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...

Putting up the cost without warning and profiteering is unreasonable. Not providing nutritious and adequate food is not.

Someone is making a lot of money out of this. That should be stopped.

Don't get me wrong, if an entrepreneur offers luxury "hotel hampers" or whatever and makes a fortune out of willing travellers stuck in their room, good on them.

But the "food" rip-off and the shitty rooms at extortionate prices is not acceptable.

They might as well charge you for the oxygen you are breathing, or the water you are using to flush the loo, why not.

Its disgraceful. Appalling.

I'm so sorry about your dad.

Sorry double negative, not providing good food is unreasonable.

[quote Peanutsandchilli]@MauveMagnolia where the heck are you getting that it doesn't even cover the room cost from? I've just checked the best room at a central London Travelodge (let's face it, that's the sort of hotel it is) and 11 nights, over a bank holiday weekend, with breakfast, is £1.5k. Someone is making a small fortune.[/quote]
Add the cost of all meals, the transport to the hotel, the security guards etc and you’ll reach a price close to or in excess of what the OP paid

There is something so deeply humane about leaving a grieving young person to sit out their grief in a place that looks and feels just like a prison. I am so sorry op.

If you can DM me I will send some proper food, fruit and anything you need.

I am truly sorry about the disgusting food. It made me feel sick looking at it. It is a bootcamp style hell hole. Call the Daily Mail they are brilliant at this kind of stuff and will soon have this on the front page.

You have the support of MN and all of us op

*INHUMANE!! duh! Sorry

Surely they can staff a lot less heavily as they don't need to cater for breakfasts and evening meals, they don't need to do as much housekeeping, reception won't be anywhere near as busy because they know when people are arriving and people aren't coming in and out all the time. Sure they maybe need some security but I bet they are running way less hotel staff then they usually do.

Someone is definitely on to a money spinner here. People are not objecting to the necessity of quarantining, but it's the same old story of the Tories and their mates coming up with deals that make a lot of money for someone while the rest of us have to pay through the nose for the privilege of eating something that looks like it was shat out. If you think someone isn't making a lot of money off this somewhere, you're very naive.

@SarahBop well said. It would take great courage, but you are right, it is completely unacceptable to treat people like this.

and the room is not being cleaned daily, bed not changed...If nothing else the costs are obviously less!

Except the Canary Islands have a lower minimum wage and the hotels do not need to leave the rooms empty for 3 days and then deep clean them between guests, or have additional security staff to chaperone exercise and deter absconders. So costs are not "obviously" less at all.

Condolences for the loss of your father. It must be hard to have Covid restrictions on top of grieving

Yes that’s an appalling standard of food. All I can say is that it’s only for a week and half. You’ll be out soon and eating fresh fruit and veg by next weekend.
Thank you for getting the pictures out though. Maybe it will help improve the standards.

I quite like the look of the curry. Can you order pizza to mix it up a bit ? They should be offering fruit with breakfast

@MiddleClassProblem

Your dessert looks like payasam. It’s one of my dad’s favourites.

It looks like the hotel either have an Indian restaurant or more likely they are outsourcing to traditional Indian restaurants where food is cheap so they can get the extra income from isolation contracts.

I thought it was rhubarb and custard or some sort of rhubarb fool! Given the government is constantly telling us to eat at least 5 a day and to eat healthily, the food is appalling (not to mention downright unappetising sludge!)

My condolences to you OP and thank you for all the work you do as a nurse. The government might not appreciate it, but we do.

@MiddleClassProblem - I am sure it is a popular dish in some cultures, but they really should not be providing such food to British people stuck in a rubbish hotel for 2 weeks. Surely they could tailor to British tastes? I wouldn't eat that.

You can put up with a crap meal once in a while. Even the longest flight doesn't last that long and everybody survives. (and you take supplies for the kids).

but 11 days with that muck for £2285?!?

I'm sorry for your loss op.

Really sorry you now have to deal with this on top of it.

The quarantine hotels, for the price people are forced to pay, yous at least think as this is a guaranteed earner for them, they would try to make it nice for people. Ffs.

At the price they are paying to be forced to stay there, can they at least offer decent/a few choices of food?

I'm so sorry for your loss!

That does look like substandard food- is that mince and rolls for breakfast?

The breakfast looks like some kind of pav bhaji and the dessert like seviyan kheer. Neither of those are horrible dishes when not produced for cheap mass catering, but it does seem odd that they are serving almost exclusively Indian food, unless the OP requested a special diet.

Condolences for your loss OP.

[quote PurpleVerbena]@MiddleClassProblem - I am sure it is a popular dish in some cultures, but they really should not be providing such food to British people stuck in a rubbish hotel for 2 weeks. Surely they could tailor to British tastes? I wouldn't eat that.[/quote]
I think you really want to rephrase that rather than implying who you think is truly British and who is not. Unless you really mean it.

As I said, the hotel has probably outsourced to a cheap, local, traditional Indian restaurant. Sure it’s not “traditional English” food (although plenty of food is now very multicultural, I hope you don’t eat pasta) and there will be some that don’t like it. I never said anything about who should like it or not, only what it is and where it looked like it came from. Basically it’s just about the hotel making money and ticking boxes. I’ve had to book quarantine hotels in Canada for work colleagues and I was able to check the mechs and delivery options before hand but the they are not being so helpful here.

Yanbu about the food. For the amount you are paying it should be a decent standard.

However, the isolation and quarantine rules, and cost thereof, are the cost of travelling in a pandemic, regardless of your reason for travelling.

Breakfast does look like pav bhaji. One of my favourites! The curries look OK too. It looks like quite a South Indian focused menu which would suit me but not others I imagine.

OP did you request a specific type of food or are they serving this to everyone?

That hotel is clearly ripping people off and to serve that brown and beige sludge and call it food. Where are the vegetables and fruit? I am so sorry for your loss Op, and then to have come home and pay a fortune for 11 days in Wentworth Prison,, disgraceful.

@MiddleClassProblem - no I don't eat pasta - absolutely hate it. Disgusting slimy rubbish. OK maybe I should have said 'English' people!

I don’t know what hotel you are in but what I find very unfair is some of the hotels used are ones that are usually very good and would never get away with charging that amount while serving that food to their usual paying customers. Oh

[quote PurpleVerbena]@MiddleClassProblem - I am sure it is a popular dish in some cultures, but they really should not be providing such food to British people stuck in a rubbish hotel for 2 weeks. Surely they could tailor to British tastes? I wouldn't eat that.[/quote]
Jesus Christ🤨 you may want to namechange after that comment.

I'm sorry for your loss OP and I'm sorry about the conditions you have to live under for these 10 days but it is a necessary evil. People have proven time and time again that they can't be trusted to self isolate and now others have to pay the price for their selfishness and stupidity.