Set meal only when booking 3B&B & 1 dinner!

R

remey

Registered User
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Hi,

We booked one of these 3B&B & 1 dinner stays at a hotel recently.
They had the restaurant menu in the room and on display outside the restaurant in the hotel, so me being me i had already chosen what I'd order:). We booked our meal on the Sat evening for Sunday evening.
When we went in to the restaurant we were given a different menu which was a set menu as we had booked a 'special deal'. This menu had 3 starters, 3 main courses & 3 desserts. Main courses were chicken, pork chops or salmon. Not even a beef choice which I would think is very common choice for people.
We asked the waiter for the 'proper' menu and he said as we were part of a deal that was the only menu we could choose from. When we argued he said we could pay an extra €10 each to choose from the a la carte one.
We were quite annoyed, it was like we had been given the 'poor mans' menu while our neighbours dined on the nice one.
We called the manager over who reluctantly said she would give us the other menu to choose from. Our arguement was that we were paying almost €500 for the hotel room, had socialised in the hotel bar each night and had not been told when we booked (either the trip initialy or when we booked the restaurant) that we would only have a set menu to choose from. Especially in this economic climate, we did not expect to be asked for another €20. (Nothing to do with the actual money, its the principal really).

What do you think? Did you know that you only get a set meal when you book these deals? Do you think thats fair?
 
Fair or not, the hotel set the deal, which means that they get to decide on the rules. It probably did mention something about the set menu in teensy weensy writing somewhere. I sympathise with you, and thank you for highlighting this issue. Hotels might learn something from this, if AAM users start asking for specifics of the meal included before booking any of these deals.
 
To be honest, I have seen this in many hotels. I would think it is fairly common in Hotels to have a set menu with special deals. 3 choices is fairly limited allright, I think they usually have 5.

You dont go into specifics as to how many people made up the €500 hotel bill and what standard the hotel was - 3, 4 or 5 star. It is all relevant.
 
Thanks for feedback.
It was a 4* hotel and it was just the 2 of us. Hotel was lovely in fairness. No T's & C's at all, as in, we didnt have to sign anything until check out so set menu not mentioned.
I did think 3 choices was very limited. What got to us was that we chose Ireland for our mini break this year (actually...our only holiday-baby due in August!) and with all the recession talk and bargains etc you'd like to think that a hotel in a town which relies on tourism would not be so sneaky.
Fair enough though if this is the norm, I actually havent booked any of these special deals before.
 
I've booked a lot of these deals and in almost all cases there is a set menu, so it is wholly normal.

I do agree that not having a beef option is pretty poor but I certainly wouldn't consider it sneaky that your deal was for the set menu. I'm not sure that you are entitled to the best meal available at the hotel when they have only mentioned "dinner" in the offer.

You wouldn't be able to argue that you should be allowed sleep in the bridal/presidential suite for your 3 B&B's just because the hotel hadn't told you that the deal didn't apply to those rooms.

Fair play to you for compaining to the manager though, just goes to show that it's the squeaky wheel that get's the grease.
 
Hi mark74. Good point on the rooms!!
I suppose, having not gone on one of these deals before and the menu being displayed around the hotel that we were just disappointed to be handed the set menu.
At least we know if we book again. Still glad we had a whinge (even if we were very nice about it) and got the a la carte in the end.
 
I've been stung by this too. Got one of these deals in a Hilton hotel and was disgusted when it was only pasta on the set menu. None of the guests stayed for dinner, everyone ate elsewhere.

Best deal I ever got with dinner included is Hotel Westport. We had to ask the waiter twice to make sure we weren't mistaken in being able to order from the main menu. Good choice every night with items like duck, pheasant, steak to choose from.
 
Remey, yeah it can be a right pain when you're looking forward to a particular meal that you've seen on the a la carte and then it's not on the set menu.

Following on from Pebbledash's recommendation, Westport would seem to be the place to go, as when me and the OH went to the Atlantic Coast on one of their deals (2BB & 1D) it was one of the best meals I've had and there was plenty of choice. (I'm not affiliated with that or any other hotel by the way).
 
Would you believe we've spend most long weekends for about the last 9 years in Westport. Absolutely love the place and surrounding areas so we've been a couple of times this year and wanted a change of scenery. Recommend both places mentioned above though.
 
I stayed in Aherne's townhouse in youghal a couple of months ago on a 2bb+ 1d deal and was surprised to find that I could choose from their full a la carte menu with the only extra charge being for the lobster.

Normally I'd assume that the meal in a package is a set dinner or in some cases a certain amount can be credited off the a l carte.

p.s. - Thoroughly recommend Ahernes for value & quality. - Probably best value break I've had!
 
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