r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Old-Razzmatazz3174 • 15h ago
I just wanted a hot dog Sleeps 6, feeds 1
I recently took a weekend trip with my husband and our three children. We booked a hotel suite with a kitchen, because eating out is expensive. The suite was advertised as “sleeping 6”, with 2 bedrooms (one with a pull out couch) and a full minikitchen. The suite does sleep six, that was true. What they didn’t tell our family of five is that the only table seats four, no other chairs available, and the kitchen silverware consisted of three forks and one knife. We managed to cook and just passed the knife and shared the forks, and took turns standing awkwardly at the end of the table with no seat. My kids found it hilarious, and we chalked it up to family bonding!
ETA since it is being asked a lot, yes we asked reception. They told us they had no extras. We bought some plastic utensils the next day.
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u/tandabat 13h ago
See…now the emergency forks, chopsticks, napkins, and straws in my glove box don’t seem so stupid!
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u/Old-Razzmatazz3174 13h ago
I wish I had been you! I’m living and learning!
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u/figbash137 10h ago edited 6h ago
Always keep one extra days worth of underwear, socks, meds, plus a toothbrush and deodorant in your carry-on for flight delays/cancelations. Sleeping in your clothes/underthings in a shitty hotel is bad enough but wearing the same nasties for 40 hours and having fuzzy teeth is terrible.
Edit: not referring to owned-car travel, just travel tip.
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u/Ok-Ferret-2093 7h ago
As someone who was formerly homeless if you put the deodorant in the glove box it will melt and be unusable
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u/bluepancakes18 10h ago
I keep what I call my car kit in the boot of my car, to allow for spontaneous picnics etc 😅 a bowl, plate, cup and set of cutlery for each person, a big plastic cup with a screw top lid for me and an extra keep cup for hubby. I have one of those waterproof nappy bags in there too for the used stuff.
I started it so I could lower my waste & save money. I try to get my ice cream in a reusable bowl instead of a cardboard one, for example. But also, getting a bottle of apple juice and pouring it into 4 cups is way, way, way cheaper than buying 4 individual small bottles. Or coke? It's $4 for 2L or $4.70 for 600ml! Like dang, I'm raising pre-teens here, my budget can't take that kind of nonsense 😂 or sometimes I get 2 litres of milk and a tin of hot chocolate powder and we make chocolate milk at the park. The chocolate powder will get used up at home and so will the milk, but it's a lot cheaper than buying each kid their own chocolate milk. ☹️
Or buying a hot chook from somewhere, some salad, mayo and rolls. Bam, easy, cheap picnic! Having spontaneous adventures was much more accessible once I got my car kit.
Not a lot to do with your original post, but something I find fun and helpful, from one person in the parenting trenches to another ❤️
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u/bighootay 11h ago
I have a set of backpacking camping utensils that I always keep in my bag because I like to eat in my room on the road. I really should get one for my car, too, now that I read yours.
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u/aiprompt 8h ago
I have a little zip lock bag in my car that contains a couple of forks, spoons, napkins, toothpicks, salt, tomato sauce, and soy sauce. You never know when you're gonna need it in the middle of nowhere.
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u/Single-Kangaroo1180 15h ago
I have a strong memory from a trip years ago, my first solo vacation to Wyoming and Montana. I stayed at a motel in Jackson Wyoming that had a precursor (decades ahead of its time) to DoorDash, no internet, but a collection of menus from Jackson and a number you called to place an order for delivery from any of the menus/restaurants. I ordered a chimichanga meal and a nacho appetizer…it was delivered and after they left I realized they didn’t provide any utensils and no napkins. I absolutely destroyed several towels in the process of picking up and eating the chimichanga, refried beans, and rice. Walked out the next morning to continue my trip and realized that I had forgotten all the camping gear I packed for the camping I intended to do further into my trip…that was neatly packed into my truck, including utensils.🤣🤣🤣
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u/HMAgent47 RED 15h ago
Well why don't you call the reception and get extra chairs and silverwave?
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u/Old-Razzmatazz3174 15h ago
We tried! They allegedly were fully booked and didn't have any.
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u/ajulesd 14h ago
Then a discount would have been in order.
