Why Me?

[Breakfast Diva]

Do people with dietary restrictions all know each other and send mass e-mails to come and stay with me???
Yes, I do go out of my way to accommodate (and that won't change), but NO, I don't advertise it! I'm just curious WHY I get hit more than the next innkeeper with this stuff? These are all reservations that came from finding us on the internet, not referrals.
In the next couple of weeks I've got:
two different sets of vegans, for a total of 4 nights
A 3 night reservation: "She is allergic to Asiago cheese. We prefer that any milk be 1% or less. She is not a big seafood fan (just in case). We don't eat raspberries, blackberries, honeydew, cantaloupe, kiwi or watermelon. No onions, peppers or scallions."
A 2 night reservation: "please limit the use of milk products (if used in baking we'll be more than happy to eat it anyways!), although probiotic yougurt is always appreciated"
I'm just whining because I seem to be a magnet....no other innkeeper I know in this area gets this. Some of those above are not a big deal, but I really get tired of not being able to just do a regular breakfast sometimes!

 

[Proud Texan]

They wouldn't pull that kind of crap at a regular hotel OR at restaurant. Perhaps you're to an extent enabling this kind of behavior. I would give them one or two choices when they made their reservations and if THAT still wasn't good enough, I might suggest they bring their own food and discount the room or charging them more for a "Special" breakfast. It does cost you more to prepare that weird stuff and you shouldn't have to eat the costs.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

They wouldn't pull that kind of crap at a regular hotel OR at restaurant. Perhaps you're to an extent enabling this kind of behavior. I would give them one or two choices when they made their reservations and if THAT still wasn't good enough, I might suggest they bring their own food and discount the room or charging them more for a "Special" breakfast. It does cost you more to prepare that weird stuff and you shouldn't have to eat the costs..

It's just so curious why this place draws them! I don't even know what probiotic yogurt is!

 

[user 26]

aside from the vegans, the 'restrictions' aren't really much to worry about.
and as for the vegans, i'm sorry but they are going to have some very basic breakfast! nuts and berries and granola. being a well-nourished vegan is expensive. i know this from having a family member who eats this way. not to be confused with vegetarian ... make sure they are truly vegan and won't say 'i'll have some eggs' when they see them. that makes me mad when someone says vegan 'but' after you go out of your way to have things just for them.
by the way, i eat probiotic yogurt. stonyfields. it's no big deal.

 

[gillumhouse]

They wouldn't pull that kind of crap at a regular hotel OR at restaurant. Perhaps you're to an extent enabling this kind of behavior. I would give them one or two choices when they made their reservations and if THAT still wasn't good enough, I might suggest they bring their own food and discount the room or charging them more for a "Special" breakfast. It does cost you more to prepare that weird stuff and you shouldn't have to eat the costs..

It's just so curious why this place draws them! I don't even know what probiotic yogurt is!
.

#1 - Your reputation as a wonderful innkeeper (they can tell you are teh best in the area)
#2 - the area you are in

 

[user 26]

ps ... THIS is the place to vent for sure! didn't mean to minimize that.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

aside from the vegans, the 'restrictions' aren't really much to worry about.
and as for the vegans, i'm sorry but they are going to have some very basic breakfast! nuts and berries and granola. being a well-nourished vegan is expensive. i know this from having a family member who eats this way. not to be confused with vegetarian ... make sure they are truly vegan and won't say 'i'll have some eggs' when they see them. that makes me mad when someone says vegan 'but' after you go out of your way to have things just for them.
by the way, i eat probiotic yogurt. stonyfields. it's no big deal..

Thanks for letting me vent. I've actually become quite adept at all this, it's just a pain. The vegans will get a 4 course breakfast which will change each day.
Curious though...would you actually request probiotic or 1% milk (we use 2%) if you were making a reservation? I'm just amazed at how people want everything the same as what they have at home.
I see it all the time in traveling overseas. The mostly American tourist who belly aches and wants everything the way it is in the U.S. instead of sitting back and enjoying how others live, eat and play. One of our favorite things to do in a foreign country is to go to a local grocery store and go up and down every aisle and look at all the different foods. It's fascinating and we end up buying all sorts of unusual snack foods to take with us on our journey. It's a hoot.

 

[user 26]

breakfast diva, your name says it all! seriously, i don't know what your place is like - is it upscale and luxury style? does your website say anything about breakfast and what you can accommodate? or are there reviews out there that say this about you? just wondering .....?

