B&B - Is 8am early for breakfast??!

[HoneyFlowers]

I'm currently staying in a small B&B in Cambridgeshire and when I arrived I was asked what time do I need breakfast in the morning. I smiled and said 8am please thinking he'd be delighted it's not early. Man then screws his face up and asks can we do 8:15am? I explained politely that I am here to attend a course and I need to leave before 9am. Man responded that his wife doesn't get out of bed if there's a 7 on the clock so I agreed 8:15am but will need to be a quick breakfast. I then left the house to get dinner up town. When I returned the wife met me for first time and wanted to know who I was, why I'm here, what's the course, where is it, how long to commute there, how long the course is etc etc. When I explained she reluctantly said "Oh we better do breakfast at 8am then", I said thank you and I'll be leaving 8:45am at latest. So following morning I have breakfast and I go back upstairs to put my bag together and I'm tying my shoe laces up at 8:46am and she knocks on room door to ask why have I not left yet?!!!!
Would anyone else find this totally annoying?!

I hope your course is about how to be more assertive with people you are paying for a service.

@PlasticineMeg

The overbearing owner is a bit annoying yes but I hate Early Morning Snobs who think 8 is ‘not early’. It bloody well is!

It really isn't, especially if you have to get out of your accommodation to go to work. We aren't all staying away overnight on our holidays, and there's nothing snobby about it.

@ChiefWiggumsBoy

I hope your course is about how to be more assertive with people you are paying for a service.

Really difficult though to be assertive in a b&b where you are living in close proximity in someone's home and also when you're short of time and trying to get out the door!

I definitely agree that running a B&B really is not for them - although does the husband never do any of the breakfast cooking/prep (or is he 'FoH')?

Maybe they're used to holiday makers who like a lie in before pootling off around the area late morning and afternoon - but even tourists will often like to get a good early-ish start, to make the most of their days.

If you'd said 7, I'd understand them maybe haggling for a bit later - although 7 is not unreasonably early - but 8 is normally in the middle of standard expected breakfast time when running a B&B/guest house, not before the beginning of it!

At the very least, they should prominently include 'Breakfast served from 8:30-10:00/9:00-10:30 (or whatever) in their advertising. That way, people who like to start their day later will be greatly attracted by being able to have a lie-in and still not miss breakfast, whilst people who like to get started at an earlier/more 'normal' time will know not to waste their or the hosts' time by booking there.

Back in the olden days, when you phoned up the tourist board to send you a brochure, we got a brochure of Blackpool accommodation sent to us (for our honeymoon, no less!) and we saw a place decked out in Rocky Horror colours that proudly proclaimed their 'party' atmosphere and the fact that you could get a cheeseburger at 3am. Just a hunch, but I'm guessing their guests probably weren't the earliest up for breakfast.

At the other end of the spectrum, there was a place where they were at great pains to stress that, if you were after a party-style atmosphere (iirc, I think they used the phrase 'knees up') and basically any kind of fun time whatsoever, it really wasn't the place for you. Maybe it was run by Sister Assumpta and designed as a retreat for those wishing to do penance, who knows.

Neither of these places were what we were looking for at all - and we found a lovely place almost exactly half-way in the middle of them - but I'm sure they each did fit the bill for plenty of compatible guests. Everybody knew where they stood and didn't end up booking somewhere unsuitable that would upset them or their hosts.

The overbearing owner is a bit annoying yes but I hate Early Morning Snobs who think 8 is ‘not early’. It bloody well is!

It might be for you, but it isn't commonly early. Schools and most workplaces start by 9am (or before), so if people are having to have breakfast, get ready and then travel in, of course 8am is a 'standard' time to have breakfast.

I'm a night owl and frequently up into the early hours, but I don't try to claim that anybody going to bed by 10 or 11pm is somehow a snob going ridiculously early, as these are very standard bedtimes for a great many adults and work well with common working/daily active schedules.

Sounds awful OP, tell us where it is so we can all avoid!!

The b&b owners sounds several slices short of a full loaf.

Remember that you're paying for a service. They are mot doing you a personal favour.

I'd be like "thanks for your recommendations, I'll bear them in mind, sorry can't talk more - I'm just on the phone/have to male a call/have work to do before the course begins/whatever"
And, "No, I didn't eat in [place recommended by weird b&b owner] as I fancied trying xyz/wanted a curry/met up with others from the course, sorry must dash, arranged a zoom with family/pet cat/alien life form and I'm already late"

@PlasticineMeg

The overbearing owner is a bit annoying yes but I hate Early Morning Snobs who think 8 is ‘not early’. It bloody well is!