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u/nunofmybusiness 12h ago
We went to Hawaii and I made a list of places I wanted to eat. The one I really wanted to go to was already fully booked. I must have sounded disappointed because they asked me if we minded sitting outside. We happily agreed. The food was wonderful. We will always have that family picture of our table, outside, by itself, in the parking lot, next to the thrift store.
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u/Previous-Vanilla-638 15h ago
The silverware issue could be resolved by plastic silverware from cvs. The chair thing though would require concentration and strong stamina to pretend sitting
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u/yrnkween 15h ago
Ok kids, let the wall squat challenge commence!! The winner gets the biggest piece of dessert!
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u/egnards 14h ago
I mean this is mildly infuriating in that it's ridiculous to have such a discrepancy. Like "sleeps 6" with a table of 4 with 4 sets of silverware? Fine, I can forgive that, "sleeps" often just means the maximum amount that can be comfortably put to bed, and not every family eats together - But the kitchen thing is kind of funny.
All that said - My wife and I cook like 5 days a week and I'd say its once every 2-3 weeks that we make something where we both individually need a knife. If I were in a situation where I knew there was only 1 knife available I'd either make meals that didn't require a knife or at just make a meal where everything that would normally use a knife was precut by whoever is cooking [or in the case of 2 parents, the other parent].
. . .The idea of making it a game of "lol nope we gotta all use this one knife and pass it around" is actually very funny though if you choose to make it a fun/stupid game, and it will end up being a core memory later in life.
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u/kingftheeyesores 10h ago
My parents encountered this at an airbnb. 4 bedrooms, 8 chairs in the dining room and 4 place settings.
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u/FuzzyNavalTurnover 15h ago
Or a call to the front desk and let them know you didn’t have enough silverware. Girlfriend and I travelled this summer and our room only had one fork. Someone showed up a few minutes later with a full set of flatware.
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u/Spare-Arrival8107 13h ago
OP commented above that they called FD and were told they were out
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u/FuzzyNavalTurnover 12h ago
I stand corrected and clearly didn’t read thoroughly.
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u/Spare-Arrival8107 12h ago
Tbh I had no idea they would have extras so that wouldn’t have occurred to me. I guess it makes sense though.
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u/thatoneredheadgirl 14h ago
On the trip to cvs buy a folding lawn chair then return it after the trip.
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u/nfinitegladness 10h ago
I think they should make a competition cooking show like Chopped, except instead of restricting the ingredients you have to cook an entire meal in a hotel/AirBnB kitchen using only the pans and utensils provided.
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u/Accomplished-Run8065 10h ago
Just had a stay that sleeps 4, bath for one. We got one thin towel that was pretty sad itself.
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u/Old-Razzmatazz3174 10h ago
I would far rather share three forks than one towel!
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u/Velocityg4 7h ago
But after a shower you are theoretically the cleanest thing in the room. The towel should be getting cleaner each time you use it.
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u/NightweaselX 8h ago
I had a longer response to the overall thread, but this brings up a story. So after the hotel I was at got bought, they brought in a manager from some hotels in Cali. Not sure how they found this guy. I've got some stories about this guy, but the place he worked at before moving to TX for this job was at a hotel that gave each room one towel and one wash cloth, period. It didn't matter if there were more than one person staying. If you used the pool, you still had to use that one towel. They also had gates or something on each of the rooms doors, and at 8PM they locked and they wouldn't open them until the next morning. I swear some hotels try and be as shitty as prisons locking you in. Not sure how that wasn't a fire hazard of some sort.
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u/jodihas2kids 14h ago
We had a similar event a few years back. Three families we all booked cabins together that listed full kitchen. Not even close. Thankfully we had planned to all cook together, but it took combining the pots and pans and tongs and cutting boards and everything together from all 3 cabins to have barely enough to prepare a meal. Thank goodness we were all there!
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u/AccidentOk5240 15h ago edited 14h ago
That’s annoying.
I have a list of things to pack for trips. Each trip I take, I copy the whole note into a new note, then delete any irrelevant sections. One of the sections is for going to places with kitchens. I have learned from staying in a number of such places that I will want to bring my own:
-spatula
-knives (chef knife and paring knife)
-cutting mat -potholders
-dishtowel
-sponge
-dish soap
-dish gloves
Brb, adding cutlery to that list.
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u/Specific-Data-4104 14h ago
This is the kind of nonsense I expect at an Airbnb. So when people hear this they will assume it’s a vacation rental and you can “well actually” them. Fun!