 

[YellowSocks]

Any yogurt with live cultures is probiotic. We tend to think of bacteria as bad (hence, anti-biotics), but in actuality there are many kinds of good bacteria, including that which makes yogurt. Someone coined the word probiotic to make the distinction between the two kinds.
Your intestinal tract relies on bacteria to finish off the food your body didn't process. [A large portion of excrement consists of dead bacteria.] So if you take a lot of antibiotics you can really mess up your digestive tract, but eating yogurt helps it.
[You also have millions of bacteria on your skin that live on your sweat.... this is a GOOD thing as they help fight you infection and disease. You WANT them you on. That's why it's OK to use antibiotic soap on your hands, but not in the shower as a shower gel.]
Septic systems... same idea.
Thus ends today's science lesson... :wink:
=)
Kk.

 

[Copperhead]

aside from the vegans, the 'restrictions' aren't really much to worry about.
and as for the vegans, i'm sorry but they are going to have some very basic breakfast! nuts and berries and granola. being a well-nourished vegan is expensive. i know this from having a family member who eats this way. not to be confused with vegetarian ... make sure they are truly vegan and won't say 'i'll have some eggs' when they see them. that makes me mad when someone says vegan 'but' after you go out of your way to have things just for them.
by the way, i eat probiotic yogurt. stonyfields. it's no big deal..

Thanks for letting me vent. I've actually become quite adept at all this, it's just a pain. The vegans will get a 4 course breakfast which will change each day.
Curious though...would you actually request probiotic or 1% milk (we use 2%) if you were making a reservation? I'm just amazed at how people want everything the same as what they have at home.
I see it all the time in traveling overseas. The mostly American tourist who belly aches and wants everything the way it is in the U.S. instead of sitting back and enjoying how others live, eat and play. One of our favorite things to do in a foreign country is to go to a local grocery store and go up and down every aisle and look at all the different foods. It's fascinating and we end up buying all sorts of unusual snack foods to take with us on our journey. It's a hoot.
.

I see it all the time in traveling overseas. The mostly American tourist who belly aches and wants everything the way it is in the U.S. instead of sitting back and enjoying how others live, eat and play. One of our favorite things to do in a foreign country is to go to a local grocery store and go up and down every aisle and look at all the different foods. It's fascinating and we end up buying all sorts of unusual snack foods to take with us on our journey. It's a hoot.

You are correct..it is mostly Americans that demand special treatment. I recall a most humble gentleman from England request a special diet, he was so worried his request was too overboard... his was no nuts!

 

[GeorgiaGirl]

aside from the vegans, the 'restrictions' aren't really much to worry about.
and as for the vegans, i'm sorry but they are going to have some very basic breakfast! nuts and berries and granola. being a well-nourished vegan is expensive. i know this from having a family member who eats this way. not to be confused with vegetarian ... make sure they are truly vegan and won't say 'i'll have some eggs' when they see them. that makes me mad when someone says vegan 'but' after you go out of your way to have things just for them.
by the way, i eat probiotic yogurt. stonyfields. it's no big deal..

Thanks for letting me vent. I've actually become quite adept at all this, it's just a pain. The vegans will get a 4 course breakfast which will change each day.
Curious though...would you actually request probiotic or 1% milk (we use 2%) if you were making a reservation? I'm just amazed at how people want everything the same as what they have at home.
I see it all the time in traveling overseas. The mostly American tourist who belly aches and wants everything the way it is in the U.S. instead of sitting back and enjoying how others live, eat and play. One of our favorite things to do in a foreign country is to go to a local grocery store and go up and down every aisle and look at all the different foods. It's fascinating and we end up buying all sorts of unusual snack foods to take with us on our journey. It's a hoot.
.

Curious though...would you actually request probiotic or 1% milk (we use 2%) if you were making a reservation? I'm just amazed at how people want everything the same as what they have at home.

No, I wouldn't.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

breakfast diva, your name says it all! seriously, i don't know what your place is like - is it upscale and luxury style? does your website say anything about breakfast and what you can accommodate? or are there reviews out there that say this about you? just wondering .....?.

breakfast diva, your name says it all! seriously, i don't know what your place is like - is it upscale and luxury style? does your website say anything about breakfast and what you can accommodate? or are there reviews out there that say this about you? just wondering .....?