Really? On a working day?

@HoneyFlowers Come on OP, this is ridiculous. Please move to a Premier Inn or a Holiday Inn. Don't let them treat you like this

This is why I avoid B&Bs. Too high a chance of unexpected weirdness.
I had a couple of British holidays with my parents in my mid-20s, and they always chose B&Bs, and they were always weird as heck. My parents seemed to love the quirks and awkward small talk, but I hated it. As we were travelling as a 3, and I couldn't share a room with my parents, I'd get the crappy single room, usually up in the rafters.

I get that people choose them because they are often a fair bit cheaper, but give me a Premier Inn any day.

Okay, so I have left now... Hooray! But woman wanted to give me breakfast at 11am... I said "no, I want to go sightseeing before I leave to drive home and we eventually agreed 8:30am but in her words "why so early?" She wanted to know my every move, my every moment of timing down to minutes for my schedule to justify the 8:30am breakfast. I go to breakfast at 8:35 (to be deliberately annoying) and she stood chatting for 20 minutes about train network nearby and no mention of getting breakfast going!!! Anyway after breakfast I threw everything in car and left asap, even then she was still knocking on my bedroom door to ask questions about my schedule.

The thing that wound me up was being asked "Why so early for breakfast" when I had an important course to attend that I've driven miles for" it totally threw me off that I am an inconvenience and I need to try and keep on her good side.

Bloody hell. They would be getting a poor Trip Advisor review from me and no return visit. In fact, I doubt they get many return visits at all if that’s how she treats all her guests. And for what it’s worth, I think 8am is fine. When we went to Scotland last time and stayed in the most wonderful B&B ever, they did breakfast 8-9am which I thought was a fab time.

@PlasticineMeg

The overbearing owner is a bit annoying yes but I hate Early Morning Snobs who think 8 is ‘not early’. It bloody well is!

It's not though. Most office based jobs start at 9, schools start around 9 so most people will be eating then or earlier. Obviously some jobs and shifts are different but they're a minority rather than a majority.

I have read reviews and they're glowing about what wonderful hosts they are, so maybe it's me that is grumpy???

But yeah, no to B&Bs from me as well. Give me a Premier Inn where I'm one of hundreds of guests and no one talks to me after check in!

And this is exactly why I never stay in a B&B! Been there, got the T-shirt with bonkers landladies! One place asked us what time we wanted breakfast on the Sunday morning? We said 8.45 and they then proceeded to tell us breakfast was at 8am every day 🤷🏼‍♀️
Premier inn/travel lodge type place for me every time now

God, why do grown adults put up with this. You actually went to pizza express because she told you weren’t allowed to eat anywhere else? Sorry but that’s utterly pathetic. At least leave a review somewhere to warn other wet lettuces they shouldn’t stay there.

My Mum has a lovely small B&B. Breakfast from about 6am - til 9.30am. Whatever the guest chooses. She offers bacon / sausage sandwiches if people want to leave earlier than 6am.

To be fair in town there really isn't much choice to eat out, it's this one place which I already ate out at which she was most disgusted about and pizza express. To be honest, I actually fancied eating pasta anyway after she mentioned it...

Years ago I ran a B and B. I had a party of 10 sailors who wanted cooked breakfast at 5 am as they needed to catch the tide! 8 am is not early for breakfast! We served from 8.30 to 9.30 but if an early breakfast was requested, we just did it. At least it means you can get in the rooms early.

You are not a guest .

I think you need to leave an honest & fair review on whatever platforms are available. It sounds as though it's a nice B&B with this one problem. But that might not be a problem for others ...

However, I would find the questioning intrusive and an 8am breakfast only just early enough. So I'd be someone who'd be very grateful for an honest review of pros and cons.

It's why I tend to prefer staying in anonymous chain hotels in cities. Although I've stayed in some wonderful B&Bs. But I'd find the interrogation about my schedule to be very intrusive.

I would leave a carefully worded tripadvisor OP full of euphemisms!

"Ideal for those who don't need an early, or even normal working day, start.
Very sociable landlady who will greet you at the door EVERY time you enter and have a good old chinwag about what you be been up to that day.
Very sociable breakfast where the landlady will chat to you about your plans for the day. Very helpful landlady, likes to plan guests evenings for them!"

@CuddlyCactus

I think if she doesn't like getting up before 8am, running a B&B possibly isn't the best job for her..

Surely they have people staying all the time who have to be out early, and would like breakfast before they leave?