All-inclusive and hotels with coeliac disease: how to check before you book

Every resort says it has gluten-free options. What you need to know is how the kitchen handles them. The good news: you can find that out before you pay, with one email and a few specific questions. Here is how, whether it’s an all-inclusive in the sun, a family hotel with half board or a city hotel breakfast.

Why a buffet needs more questions

Buffets are where cross-contact happens most easily: shared serving spoons, bread crumbs near the salads, a shared toaster, the fryer for chips and breaded food, and dishes refilled from the kitchen without labels. A resort can offer lots of gluten-free food and still not be a good fit if everything sits on the open buffet. What makes the difference is whether someone prepares your food separately.

The email to send before you book

Write to the hotel directly (not only the booking platform) and keep the answer. Copy this and adjust it:

Hello, we are thinking of booking [dates] for [number] guests. One of us has coeliac disease, a medical condition: even a small amount of gluten (wheat, barley, rye) makes them ill. Could you tell us:

• Can the kitchen prepare meals separately for a coeliac guest, rather than from the open buffet?
• Do you have gluten-free bread, and how is it toasted or warmed?
• Is there a separate fryer for gluten-free food?
• Is there a named person (chef or manager) we can speak to on arrival?
• Is this available in all the restaurants included in our board, or only some?

Thank you, we look forward to your reply.

If the hotel’s staff mostly speak another language, send it in their language too: our translation cards cover the key sentences.

How to read the reply

• A good sign: they answer each question, name a person, describe a separate preparation area or sealed products, mention a separate toaster or fryer, and invite you to introduce yourself to the chef on arrival.
• A weak sign: “we have gluten-free options on the buffet”, “our staff are trained” with no detail, or a reply that doesn’t mention cross-contact at all.
• An honest “no” is useful too. A kitchen that tells you it can’t separate your food has saved you a difficult week.

On arrival

• Ask to meet the chef or the restaurant manager on the first evening, before you eat.
• Ask for the allergen information for each dish. In the EU and the UK, hotels and restaurants must be able to tell you which of the 14 main allergens, including cereals containing gluten, are in each dish. It tells you the allergens, not how the kitchen keeps your food apart.
• Agree how it will work: made-to-order plates, a separate station, or dishes brought from the kitchen.
• Go to the buffet early, before serving spoons have moved between dishes, if you do eat from it.
• Pack a reserve: gluten-free snacks and breakfast for the first day, and for excursions.

With a coeliac child

Tell the kids’ club as well as the restaurant: snacks, cooking activities, sweets and birthday cake are where children’s plans go wrong. Ask who hands out snacks and whether you can leave a labelled box of your child’s own food with them.

Keep reading

• The hotel breakfast buffet, decoded
• Shared fryers and gluten
• Translation cards
• Gluten-free at Europe’s theme parks
• Dining Questions: what to ask, in your language

Built from the questions our community asks most about holidays, and from our own hotel breakfast and fryer guides. Allergen information: EU Regulation 1169/2011 and its UK equivalent, the Food Information Regulations 2014. Last checked: 28 September 2026. No hotel is named: when a hotel answers a reader’s email well, tell us and we’ll check it. We inform, we don’t diagnose: for medical questions, your doctor or dietitian has the last word.