As we see it, we are "luxury for the middle class". We are not the BMWs Mercedes,Jaguires, although we do get them, but we are more Toyota, Honda, SUV crowd. We are a romantic getaway so the majority of our guests are celebrating something.
We are rustic in the good sense of the term, yet we offer luxuries you would usually find at a very upscale place for more money. We are in the coast region, yet are rural and only about 1 mile to the beach and about an 8 minute drive to our nearest small coastal town which is basically a fishing village. No chain departments stores, no big restaurants, mostly mom & pop stuff. Our rates range from $145 to $190 and all rooms have fireplaces, jacuzzi tubs (3 of them are double jacuzzis), private decks and we deliver "a 4 course sumptuous breakfast to your door".
We don't currently have a breakfast page, but I'm working on one. I don't specifically describe our breakfast, but most reviews rave about it and some do describe it. I do not state anywhere that we accommodate special diets. We do also get rave reviews for our service and attention to detail.
The rates may seem low to some of you for what we offer, but in my county, we're the most expensive B&B (and the busiest) and the only other ones in my coastal region who charge more have an ocean view. In general, the rates for my state are really reasonable.
I am just baffled why we get so many special diet requests!

 

[Don Draper]

You should definitely create a breakfast page so people will know what to expect. As you suspect, people are probably reading rave reviews about your breakfasts and we all know they assume that we are running a restaurant behind that door back there!
It could go either way: they could just really, really want to enjoy your fabulous breakfast and so they are letting you know what they won't eat so they don't miss anything.
OR they are just major PITA's who need to feel special

You are very kind to accommodate them so cheerfully.

 

[EmptyNest]

That is ridiculous! You are not a made to order restaurant. It is the "cooks choice" ...you don't like it...don't eat it. Breakfast is complimentary!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Honestly, I tried to bend over backwards to satisfy our guests, but I would draw the limit here! If someone started spewing all of this out to me, I would say I am sorry, but I don't think we can accommodate your issues here. I would be happy to suggest someplace else for you to stay!

 

[JBloggs]

I thought it was your niche? If it isn't maybe it should be, word would get out and they would come to you in droves like diff vegan B&B's in our state.

 

[egoodell]

Do people with dietary restrictions all know each other and send mass e-mails to come and stay with me???
Yes, I do go out of my way to accommodate (and that won't change), but NO, I don't advertise it! I'm just curious WHY I get hit more than the next innkeeper with this stuff? These are all reservations that came from finding us on the internet, not referrals.
In the next couple of weeks I've got:
two different sets of vegans, for a total of 4 nights
A 3 night reservation: "She is allergic to Asiago cheese. We prefer that any milk be 1% or less. She is not a big seafood fan (just in case). We don't eat raspberries, blackberries, honeydew, cantaloupe, kiwi or watermelon. No onions, peppers or scallions."
A 2 night reservation: "please limit the use of milk products (if used in baking we'll be more than happy to eat it anyways!), although probiotic yougurt is always appreciated"
I'm just whining because I seem to be a magnet....no other innkeeper I know in this area gets this. Some of those above are not a big deal, but I really get tired of not being able to just do a regular breakfast sometimes!

After our egg white pitas that ate our multi chip cookies first thing in the door and were ultra needy, I would be tempted to send people like that to the big inn north of us that has a restaurant and a chef who can accommodate people like this with one hand tied behind his back. Would make the guests happy, the inn happy and me happy not to have to deal with them.
RIki

 

[Breakfast Diva]

That is ridiculous! You are not a made to order restaurant. It is the "cooks choice" ...you don't like it...don't eat it. Breakfast is complimentary!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Honestly, I tried to bend over backwards to satisfy our guests, but I would draw the limit here! If someone started spewing all of this out to me, I would say I am sorry, but I don't think we can accommodate your issues here. I would be happy to suggest someplace else for you to stay!.

That is ridiculous! You are not a made to order restaurant. It is the "cooks choice" ...you don't like it...don't eat it. Breakfast is complimentary!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Honestly, I tried to bend over backwards to satisfy our guests, but I would draw the limit here! If someone started spewing all of this out to me, I would say I am sorry, but I don't think we can accommodate your issues here. I would be happy to suggest someplace else for you to stay!

I do understand your reaction to this, but in the next 2 weeks I have a total of 9 room nights with dietary restrictions. You mean to tell me that you would turn away $1800 or more? I can't/won't do that. We're making our living from our B&B. Most of the time these people are wonderful guests except for the dietary issue. I would prefer to have a good natured guest than someone who is a real jerk.

 

[The Farmers Daughter]

That is ridiculous! You are not a made to order restaurant. It is the "cooks choice" ...you don't like it...don't eat it. Breakfast is complimentary!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Honestly, I tried to bend over backwards to satisfy our guests, but I would draw the limit here! If someone started spewing all of this out to me, I would say I am sorry, but I don't think we can accommodate your issues here. I would be happy to suggest someplace else for you to stay!.

That is ridiculous! You are not a made to order restaurant. It is the "cooks choice" ...you don't like it...don't eat it. Breakfast is complimentary!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Honestly, I tried to bend over backwards to satisfy our guests, but I would draw the limit here! If someone started spewing all of this out to me, I would say I am sorry, but I don't think we can accommodate your issues here. I would be happy to suggest someplace else for you to stay!

