urgent advise needed!!!

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aasta
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Location: Pe da Serra, Portugal

urgent advise needed!!!

Post by aasta »

Hello everyone!!

Just recived an email from guests arriving this evening for a 2 week booking. She had told me when she booked that her husband needed no feather bedding...no problem... and that he has a nut allergy. I also thought this is no problem and intended to offer him nut free options. Now she writes that it is a serious allergy that he can not tolerate even airborne nut particles. So nothing with nuts can be on the breakfast buffet and the kitchen has to be nut free where the breakfast is prepared.

Our 5 room B&B serves a sumptious vegetarian/vegan breakfast buffet and nuts are present in the Granola, in the dried fruts and nuts selection, in cakes and muffins, pesto etc. Nuts grow abundantly in Portugal, so are a common ingredient.

I am tempted to write them to say it would be best that they look for an apartment and not stay with us because I can not make my kitchen free of airborne nut particles. And we have nut trees growing on our property!! OH does not wish to loose a 2 week booking but, I am very concerned and do not wish to deal with someone having serious allergic reactions ...I think they should have informed us of this when they booked. And I would have told them it is not suitable. What would you do????? Thanks for your input!!
aasta
Giraffe
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Post by Giraffe »

Hi aasta. She should have informed you upfront, and she is now drip feeding you different needs. Tomorrow she will probably have another one! My view is that you are at high risk of severe problems, with potential legal implications.

If I was in this position I would advise them that the B&B is not suitable for their requirements and that you cannot take them.
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PW in Polemi
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Post by PW in Polemi »

As you say, if only she had been completely truthful to begin with, you would not have taken this booking in the first place.

I can understand that your husband does not want to lose a 2 week booking, but somebody with that much of an allergy to something that is freely available both in your kitchen and out in the garden, is highly likely to have an anaphylactic reaction and require immediate emergency medical treatment.

The only thing you can do now is contact her in writing (text or email), thank her for the extra more detailed information about her husband's allergy that she should have mentioned at time of booking and point out that you cannot guarantee your kitchen and garden to be free of airborne nut particles. Therefore you regret that, due to inaccurate/inadequate information presented on the booking form, you now consider her booking to be cancelled by her. You will, of course, provide any further information she requires for her holiday insurance.
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africanpenguin
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Location: Switzerland

Post by africanpenguin »

It sounds fishy to me. I can't believe anyone with that kind of allergy would only make it clear on the morning of arrival. I would suspect they have alternate reasons for wanting to cancel but want you to be the one cancelling rather than them. Have they paid?
JanB
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Post by JanB »

What a horrible position you have been placed in.

I agree with what others have and find it utterly astonishing she has only now told you of such serious nut allergies.

It is their problem to deal with and I would say losing a two week booking is preferable to the potential hassle their stay could bring.

Perhaps calling her to explain that you are now very conerned about their visit and you certainly do not want the responsibiity of trying to guarantee a situation that will not impace her husband's allergy.

Mind you, some people do use these things as attention seeking - someone we had at our B&B some years ago purported to be gluten free with various email requests of things she could and could not eat and I had to jump hoops to accommodate this. In the event, she said she would have a waffle as it wasn't a serious problem to her, just that she got a bit bloated and tried to avoid gluten. Hmmmmm, I was furious!

Good luck but, in essence, throw her problem back to her. Why do these people insist on making their problem your problem?
"It's a funny old world...." but full of the most amazing people. :-) Sense of humour essential!
rammy100
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Post by rammy100 »

+1 with African Penguin. Something doesn't quite add up and I would treat this as your guest cancelling for the reasons others have mentioned.

However, whatever happens with the cancellation, I would not want to risk having someone with a severe nut allergy stay with me. Life must be very difficult for someone with an allergy like this but you are not prepared so don't do it.

There was a situation on here a couple of years back where a guest was mistakenly given food containing nuts and I recall there were serious consequences for both owner and guest.
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zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

I agree this is a horrible situation to find yourself in.

I cannot believe that there is anyone who does not know that nuts are bound to be in abundance in vegetarian food.

Even if you are not wholly vegetarian, there could be other guests who would miss out because of the restriction that she is expecting you to accommodate.

It is unlikely you will get hold of them now, surely they will be travelling?

I would see if they turn up. If necessary, let them have breakfast in their room and don't worry if it is no where near your usual provisions. if you have nut trees on your property it will be interesting to hear what they decide to do. I would not refund any deposit - they have been totally unreasonable.

I too remember that another member had difficulties re a guest's allergy. I think it was handled by the insurance company eventually, but you can do without the stress.

