Work trip - no food in hotel!

[Boxingshibes]

I'm way for work for the week. I'm staying in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. It took me 4 hours to get here in v hot trains.
Room and hotel lovely but I went down to the bar/ restaurant and asked about dinner- to be told as they have an event on the kitchen is closed.
They offered me a free drink but apologised and said unfortunately there are no takeaways that deliver.
I'm on a meal allowance. I'm pissed off!
And I'm having to pay £200 for taxis for the. Grr
I'm hot hungry and annoyed. Aibu?

Yes but I misunderstood as it wasn't entirely clear.

But if a taxi company had jumped from £150.to £200 I would be looking around futher, considering a hire car (prob still less even with delivery).

None of which excuses hotels terrible behaviour.

This is why I always, always, travel with snacks. If I was dinner-less in a remote hotel I wouldn't be happy about it, but I definitely wouldn't go hungry.

Sometimes i travel for work and have been in a situation similar to op. I travel with a few cupasoups from now on. Doesn’t help now, but still.

I travel a lot for work, 2 weeks at a time and they pay my Meal Allowance 3 days before I leave. I tend to save this as it’s tax free being an allowance, and just eat like I would at home.

Not helpful for you now, but get some pot noodles, Musli bars, snacks and drinks in general. Can you do a shop when at your work location and then buy pre-made foods? Does the room have any cooking facilities?

And that taxi fare, can you not have a hire car issued to you? Or be given prepaid taxi vouchers? The £200 is crazy, I am hoping that for a week?

Otherwise going forward, a credit card you use just for work expenses might be a good idea. In the mean time, drink lots of water with ice and soon enough breakfast will come and you can go full English breakfast 😋

@Boxingshibes that hotel has been really hopeless letting you down

Shame it's so late. If someone phoned me and said they needed me to order them some food in this situation, I totally would.

I know this doesn't solve anything tonight OP, but if you have to travel for work regularly, your work really cant expect you to stump up for expenses. I'd insist your manager pay the taxi company with the corporate card or they give you a cash advance. It's not fair on you and your family's finances. We've had similar, and some of my employees just said sorry, they don't have cash, we need to make a plan. They're entirely right.

I don’t get it - 5 miles is nothing in a taxi …

That hotel doesn’t deserve guests, this is one occasion where it is totally legitimate to tear them apart on trip advisor and tell management you refuse to stay there again and they will need to work out prepaying taxis for you or you’re going on a stress leave break to recover from being starved by your work in the middle of nowhere without extra funds to pay for extra taxis for food. That’s shocking.

It's £200 for a week's worth of taxis to the barracks and back.

There must be a member of staff on duty OP, even if there's no kitchen staff there. For a start if there was a fire/emergency overnight they'd need somone responsible for evacuating people! I'd be telling whoever is telling you 'no, there's no staff' that they are a functioning human (presumably!) and they're capable of making you a sodding sandwich or some toast!

What do the people who live on the army base eat? I can't believe they couldn't give you a sandwich or something?
I thought those places had proper catering kitchens and canteens where surely someone could just pick bread and ham or cheese? Even if it's shut for cooked meals and not manned.

I would consider stealing the helicopter and talking it to the nearest Nandos. That's got a playing field next to it? 🤣

Not helpful for your current stay but please complain to the hotel booking service. They should be ensuring that the hotels they use are able to offer and maintain a certain level of service.

Are you able to submit an expenses claim for the first few days of your stay and the balance afterwards?

OP

Sorry I can't help with things this morning, I hope the breakfast is good.

One of my friends has a very restricted diet. Any hotel he stays in he asks for 'a fridge for medical reasons' and takes his own food.

Personally I think it is disgusting they cannot make you a slice of toast or a plate from the event.

She’s in a hotel, not on an army base.

The problem you have is the staff at hotels rarely know the laws and legalities. Unless otherwise told then arriving at a hotel with am implied dinner service then you expect dinner

To be serving food to a private event and refusing you service is deplorable. If they couldn’t offer make you a sandwich and with no deliveries in the vicinity, they should have cancelled your booking.

I would insist on a nice Airbnb cottage next time. You would then be prepared to cook food or pick up a take out on your taxi ride to your accomodation

so how were you planning pay for your hotel dinners all week?

Even if I could work out a delivery I can't really afford it. I'm the sole earner so always eat in the hotel wherever I get sent. The taxis for the week is £50 more than last November so wasn't expecting that. I don't really have the luxury of takeaways as my family also need food. I'm sorry this has taken a drip feed but not everyone who goes on work trips have disposable income to cover surprise extras

No idea why you would agree to any trips or covering any work expenses without having a work card? I wouldn’t and I could afford to pay and be reimbursed but it’s the point of the matter. No way I’d do it.

It did look as if the OP had also asked at the army base unless you read the post a couple of times to clarify what had been said by the Op.

Go somewhere cheaper with the mate and get food tonight.

A lot of places don’t provide a work card, you use your own then claim it back on expenses. Presumably OP is in quite a high paying position. My dad has worked several companies and done work trips and all of them have done it this way.

Your DH should pursue PIP. Kids should be getting jobs if they don’t get a student loan and aren’t entitled to any benefits.

OP if you have other workmates at the hotel I’d suggest texting one and seeing if they have any spare food.

I was clarifying for the previous poster, as she hadn’t realised.

The hotel has messed up here. They should now be bending over backwards to give you a hamper / goodie bag / bottle of wine etc (not just a discount on your bill as your work is presumably the beneficiary of that). If this is going to be an issue on any other night you’re staying with them they need to tell you now.

Your employer has also messed up. It’s grossly unfair you are so out of pocket and would be a very simple fix to pre-pay or invoice for a weeks worth of taxis, or to give you a prepaid cashcard for the incidentals on the trip.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing (well maybe not if you’re hangry) but wonder if this hotel (wedding venue vibes?) is too swanky and one further away but closer to a town with food options would be better economy next time (even with more expensive taxis)? And absolutely stock up on meals today - a good chunk of your meal allowance should roll over (but tell your manager you’re doing this given the hotels failings).

Speak to your manager and ask her to pay the weeks taxi fares upfront using the work credit card.

I would hope any of my staff in this position would call or message me and I would order them an Uber Eats using the work card or my own and I would claim back.

The reason why it’s particularly bad of the hotel is that it can’t be the first time this has happened to someone, if they’re in the middle of nowhere and know that nobody delivers food, if they can’t serve food, they need to make it really clear prior to the guest’s arrival.

You should have gone to the Officers Mess on base.

3 course meal £3.50.