AIBU to mention misleading advice from airb&b host in review?

[BlackFluffy]

Booked airb&b in remote town in the mountains. Host was meeting us there so to keep her updated I told her I was popping to supermarket on the way. She told me “no need! There is a shop on the village!”

I told her we needed essentials as we had nothing, she told me I could buy everything in this shop. I was hesitant but she really pushed for me to use local shop now I knew I was taking a leap of faith as there was a 45 minute drive to get to the nearest supermarket once we hit the village but she seemed so confident I trusted that she knew her stuff.

We got there after a rather sketchy drive through the mountains and this “shop” turned out to be nothing more than a pantry at the back of the village bar. All she had was some veggies she’d grown herself and some cheese she had made! I needed milk, eggs, break … chocolate!! She saw the look on my face and asked what I was looking for so I told her bread and milk was pretty essential as we had nothing with us. She translates this to the elderly shopkeeper who then runs off to get us bread from her house!! Obviously it was very kind of this woman but the bread wasn’t the kind of bread you could toast for breakfast!!

so our first night was spent with no food, no milk for a coffee and no breakfast. We had to drive out first thing 45 mins down the mountain on empty stomachs for groceries.

Later it became apparent that the host had pursuaded locals that tourists would be good for their businesses in order to get them onside.

They were all lovely and more than generous and I think it was a cultural misunderstanding as to what counts as “essential” but WIBU to mention this in the review? I feel guilty but it really did ruin our first night there.

@BlackFluffy , I'd expect a shop to sell bread and milk but I would not be surprised if the bread was not standard supermarket bread for making toast.
You knew you'd be hungry at some point so you could have taken long life milk and some bread.

Given the remoteness of the location and your unfamiliarity with the local language, you ought to have been better prepared.

If she told you that you could ‘buy everything in the shop’ then that is misleading when you’d told her you needed to do a supermarket shop.

I would really appreciate you leaving an honest review about what was for sale there (it doesn’t have to be bitchy).

I think YABU. It’s on you to do your research.

This sounds good. You could add there is a small local shop but that people shouldn't rely on it.

Homemade bread and cheese sounds wonderful for breakfast

No way would I go to a remote place without supplies. It was very unhelpful of the owner to tell you the local shop would suffice, when it definitely wouldn't. I would put something in the review so others aren't inconvenienced.

@Rachelshair , but the local bar did sell things like milk and bread. It just wasn't the sort of bread @BlackFluffy wanted.

If I went to a village in the UK I would not expect to find more than the basics in the shop there regardless of what the owner said, and the opening hours would probably not be the same as a supermarket's.

Who would turn up at self-catering accommodation with no food?

They didn’t sell milk! Apparantly the butcher did but he wasn’t open!

I don't understand why you'd book a holiday at the back of beyond and want exactly what you have at home for brealfast.

Surely having what the locals have is part of the trip.

Not everywhere is like the UK or within 10 minutes of a supermarket even in the UK!
Just mention that the supermarket is xkm away and the local shop only sells very limited items and that’s it.

If the host was not British, then her definition of essentials might be the local essentials, @BlackFluffy .

Oh and I don’t know where you were, but lots of places don’t use fresh milk like brits do- cereals for breakfast not such a thing, long life milk the norm.
Have you never been abroad before or just stuck to big tourist destinations?

That sounds like an amazing breakfast to be enjoyed in a remote mountain village.

If you really felt a 45 minute drive "with empty stomachs" was necessary, there are a million holidays that would be better suited for you. Go and embrace the place and its food and culture or go to Benidorm (or one of the many amazing places in UK).

It's not hard to see why foreigners dislike British tourists so much..

Honestly this type of thing would really annoy me, especially if you have travelled far to get there. I have left hotels at 4am before to do a sunrise hike up a mountain, so being told I could do my shopping locally the night before (and then not being able to) woud ruin the next morning as I'd have to go shopping first thing instead of the mountain hike I had planned! Even worse that it's 45 mins away - what was the host thinking?! Or worse still if you had young children with you..
I would just put something like - Make sure t stop at X before heading up as there are limited options for food essentials.

She was better prepared, she had identified a local supermarket en route and was fully planning to stop there and buy all the essentials needed. The b&b owner told her very strongly that this was unnecessary and she could get everything from the shop in the village.

This isn’t her turning up having vaguely heard about a local shop and assuming it would have everything- it’s about someone giving her a clearly incorrect steer even when she double checked.

The shop did sell essentials. The locals don't see butter, toast or fresh milk as essentials. Neither does most of the world's population. OP just needed breakfast until the butcher opened, and was offered bread an cheese, and there was a market too.

It's not "speciality" cheese when it's what's produced and sold locally. It's just cheese.

I'd love to know where this place is. It sounds amazing.

@TallagallaPenguin , I don't agree with you. If you know you are going somewhere you don't know, you take at least the bare minimum with you.
As I pp, a local person's idea of essentials won't necessarily be the same as the OP's.

Exactly.

This was in Europe - I am sure milk, eggs and bread would be considered relatively normal here.
Anyway the point isn't that they didn't sell these items, it's that the host said OP could do a proper shop locally for essentials - which wasn't the case!

I agree, and so did the OP - her exact plan was to take along essentials from the shop she planned to visit. She was strongly persuaded out of this by her host. The village shop didn’t even sell bread - just veggies and cheese. The bread was fetched from the person’s house.

It’s completely reasonable to mention in the review what you can buy locally and what you can’t, so if someone else is told equally enthusiastically by the host that they have definitely absolutely no need at all to shop anywhere else, they can calibrate it against her information.

I told her I was popping to supermarket on the way. She told me "no need! There is a shop on the village!"

I told her we needed essentials as we had nothing, she told me I could buy everything in this shop. I was hesitant but she really pushed for me to use local shop now I knew I was taking a leap of faith as there was a 45 minute drive to get to the nearest supermarket once we hit the village but she seemed so confident I trusted that she knew her stuff.

@TallagallaPenguin , I'm too organised to think that a remote village shop would stock essentials and I would have packed long-life milk, eggs and coffee.
The shop might have sold the items but if you don't speak the local language you might struggle to communicate your needs.

I don't take people's word for things if I need to be sure. Often people say things that aren't true - not deliberately but to reassure you. People often don't really listen to you but answer based on a few keywords from what you said.

I wouldn't go down the misled route. I would be factual in my review. So I would write in the review that the "village shop" is very limited and the nearest supermarket is a long drive away so it is a good idea to stock up at the supermarket on your way in.

I wouldn't go down the misled route either. I would praise the local produce in the bar shop but say that you need to take essentials like milk, bread and chocolate/eggs/teabags/coffee/whatever with you regardless of what the host might tell you because the nearest supermarket is 45 miles away.

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