Is there anything to be gained by asking the guest to sign something of a disclaimer about your nut trees, and that they are staying at their own risk if they chose to stay? AndrewH would be the best person to ask - perhaps send him a PM
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Where are these guests from?
You can inform them that you abide by the EU laws for allergens and that is it. You are not required to do any more.
If they do not understand these regulations I am sure you can give them the links that you have to work to either in Portuguese and English
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
Martha
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Location: Chamonix

Post by Martha »

An awful situation! People who have that serious a nut allergy are invariably extremely careful about where they stay so agree something seems off if they tell you on the actual day!!!

However I personally would not want the stress of two weeks of this and the potential legal issues.

I would send an email making everything clear, suggest they look elsewhere, and try and call them to find out what's going on.

Huge sympathies for you, what a inconsiderate attitude they have taken.
Chalet la Foret, Chamonix
africanpenguin
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Post by africanpenguin »

aasta, just thinking about this a bit more. As others have suggested, I think the cancellation is on them, not you, as they did not make you aware of the requirements at booking, and you would not have taken the booking if they had done. Actually, I would be surprised if many places would take liability for a booking of that nature. You are into the realms of specialist services / strictly self catering in a decontaminated kitchen. So I would reply spelling out the measures you had put in place for the husband, i.e. special nut free food items, kept separately from nut free products etc (whatever it is you have done) and explain that this is your normal offering for guests with a (dietary) nut allergy. But then stress that as a B&B with other guests there are of course other products on the premises that are not nut free and you have a tree, so you are not suitable for someone with a severe airbourne allergy.

The other possibility that crossed my mind is that they are exaggerating it due to a poor experience somewhere else. A friend of mine has a child with an egg/dairy intolerance. It's only an intolerance, so not at all life-threatening, but she has got so fed up with it just being ignored and ending up with a sick child she now says it's an allergy so that he actually gets egg/dairy free food.

Otherwise, I still think it's a ruse! People with allergies like that don't just rock up and expect everything to be fine, they do their research well in advance.
Pirou
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Post by Pirou »

I would not want this booking in the main because if you have other guests staying, you cannot demand that they operate as a nut-free zone, if you see what I mean. If someone comes down to breakfast having had a packet of nuts or a nut cereal bar and coughs... air-born nut particles.

Is this really A Thing now though - the airborn part? The person would not be able to risk public transport or any crowded places in case someone had munched on a nut roast at lunchtime. I wonder if they are expecting you to cancel them and refund their deposit without penalty.

I would not want to do that and would state that no guarantee re airborn particles can be given due to other guests in residence and what a shame you didn't make this clear in your booking. We can accommodate your needs as outlined in X email and accepted the booking on that basis. If your needs have changed that is difficult for you but we cannot now, etc. Just as I've read PW Polemi suggests.

Not a situation I would want to be in but I think there's more to it than meets the eye. And I'd say a penalty-free refund of money paid is what they're looking for. If they are British, the current euro £ exchange rate is giving a lot of people a pause for thought. I have had several enquiries for short stays in Oct tail off and one set of guests said that the exchange rate was too scary to go ahead and book.

Perhaps he could take his meals in their room and wear a mask in public areas at all other times. :wink:
Martha
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Post by Martha »

"is this really A Thing now though - the airborn part? "

It is ...but it's very rare, and sufferers are obviously extremely careful! I just do not believe that someone would book without checking very thoroughly. Normally you would go for self-catering if the allergy was that severe, and even then, you'd make it clear in advance.

What happened, aasta? I hope you were able to solve this problem!
Chalet la Foret, Chamonix
Ecosse
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Post by Ecosse »

+1 I have a friend who's 2yo has a severe nut allergy and while not at the airborne stage yet, she is very careful to check everything thoroughly. She wouldn't go anywhere new before checking it was okay for her son. She finds it an incredible bore, but unlike your guest, she does not make a fuss, which make me suspicious about your guest - is there some sort of control thing going on or, as others have suggested, they want to cancel but know they can't without financial penalty, so are trying to twist round and make you cancel the booking?

Horrible for you, but you have done nothing wrong, and I think it would be unfair of them to impose restrictions on your other guests by effectively saying they can't eat a significant proportion of their diet during their stay with you.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.
aasta
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Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:17 pm
Location: Pe da Serra, Portugal

Post by aasta »

Thanks everyone for your kind advise!!

Have found them a holiday let in the village ( so they only stayed the one night and we provided very basic breakfast in guest kitchen)....would have just been too much stress!!! We did reembuse minus a 30% fee for lost revenue and hopefully we get a last minute booking...but as most of you stated is just not worth the hassle and we are not a sanatorium!!
aasta
JanB
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Post by JanB »

I can hear the sound of utter relief in your post. Very good move and they can now take repsonsibility for the allegy themselves.

Well handled.
"It's a funny old world...." but full of the most amazing people. :-) Sense of humour essential!
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