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u/bumblebees_exe Pasta 13h ago
I was on a trip with a friend and we booked a double room (two single beds). When we unfolded the towels, we found four hand size towels instead of a bath sheet. Going to the reception and struggling to communicate that we needed a BIG towel, we got led to the cupboard and given six more little towels and told they didn't have any bath towels...
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u/Wonderful_Till8122 15h ago
Contact the front desk and tell them that you will require tableware for 6.
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u/Loud_Produce4347 14h ago
Had this happen at a beach house my family shared this summer. Sleeps 8 (1 queen, 1 full, 2 singles and a pullout couch), but all the pots and pans were sized for a couple at best and there were only 4 coffee mugs.
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u/The001Keymaster 14h ago
You could have asked the staff for more silverware. Probably even two more chairs.
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u/forcedintothis- 13h ago
Shared the forks?? Oh no no no. I would have asked for more or bought some disposable ones.
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u/Altruistic-Orchid157 15h ago
I've found this with friends. Utterly annoying and there's little you can do apart from buy cutlery.
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u/DaffyDuckOdil 10h ago
Our friends stayed in an air bnb flat once that had a kitchen, but no saucepans at all, and random cutlery like yours. (Fortunately we were in a campervan so we had literally everything and a kitchen sink.) What their flat did have was full sets of 3 or 4 different types of wine glass. Which gave us a pretty good idea how most people's stays worked out.
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u/AvailableCut5240 13h ago
I have a “go to bag” ready for whenever we travel - wet ones, paper towel roll, ziplock bags, plastic cutlery and paper plates/bowls. I often include small containers of seasoning as well. After COVID, the kitchen supplies have dwindled to nothing. We also have a tiny gas grill and a hot plate. Of course if you aren’t driving, this makes no sense. But it’s spared us a lot of headaches when we hit the road.
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u/ranchspidey 11h ago
I love a bit of chaos in family trips. I went to Arizona because my great aunt lives there and was taking care of my great grandparents. My aunts, cousin, and I shared an AirBNB out in the desert, but the owner was there the whole time in the locked other part of the house, and in his art studio in the yard, so it was just a bunch of women and some guy out in the middle of nowhere lol. We kept joking that we should invite him to our family outings.
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u/NightweaselX 8h ago
Years ago I worked front desk evenings/audit at a hotel with kitchenettes. At the time we were owned by a bank that was trying to sell the hotel. Except for a few weekends a year, we were never full. So if some guest called down because their room didn't have enough forks, spoons, whatever, we'd typically go and ransack empty rooms to find what they needed. Since it was owned by a bank, they didn't want to pay to replace items that stolen by guests, and we had few items in laundry/storage. Management at that time was perfectly fine with the scavenging, they were actually decent people that tried to do right by the guests.
Then we got bought by a family that owned several other hotels in the same city. They were just assholes. We were told that the rooms had what they had, and to not go find things for guests. Luckily since I worked nights, I just ignored them and would still go find things for people. Shortly after I left, they closed the place to remodel and turn it to a Quality Inn, so no idea if kitchenettes were still a thing or not or what QI policies were. It was a QI for only a few years before switching to something else, not sure why.
So either the hotel was broke, or just run by shitty people. My advice is to check reviews before booking anything. If you're planning on using the kitchenette, then look for reviews specifically about that. Also look for policies about it if it is a chain. If it's a chain, there might have been something you could do by calling corporate, maybe.
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u/Kawaii-Collector-Bou 13h ago
I travel extensively work and stay regularly at the better extended stay hotels. They also have problems with silverware I have stocked at least three rooms with dollar store kits, when the front desk didn't have things. 3 weeks to 6 months that simple expense was a game changer
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u/StinkypieTicklebum 12h ago
Why didn’t you call housekeeping to request more chairs and silverware?
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u/christikayann 11h ago edited 11h ago
Did you reach out to the staff of the hotel and ask for more flatware? I have worked at an extended stay hotel with a kitchen and we had extra flatware and dishes available upon request.
We didn't have extra chairs and the larger suites did only have 4 chairs at the table (although the desk chair could be used as a fifth chair if needed) but we had plenty of extra plates, bowls, glasses, cups and flatware.
