Room service leaves plenty to be desired

COMPLAINTS about the standard of food at Tasmanian quarantine hotels have flooded in after images of meals described by some as “inedible” surfaced.

The Mercury was contacted by travellers who criticised the fare given to them during their mandatory 14-day hotel stays.

One was Merrill Ayers, who stayed at the Ibis hotel in Hobart after visiting her grandchildren in Brisbane.

Mrs Ayers, of Lenah Valley, who was released from her two-week quarantine on Thursday, rated the quality of the food she was served during her stay as being four out of 10.

“Everything there was lukewarm. You were lucky if you got a hot meal at all,’’ she said.

“I quite enjoyed the bangers and mash, it was better than the alternatives, but the next night they gave me chicken nuggets and chips. That would be something I would serve to my four-year-old grandchild.”

Mrs Ayers said her children felt guilty about her being stuck in a hotel and ordered her Uber Eats meals for three nights towards the end of her quarantine.

“When you are locked up like that, your mindset is in another place and everything seems bigger than Ben Hur,’’ she said.

After regaining her freedom, Mrs Ayers said she received good news that she would not have to pay the $2800 fee for her stay.

A state government spokesman said the Department of Communities — which oversees the quarantine program — had arrangements that provided for “quality food at industry standard”.

“Our advice from the hotel in question is that the images depicted in the media are not an accurate reflection of how the meals were served and some were, in fact, meals not served by the hotel,’’ he said.

“We encourage anyone in Hobart’s quarantine hotels with concerns around their food, or any other matter, to immediately contact the government liaison officers at each hotel so they can be looked into appropriately.”

A traveller who stayed at the Ibis last month, Jayson

Cook, said he was happy with the standard of the food.

“I could not fault the Ibis and could not fault the food,’’ Mr Cook said. “The staff were awesome and we were always getting phone calls on the hotel phone or on our mobile checking on us and seeing how we were going.”

The man said he also received a gift because his birthday fell during his quarantine period.

Another returned traveller, university student Mitchell Rickard, stayed at a hotel in Tasmania’s North-West and said the food was “very average”.

“It was just appalling,’’ Mr Rickard, 20, said. “I got a roast chicken that was just a carcass, we got raw pork one night and a salad we received was rotten.”

Another traveller who quarantined at a hotel in Launceston in July — and who did not want to be identified — said she was served lasagne that had raw sheets of pasta, and chicken that appeared to be not cooked properly.

She said she ended up buying most of her meals from Uber Eats, which cost her about $50 a day.

The state government, which was sent images of some of the food served to those in quarantine, have defended the quality of the food.

Accor, parent company of the Ibis chain, has declined requests for comment.