Turkey and Tinsel break without the Turkey.

[Netcurtainnelly]

If you went on a 4 day Turkey and Tinsel break, would you expect to actually have the Turkey for your Xmas day meal?
The hotel ran out of Turkey early and you had to have the alternative meat.

Aibu to feel this was very bad planning. They must have known the guest numbers?

Also they are doing the breaks from now right up.until Xmas including Xmas itself. Im wondering if it will be the same every week?
Was it just this week?
There are about 6 or 7 weeks in total, they have Turkey advertised?

I would be expect Turkey as it was advertised but consider all other meat an upgrade!

I only eat turkey at Christmas. It's inoffensive but not exactly the tastiest.
To me, Christmas dinner is all about the sides!

I'd think it was a sign of a badly run hotel, yes. Though if everything else was OK, then I wouldn't necessarily think it warranted money off. That would depend on cost. If it was very expensive I'd feel that everything should be as expected. If it was a cheapie then I'd expect there would be things not the best, but 'good enough', which alternative meat would be.

Anyone else. Anyone working the kitchens of a hotel?

I work in commercial kitchens. It sounds like very poor planning. Was it plated or self serve?

It's because of bird flu - there's a really serious strain going around and so there is much less poultry/fowl available than usual. I wouldn't blame the hotel, it's a supply chain issue at the worst possible time of the year.

Im in the south west and we don't have any supply issues. Lidls freezers are also well stocked up too.

Well you are fortunate then, but I don't see how it doesn't mean there aren't supply issues elsewhere? It's a genuine national issue, otherwise it wouldn't be reported in all of the media - here's just one example from today:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/22/bird-flu-christmas-turkey-poultry-supply-uk

They saw that every year?

So it's all made up then? Just an annual excuse? People aren't literally going out of business this year over an unprecedented viral infection? Ok then, you must know all of the top people at Bernard Matthews to make that assertion...

Likely to be a resolved problem moving forward. They’ve probably over filled plates if it’s quite new.

Marketing ploy to get people to buy their turkeys early maybe.

Self Service.

Are people pre-booking their meal choices? As if they are then it’s bad planning. But otherwise, they probably allow for certain numbers of people to make particular choices - eg 100 people, 20 veggie, 20 beef and 50 turkey, based on previous averages. Mostly, these pre-Christmas Turkey & Tinsel things are on the cheap for coach parties and the hotel can’t afford to have enough food in for all eventualities as there would be waste so they go with averages.

Normally if you go to a pub or restaurant for a ‘festive dinner’, then you have to pre-book your meal choices so they get exactly the right amount prepared.