I do understand your reaction to this, but in the next 2 weeks I have a total of 9 room nights with dietary restrictions. You mean to tell me that you would turn away $1800 or more? I can't/won't do that. We're making our living from our B&B. Most of the time these people are wonderful guests except for the dietary issue. I would prefer to have a good natured guest than someone who is a real jerk.
.

That is ridiculous! You are not a made to order restaurant. It is the "cooks choice" ...you don't like it...don't eat it. Breakfast is complimentary!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Honestly, I tried to bend over backwards to satisfy our guests, but I would draw the limit here! If someone started spewing all of this out to me, I would say I am sorry, but I don't think we can accommodate your issues here. I would be happy to suggest someplace else for you to stay!

I do understand your reaction to this, but in the next 2 weeks I have a total of 9 room nights with dietary restrictions. You mean to tell me that you would turn away $1800 or more? I can't/won't do that. We're making our living from our B&B. Most of the time these people are wonderful guests except for the dietary issue. I would prefer to have a good natured guest than someone who is a real jerk.

You're pretty much off the hook. The real jerks tend to seek me out.
Talk about finding a niche!

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Do people with dietary restrictions all know each other and send mass e-mails to come and stay with me???
Yes, I do go out of my way to accommodate (and that won't change), but NO, I don't advertise it! I'm just curious WHY I get hit more than the next innkeeper with this stuff? These are all reservations that came from finding us on the internet, not referrals.
In the next couple of weeks I've got:
two different sets of vegans, for a total of 4 nights
A 3 night reservation: "She is allergic to Asiago cheese. We prefer that any milk be 1% or less. She is not a big seafood fan (just in case). We don't eat raspberries, blackberries, honeydew, cantaloupe, kiwi or watermelon. No onions, peppers or scallions."
A 2 night reservation: "please limit the use of milk products (if used in baking we'll be more than happy to eat it anyways!), although probiotic yougurt is always appreciated"
I'm just whining because I seem to be a magnet....no other innkeeper I know in this area gets this. Some of those above are not a big deal, but I really get tired of not being able to just do a regular breakfast sometimes!

After our egg white pitas that ate our multi chip cookies first thing in the door and were ultra needy, I would be tempted to send people like that to the big inn north of us that has a restaurant and a chef who can accommodate people like this with one hand tied behind his back. Would make the guests happy, the inn happy and me happy not to have to deal with them.
RIki.

If someone makes a reservation that is low fat, dairy free, gluten free, etc., and then I see them munching down on my cookie jar, that's it! They then get my regular breakfast.
I just had this amazingly lovely couple stay with us for 2 nights. Their webervations said "prefer low fat". That's not a big deal, I just chose breakfast with my lower fat options and everyboday ate the same thing...well, they ate it ok, but didn't scarf it. Later that night during a conversation we had about their day they told me they ate where I suggested they go, had a wonderful dinner and an amazing dessert which they described. This was definitely not low fat! The next morning, I gave them my regular breakfast which was full of fat and not a single crumb was left! They raved at how wonderful the breakfast was and was even better than their first breakfast.
I told them what I had done and why, and we all laughed about it!

 

[EmptyNest]

That is ridiculous! You are not a made to order restaurant. It is the "cooks choice" ...you don't like it...don't eat it. Breakfast is complimentary!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Honestly, I tried to bend over backwards to satisfy our guests, but I would draw the limit here! If someone started spewing all of this out to me, I would say I am sorry, but I don't think we can accommodate your issues here. I would be happy to suggest someplace else for you to stay!.

That is ridiculous! You are not a made to order restaurant. It is the "cooks choice" ...you don't like it...don't eat it. Breakfast is complimentary!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Honestly, I tried to bend over backwards to satisfy our guests, but I would draw the limit here! If someone started spewing all of this out to me, I would say I am sorry, but I don't think we can accommodate your issues here. I would be happy to suggest someplace else for you to stay!

I do understand your reaction to this, but in the next 2 weeks I have a total of 9 room nights with dietary restrictions. You mean to tell me that you would turn away $1800 or more? I can't/won't do that. We're making our living from our B&B. Most of the time these people are wonderful guests except for the dietary issue. I would prefer to have a good natured guest than someone who is a real jerk.
.

Hey it is your business if you want to cater to all these different needs, be my guest. As I said, I bent over backwards to try and accommodate my guests needs. But if I had the one you did with them telling me what they liked and did not like ad nausem.... Forget it ...For me personally, I would have turned them away...I don't need the money that badly
.