[Avodah] Going to a Hotel for Shabbos/Yomtov

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 30/01/17 01:55, via Avodah wrote:
> A guest in a hotel only needs to know one thing:  who gives the
> hechsher?   If the hechsher is one that cannot be relied on to be
> careful about tevilas keilim, about bishul akum, or about checking for
> bugs, then the hechsher cannot be relied on, period.

In principle, this is not true.  as he says, in all three cases this is 
not a halachic requirement, but laxity in these three areas speaks to 
the hotel's attitude to kashrus.   No matter how good the hechsher, if 
the hotel wants to evade the mashgiach and get away with stuff, it will. 

  There needs to be a commitment to kashrus from the hotel, a 
willingness to do what's necessary to cater to the kosher consumers' 
expectations, and the mashgiach is there to tell tehm how to do that. 
Precisely because laxity in these three areas doesn't necessarily make 
the food treif, a hotel that cuts corners in these areas will be willing 
to admit it, but he says if it cuts corners here who knows what others 
it cuts that it won't tell you about.

[Email #2. -micha]

On 30/01/17 06:43, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> But I must confess I don't get these examples. People who rely on the
> Rama and just have a Jew turn on the gas -- "enient regrding bishul akum"
> are not violating bishul Yisrael...
> Or: greens washed and inspected by a mashgiach is a problem? Gush Katif
> or Bodek or the like didn't even exist when I got married...
...
> Food cooked in a non-toveled keli is still kosher. The problem is using
> the plate and silverware. But in any case, even baseline rabbanut requires
> tevilah, of course. Implying otherwise is motzi sheim ra.

That's precisely the point of these three tests. a hotel that cares
about catering to its observant clientele will go to the trouble and
slight expense of toveling everything, having everything at
sefardi-level bishul yisrael, and buying the 
slightly-more-expensive-but-far-more-reliable greens.  If they don't, it 
shows that they don't care, and therefore other things will also be wrong.

-- 
Zev Sero                May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
zev at sero.name           be a brilliant year for us all