Good hotels for a friend with health issues

bylromarha

My friend would like a weekend away for her 40th birthday.

Anyone know where I can find a hotel that

1) Looks pretty
2) Has an old building or 2 nearby
3) Has a decent choice of gluten free food
4) Will serve breakfast in our room after 11am...ME means her body clock is screwed.
5)Has a lift to reach the upper floors...limited mobility
6) will cost up to £250 for 2 nights including half board
7) is up to a 2 hour drive from Eastbourne.
8) is clean according to TA reviews-OCD

I've spent a fortnight looking and drawn a blank. Please recommend if you can.

lika_86

bylromarha wrote: »

My friend would like a weekend away for her 40th birthday.

Anyone know where I can find a hotel that

1) Looks pretty
2) Has an old building or 2 nearby
3) Has a decent choice of gluten free food
4) Will serve breakfast in our room after 11am...ME means her body clock is screwed.
5)Has a lift to reach the upper floors...limited mobility
6) will cost up to £250 for 2 nights including half board
7) is up to a 2 hour drive from Eastbourne.
8) is clean according to TA reviews-OCD

I've spent a fortnight looking and drawn a blank. Please recommend if you can.

That's a lot of requirements to meet.

It sounds like an Airbnb might be a better option, it would mean that your friend could enjoy a breakfast of her choice after 11am and then you could choose to eat out in a restaurant with gluten-free choices.

What about Canterbury or near there?

suejb2

Take one from the list and prioritise that. If I had food issues that would be first rather than looks pretty or old houses.
Take a look at https://www.celiac.org.uk https://www.glutenfreehotelsguide.com or https://www.travelglutenfree.co.uk

TBagpuss

I'd suggest that you identify a general area (2 hours from Eastbourne is a pretty wide choice) and then start with the gluten free aspect as Suejb suggests, then check out trip advisor for a shortlist of possibles to address the cleanliness, then contact the hotels directly - you may find that even if they don't normally do breakfast after 11 they may be willing to do so as a special request if you ask in advance, for example.

I suspect that you may do best by looking at a larger, chain hotel - they are more likely to have better facilities to accommodate your friends disabilities, and while that may well mean that the hotel itself isn't particularly pretty, you aren't going to be looking at it! (although the Mercure chain do have a fair number of hotels which are in converted buildings and look attractive, so it might be worth checking out whether they ave anything in the area you are looking for

z1a

Why does hotel have to look pretty?
Is she going to stand outside admiring it?

bylromarha

The 3 that are the priorities are the cleanliness, the food and the mobility. All of those have to be in place or she may as well stay at home. I put on her dream list rather than her need list. It's her 40th after all...dreams may come true!

Airbnb is a no go as she doesn't want to spend limited time & energy shopping for food or cooking it. She refuses to let me do that for her as all the time I'm cooking/shopping/cleaning is time she's sitting around bored as she can't join in.

A lot of hotels will say they're gluten free, but the ones I've contacted and actually asked specific questions of, gluten free options mean salad accompaniment instead of gluten free chips, burgers with no bun instead of a gluten free bun. Limited bland substitutions instead of decent gluten free alternatives for the dish. Alternatives which are easily available...chips are gluten free when you chop a potato! It needs to be half board at the hotel as she won't cope with travelling to/from restaurants in the evening due to the ME

I'd already found the links above, but the lists on the websites are very London/restaurant centric. The limited hotels I could find were too far away or far too expensive.

The 2 Mercure's I've contacted-1 is unwilling to serve breakfast after 10.30, the other is a bland palate.

Hence the post on here for a recommendation...I've sent over 30 emails to hotels. Only 12 have got back to me and 0 meet the food requirements.

martindow

You have got quite a demanding list of requirements there and getting room service with dietary requirements out of normal serving hours is probably not going to be possible at cheaper hotels within your budget.

Are there forums on any of the coeliac sites where you could ask?

princesslaura

I can!!!8217;t necessarily recommend a hotel for you however, I would suggest taking a look at the website handpicked hotels. I have stayed at Rookery Hall, Cheshire several times and this would fit most of your requirements. The gluten free food choices in particular were amazing. I would hope that the rest of the hotels on the site are similar.

bylromarha

For anyone who picks this thread up as they're searching for a gluten free hotel or an ME friendly hotel, I can't recommend the Hallmark Hotel in Cambridge enough.

£198 for 2 nights dinner, bed & breakfast plus a cream tea during the stay.

They were totally on top of decent gluten free alternatives...they even got a different fryer out to use to ensure she could have chips. Many choices on the menu for her, not just one. They kept a breakfast aside for her so I could take it up at 11am. There was a pool, spa & gym there so I had lots to do while waiting for her to get up and get ready. Her gluten free cream tea was more laiden with goodies than mine.

Everyone of my requirements met from that original list, bar a pretty looking hotel.

Boy was it hard work finding it though. A total of 62 emails sent, only 19 responses received back, most saying we'll serve you bland food with limited options. At this quiet time of year, I'm glad such an accommodating hotel got our money.

littlerock

Do you specifically have to have a breakfast after 11.00. Could you not find a hotel with suitable room service menu?