Food at the Holiday Inn Chessington is disgusting and left me ill!

blue_monkey_2

We went to the Holiday Inn at Chessington on Sunday night.

Having spent over an hour and a half getting out of Legoland and another half an hour travelling to the HI we arrived, checked in and then went to our room. We decided to go for dinner and there was a buffet there - did not get offered anything else so assumed this was the only option.

We was told that it was £15.95 for adults and £7.95 for kids, well overpriced in my opinion but whatever, we was all hungry and the kids needed to get to bed so let's just eat.

Well, we tried, the food looked like it had been there all night, what was left was hard, you had to dip it in sauce to make it soft, my son flat refused to eat his, my daughter could only eat the top off her pizza. My lasagne was hard and swimming in fat but we was so hungry (last meal had been at 12pm and it was now 9.40pm) I ate it. That was the only choice, the salad had clearly been there all night too and it was soggy. We decided to give pudding a try - there was ice cream with a pile of sweets to shove on top of it, that was all, so we had that and went to bed exhausted and the kids still hungry. The staff were nice so we said nothing not being the complaining types and hoped breakfast would be better the next day.

I woke the next day with stomach cramps I could not even eat breakfast (which was included in the cost of the holiday and I was so disappointed as we only have Cooked Breakfasts when we go on holiday), it ruined my day as I had to take the kids on the rides with vomit rising and burning my throat as well as these stomach cramps. I was terrifed of being sdick as my daughter has this huge phobia of people that are sick so I just cannot let her see me being sick. I could not eat anything that day I fet so bad and nothing usually stops me eating!! 3 1/2 days on since eating that food I still have them, also a bad stomach and constant nausea. I feel so horrible. I am so annoyed as it is half term and I am narky with the kids as I feel naff and do not feel like doing anything.

I've emailed the Holiday Inn and told them and asked for my money back for the food because I am ill but I've not heard anything.

And now I am not sure what to do. I just want my money back for the food - we paid £50 for a few mouthfulls of food and now I am ill. I know I should have probably pushed for not paying but at the time we was exhausted after a very long day and wanted to get the kids to bed. The staff were nice enough but I cannot believe a hotel can serve up this food. I am so pleased that my son flat refused to eat it after one mouthful.

Any thoughts on what I should do now, I want them to stop serving this dreadful food, the hotel itself is immaculate, the rooms immaculate and very clean, well presented, health club was great and we used the pool at 6.30 am so I could get the kids out of the room. I am not expecting the stay for free, the hotel in itself was great value for the money. But the food was just unbelievable and disgusting, it was obvious this food had been sitting there since the restaurant opened and I feel I should report this to someone as it is unacceptable - especially at £18 a head!! Ideally I want my money back for the food that we could not eat but whatever, it is paid for now. I have emailed twice and they have not got back to me so what do I do now? Any ideas? Do I just report them to the EHO or should I do something else.

Any advice please? I've not reported anyone for food like this before.

roddydogs

Do you mean the Monkey Puzzle (Harvester) resturant

blue_monkey_2

No, the Holiday Inn at Chessington World of Adventures. It is a hotel - this one....

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g580409-d734812-Reviews-Holiday_Inn_London_Chessington-Chessington_Surrey_England.html

Hav to say that after we came out of the restaurant we saw some people having pizza delivered but there was no menus or anything in our room. It is so hard when you arrive at a hotel, especially so late on a Sunday, and you do not know what is available locally to eat. We usually have take away with anything else as my son is ASD so this is why the buffet was perfect, we do not get to eat sit down meals at places like Beefeater - harvest is OK as there is the salad bar - but by the time the food arrives my son is climbing the wall and it is a waste of time us even trying to eat somewhere like that.

chuckley

dont u mean premier inn...

anyway im SORRY but if the food was so bad u wouldnt have carried on eating it and would have complained at the time. complaining now just warrents your grievance worthless.

they will say 'we never received a complaint' when questioned by HO.

you want them to 'stop serving this dreadful food', but decide NOT to complain as 'we arent the complaining types?!'

make ur mind up...

blue_monkey_2

No, it's the Holiday Inn, it is the one right next to the gates of CWOA and it backs onto the park itself, the premier inn is further down the road next to the Beefeater (Monkey Puzzle?)