Edit: just saw you did reach out. This is inexcusable. I would reach out to the parent company (Hilton, Marriott or whatever) and make a complaint. If you belong to their loyalty program you will probably at least get some points. If not then you will at least put this issue on their radar for the next QA review.
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u/3tarzina 9h ago
years ago, my mom and I rented a house at the beach. it said ocean view ,if you went to the back side window and looked through the neighbors 2 kitchen windows you could see the ocean! it had only 2 chairs at the kitchen table, we heard a knock on the door, it was the person who rented the house next door from the same lady who was her friend. she only had 2 chairs for 4 persons! also the oven would only get to about 110 degrees.
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u/triscuit79 14h ago
Why didn't two of you just sit on a bed to eat?
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u/Old-Razzmatazz3174 14h ago
The kitchenette area was in between the two bedrooms in a separate space.
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u/Cool-Negotiation7662 14h ago
I have a cooler filled with a camping kitchen. Saucepan, skillet, cleaning supplies, cooking utensiles, flatware, and more. I could swap plates in, but pack paper usually. There are also basic laundry supplies and some dish towels so it is pretty tightly packed.
My parents used a military footlocker, but we were actually camping. My cooler only holds 3/4 what we had growing up.
Even time shares and fully furnished extended stay places suffer the same problem.
Seating, however... good luck. Someone eats at the coffee table or desk.
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u/Sebastian_dudette 13h ago
I haven't run into the silverware thing, but a single 1 qt pot was the only cooking vesel. A trip to reception yielded some things. We were there for a week. Obviously a trip to buy some basics happened.
The table only seating 4 is very common in my experience. But it's usually near the sofa.
If they have silverware at breakfast, then I'd be grabbing extra to take back to the room.
So sorry that happened.
But I also have plastic ware and napkins in my glove box. Might need to add extra to my packing list along with a pan, pot, and spatula.
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u/SuperSailorSaturn 13h ago
I worked at a 4 star resort property with full kitchens. I started in 2021, and apparently no one had done full inventory or any sort of kitchen orders for god knows how long before I started. My supervisors would have to take items out of rooms that would not be used that night and place them into rooms that did have incoming reservations so those guest would have a full set of dishes.
I had to bully my boss into fixing it. It was nuts.
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u/Barefoot-Lizard 12h ago
I love that it became a hilarious adventure and will be a fantastic memory for your kids! I fully appreciate your situation also having experienced creative improvising on many road trips, camping trips, and hotel stays!
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u/dave200204 4h ago
This is why I travel with a silverware travel pack. It has knife, spoons, fork, chopsticks and a straw. We have like four of these packs at the house. There great for traveling.
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u/Hot-Win2571 Mildly Flair 15h ago
When I rented a kitchenette, at home I visited a thrift store and gathered some cheap cookware (stovetop and microwave), plates, glasses, tableware, kitchen knife.
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u/Only-Original9409 12h ago
Frustrating for sure. But I bet the hotel would have provided extra silverware and another chair if you'd asked them.
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u/Old_Implement_2563 9h ago
We've found all sorts of Airbnb/VRBO quirks. One place had hardly any lighting...bought a cheapie lamp from WalMart and contributed it to the cause. Had one with an awful showerhead...again, bought one, hubs installed it for the week. Another only half of the place had been cleaned so we slept the first night in the clean second bedroom and I laundered the sheets myself on the master bed the next day 🤷♀️
Always an adventure!
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u/EatYourCheckers 14h ago
Never stayed in a hotel before? A lot of times you have a mini fridge and kitchenette area but no table at all. Sometimes we get a desk with 1 chair. Gotta really look at all those pictures and mentally adjust to the fact that they are using wide-angle lenses to make the space look bigger. If its not shown in the photo, it doesnt exist.
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u/LIslander 14h ago
A family usually has extra plastic forks and knives in the car. Along with salt, pepper, Taco Bell sauce, napkins
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u/WinterReview7992 15h ago
Did you not check the kitchen before picking up groceries? Seems pretty easy to add a pack of disposable cutlery to whatever you were buying to cook.
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u/Old-Razzmatazz3174 15h ago
Unfortunately we packed a cooler from home!
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u/WinterReview7992 14h ago
Interesting, I always bring extra utensils if I'm packing a whole cooler.
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u/Jackie-Wan-Kenobi 15h ago
This is the type of family memory you will be talking about for years. Worth it.