This Saturday night, my husband and I are going to a B&B for our annual overnight getaway (we try to do it every year for our anniversary; our anniversary is today, but he won’t be home until Friday). I found a very nice-looking one, about an hour and a half away. The room I booked has a king-size bed with curtains around it; don’t know why I’m such a sucker for a curtained bed, but I am. The price was more than reasonable. But different B&Bs all have different ways of doing things, and we’ve never stayed at this one before. So I sent the inn-keeper an email asking if they serve an evening snack (some do) and also explaining that we often like to bring a bottle of vanilla vodka or maybe a bottle of champagne with us, to celebrate with, and asking if they would have soft drinks/ice available in the evening.
Well, the next day she called me. She was very nice about it, but told me their B&B, even though the website doesn’t say so, is tobacco-and-alcohol-free. Well, the tobacco-free, I understand. Non-smokers don’t like the lingering smell of smoke in the furniture/air, and neither of us are smokers anyway, so that doesn’t matter. But the alcohol? As long as we don’t get plastered and turn into assholes, what’s it to them?
So, here are our choices:
Cancel the reservations (she hasn’t processed the card yet) and find another place.
Just don’t take alcohol. It’s not like either one of us can’t live the night without a drink; we just like to toast to one another for our anniversary.
Take the alcohol, but be discreet about it. I mean, it’s not like they’re going to search our bags, and they do have soft drinks and ice available. If we took champagne, we could request a bowl of ice, and chill it in the sink.
We are going to a nice restaurant for dinner, and could certainly do our annual toast there, but we have always preferred to do it back at the hotel/B&B, where neither of us has to worry about driving after two glasses of champagne.
So, I’m not quite sure yet what we’re going to do.
IMHO the honorable thing to do is either #1 or #2. It is their home and they don’t want alcohol in it, and I would respect that. If it were me I’d cancel the reservation and politlely let them know why. I would also let them know that I wouldn’t be accepting any cancellation charges since the information about booze wasn’t disclosed upfront. Then I’d find another B&B. No use sneaking around like teenagers.
I’d cancel. That’s just weird; you should be able to toast your anniversary if you want to!
Plus, if they do have policies like that, it should be stated on their website, and mentioned before you book. When we’re out of town, one of the things we always want to do is try out wine that may not be available where we live; it’s extremely common to bring a bottle back to the B&B and have a tasting in the evening. I’d be incredibly pissed if I checked into a place and was only told at that point that they didn’t want alcohol there.
The seemingly constant human need for alcohol is both puzzling and disturbing to me. The tradition is a toast right? Just use a different drink, it’s not a big deal
Any trouble they “get” from people breaking “their” rules that results from them not being very forward about em, particularly when its a rule thats a deal breaker for many folks, is their own problem IMO.
What if you made the reservations way in advance, other stuff you wanted was booked up, and you didnt find out about this little rule until the last minute?
Sounds like it was a lucky accident that you actually found out about this rule.
IMO, if you can find something better elsewhere in time go there. And tell them why you went elsewhere, as well as the fact you think they should be more upfront and informative about this rule to possible guests. If you can’t go elsewhere, do it on the downlow if you really want it.
If rules are important to you and somewhat uncommon, make them CLEAR. Otherwise, don’t have em.
Thanks for all the input!
With the fall foliage on view, it would probably be difficult to find another place we like as well, so we probably will go with the idea of drinks/toasting before dinner, non-alcoholic drinks with dinner (plenty of time to be fine to drive), then maybe a bottle of sparkling cider in the room.
I’d cancel, not because I’m overly attached to having alcohol available, but because I hate being deceived. Having wine in a B&B is so common that I’d feel like omission of the policy on the website was deliberate, counting on people to not want to cancel their reservations at a place they wouldn’t have even have considered if they’d known the policy in advance.
What are you talking about? There’s nothing in this thread that indicates anyone feels this way. Keep your super negative thoughts about alcohol somewhere else. This is about a yearly special anniversary toast, and sorry but toasts are often or even usually done with alcohol.
I say rebook elsewhere if at all possible. If it isn’t possible because you don’t have enough time then sneak in a small bottle and don’t say a word about it.
Heh, that stuck out at me too. I wonder if the owners normally don’t mind a bottle of wine or such, but got nervous when informed by potential guests that they would be bringing along a bottle of vodka for their entertainment.
Sure, but she also said it’s not like either of them can’t live without it.
Personally, if I have a bottle of vodka it’ll last months unless I have a party or something, vodka alone doesn’t indicate they’re planning to get sloshed.
ETA: Personally, I would either cancel, and explain why, or not bring the alcohol at all.
It IS an odd rule for a B&B or any hotel-like establishment, so it’s something they’ll probably want to disclose on the website. Honestly, I wouldn’t even have thought to ask if I was allowed to bring a bottle of wine into my room at any hotel.
In the OP she said vodka OR champagne. And even if it were both, who cares? The comment still really was not warranted. Sorry if some people don’t like that special occasions and their celebrations often involve alcohol. If you don’t like it, go back in time and change it.
