety that so many suffered. This stuff is being done for a reason.

Whether anyone agrees with these rules or not (and if Covid has taught us anything, it's that a lot of people think they are too clever or special to need to think of the greater good and follow rules), they are the rules and are a relatively known quantity .

I had to go abroad recently, didn't want to and spent the few days away stressed that I would test positive and have to quarantine abroad (possibly in a facility or hospital at my own cost). However it was a choice I took to go and no matter how pressing the reason to travel, both I and the OP did have a choice.

I wouldn't want to be in the OPs position either but I think a complaint about the food to the staff is the most constructive way forward.

Personally I would have like to have seen a South Korean style isolation with a tracking device and multiple phone calls per day to check on whereabouts, but we have what we have.

[quote Suppermumzy]@MauveMagnolia...this hotel happens to be an ordinally 3 star hotel...hardly a 4 or 5 star....No gymn nor reasonable outdoor space for a walk...

While we are on the subject ...Dinner is just served..checkout my pudding...I never eat them I bin them..[/quote]
Pudding on Tuesday looks like payasam. It's an Indian dish and it's lovely. Try it if you get it again.

I am sorry for your loss. I am sorry for the cost/time/ and food from the hotel. The pandemic sucks on many levels. I follow rules so I would never encourage you to break any. A big hug from me.

The food is crap and its easy to say bla blah its okay to try it eat it, your fortunate.
No the rules are the rules but the food is not right and that's that .
I don't think it's easy being stuck in a room.regardless if you were prepared for it or not.
Meals should and could be better
There has been a lot of money being made for.this unfortunate situation by some individuals .complain complain complain

@gofg @MrsMaizel

fb.watch/7Db_ELpM1F/

@gofg @MrsMaizel

If you can’t watch the link, here is a brief summary.

It’s a news report from the BBC where they have interviewed various people about their stays. Muslims were served pork. People with allergies were given food containing their allergens. Food so greasy that if you squeezed it oil would pour out of it. Meals partially cooked or completely raw. Mattresses covered in piss stains. Bugs and slugs in the rooms. Blankets covered in black mould. Clumps of previous guests hair on the carpet.

Is that enough proof that this is unacceptable?

news.sky.com/story/its-hell-traveller-finds-rodents-in-1631750-hotel-quarantine-at-heathrow-airport-12372020?fbclid=IwAR1L0XRaXHMfqi44uiVoEP0LASj-XbtnnKjX2GLxZI8t97vQ43jxA2TwQmE

@isthisareverse

Trust that you would isolate at home should be sufficient.

that's silly. If there had ever been doubts, the lockdown has proven that people cannot be trusted.

But there are solutions, even a tag and police check would be better.

I'd certainly prefer this option.

This is awful!

A family of four squashed into a box room

@ragged

There will be a public inquiry and would be good to see some time spent on where the £2285 went. It's £208/night.

This includes transport & admin, I suppose, and a deep room clean afterwards, deep clean of the initial transport, any empty room time between cohorts? , security, all meals delivered and distributed, and some thing to do with hazardous waste disposal of the waste food containers.

There must be journalists looking into "where does the money go?"

I think you have got to the nub of this ragged. Of course the cost is to act as a deterrent but I would be expecting something better for £208 per night.

This thread has focused on the food but there have been many reports of women being sexually harassed by security guards and horrible rooms.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lone-women-quarantine-hotels-female-24591145

Before anyone says that the hotel room in the article looks fine, it is just a stock photo, not a photo of a real person in an actual quarantine hotel.

Posters urging the OP to escape are mad. I may have reservations about this whole isolation hotel thing but no one should be encouraged to break the law like that..

I seem to remember a certain Asian country ( S Korea, Taiwan) making travelers download an app which would ping if they left their homes. Something like that should be possible.

@MareofBeasttown
I have a feeling this is not lawful practice - as strange as that sounds..
So leaving the hotel should be an option. Unlawful imprisonment is what is actually happening.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58180307.amp

I might be being thick here but a few things I don't understand -

Why does it cost so much more than an average 10 night stay, I don't see how there's any more work for the staff / Hotel

And why, for that price, aren't people getting normal menu food?? Again, the room could be taken up by a non quarantinig person so it can't be that it's more work for the hotel??

I don't understand either MooChops89. Are these very grim cheap hotels that are used as tempory housing in non covid times? It's the only explanation I can think of for such poor quality food.

I like my food and having to pay for some of the examples here would upset me, a lot.

@MooChops89 The hotels have been booked out exclusively for quarantining guests so the government is having to pay for every single room. The cost also includes all the PCR tests that have to be done over the 11 day period.

I can’t see how this is more work for the staff either. If anything it’s easier because there is no daily cleaning and guests are confined to their rooms. I also don’t understand why people can’t have decent food! It’s ridiculous. There is no excuse for it.

Actually it's not the paying, it's having that as my only food option. I would cry and I'm not ashamed to say that.

@knittingaddict

Are these very grim cheap hotels that are used as tempory housing in non covid times? It's the only explanation I can think of for such poor quality food.

The two hotels mention in social media just up the page might not be genuine 5 star but they are certainly are not “grim” hotels either…