I am starting to feel a little more human tonight and I've called the Holiday Inn to complain and I've asked for my money back on the food. I've got someone calling tomorrow and they are investigating but they reckon they had 150 covers that night so the food was have been replenished. At what time they did not say but there is no way that food was fresh. I wish now I had taken a picture of it - but you learn in hindsight I suppose and next time I will complain at the time if the food is rubbish.

hollydays

Holiday inns are well known for being expensive for food .I bet 6 people say the same,if you checked tripadviser. I ate at one once, never again,food was rank-great hotels though.asked for coffee,got it in a mug,not very restaurant-ish.
I was in one a few weeks ago,ate a sliced fruit loaf and a carton of orange juice in my room,then went and sat in the bar ordered coffee ,which they gave me free-together with the free newspaper they give out in reception.

10past6

blue_monkey wrote: »

Any advice please? I've not reported anyone for food like this before.

You really should have complained at the time, or at least on check out, did you complete the guest questionniare in the room?

blue_monkey_2

Why should they be allowed to serve up that food anyway. I was not ill at the time, if that was the case then no-one would ever get ill after eating.

I am never ill from eating bad food, I eat god knows what when it has been sitting there from god knows when, this is the first time I've ever been ill after eating food so why should I not complain.

If I have to complain to EHO then I will and then maybe they can go in themselves at 9.40 and see what food is left on the counter. Let's face it, if the restaurant shuts at 10pm the yare not going to make fresh food at 9.30 that might go in the bin are they? They took their chances.

Unfortauntely I have a son who has autism and just wanted to get him to bed as he was tired and was wanting his milk. He has to have a routine, eating late at night is not part of that routine. I was exhausted and no, I did not complain at the time as I had other things to think of. But if I knew I was going to get ill then of course I was not going to eat it. Unfortunately they had removed the 'do not eat this food it is crap' sign and I was hungry. Either way they should not be leaving food on those plates for that long to get dried and shrivelled.

blue_monkey_2

hollydays wrote: »

Holiday inns are well known for being expensive for food .I bet 6 people say the same,if you checked tripadviser. I ate at one once, never again,food was rank-great hotels though.asked for coffee,got it in a mug,not very restaurant-ish.
I was in one a few weeks ago,ate a sliced fruit loaf and a carton of orange juice in my room,then went and sat in the bar ordered coffee ,which they gave me free-together with the free newspaper they give out in reception.

To be honest, we usually stay in Holiday Inns but they open the restaurant at 6pm which is too late for my kids to eat, this was the first - and last! - time I'll eat in one now. The price I really have no issue on because we knew how much it was - if the food was edible then I've no issue paying it, but it wasn't. So I have. Only cmy circumstances dictated at that time that I could not stand and argue over it as I had to get my son to bed - a late night for him does not mean he gets up any later, he still gets up at 5.30 and a tired boy means for a long and difficult day!! I just wanted to get him to bed.

The morning breakfast I have no complaints on, the food was fresh and someone was there topping it up as it was 8am, had we got there at 10am would it have been different though? I know it was the time we ate and I am sure that for the rest of the evening the food had been fine, but this had clearly been left since the last run of people.

It is over with, it is paid, but it would be nice as a goodwill gesture for them to refund the money I paid as I got ill from eating the food which had clearly been left there for ages. There was just one other portion missing from the lasagne I ate so how long had it been sitting there to get in the state it had? Since somsone else ate from it at 8pm? Who knows? I bet they do not either. It was so busy in that restaurant all the staff were standing around chatting at the reception bit.

blue_monkey_2

10past6 wrote: »

You really should have complained at the time, or at least on check out, did you complete the guest questionniare in the room?

Yes, I know, but as I have put above, because my son is ASD I just wanted to get him to the room and into bed with his milk. If you know a child with this condition you know how hard changes to routine are and to stand arguing over the food at that moment was not an option.

There was no questionaire in the room.

I have no fault with the hotel in general and we would go back again. I will not eat anything other then breakfast again - and we know that is fresh because I hve to get up so early. The hotel was great, the kids had their own little section of the room with little beds and it was safari theme. The hotel in itself was great, the location was great and we will go back. Other people have said 'get your money back, you should not be getting ill' but I just want that money for the crap food refunded.

As I say in hindsight I should have argued about it but circumstances are what they are at that time and I needed to get my son to the room so I did not have time to.

The bloke next to me at checkout was arguing with them about the food and someone else I stood next to at the buffet that night turned to me and said 'oh my god' too. There was not many people left there that was eating that food.

I'll see what they say today.

uktim29

Surely if it's a hotel loads of people would have eaten the food therefore loads would have been ill if it was the food?