Very annoyed at our venue (again)

sexki11en

Aside from the issue of our venue trying to charge me £175 for a room to get ready in before the ceremony (which I have yet to complain about) I have logged onto their site today to see what the cost of a room is normally compared to our 'discounted' rate of £125 a night for guests. Only to find that you can book rooms on their site for £89 for that date!! I have double checked and these are the same rooms at the advanced rate. Why do my guests have to pay £36 a night more to attend our wedding???

Aghhhhhh......do they think we're stupid? I'm so angry that we're paying all this money and they're just ripping us off.

I fully intend to sit down tonight (when i've calmed down) and write an email asking what on earth is going on. If nothing is done I am the type of person who will cut my nose off to spite my face and walk away, loose the £500 deposit and struggle to find somewhere else with 5 months to go on principle!

What would you guys do? I need someone outside, with a clearer head than I have right now to advise.

SK x

chickadee

Why not just call them and (calmly) ask them why they charge your guests the advance rate? Tell them that you have seen their rooms on their website at £89. You could always cancel your room bookings and re-book through the website. I bet they reduce the price for you.

I know what you mean though...mention the 'W' word and prices double!

*Louise*

I would be annoyed as well!!!

If the venue is close by (?) I would go in and ask to speak to the manager, then very nicely ask why the venue is trying to charge you more than the standard price...hoefully there is a reasonable explanation.

I'm afraid if there was no good reason, I am the sort of person who would be threatening to walk away and tell everyone how they were trying to rip me off. (Start by naming and shaming on here lol)

Itsgottabedone

If the room types are definitely the same, could it be that the £89 rate requires full payment at time of booking and do not permit any refund in the event of cancellation? And that the rooms they're holding for your guests have not been pre-paid and can be cancelled up to a day or so prior to the event? Or that the £125 rate includes breakfast, whereas the £89 is for room only?

debs2327

aww i hope you get it all sorted hun thats a lot to pay for a room , we have been pricing for a room for the friday night for me and my daughters and for me to get ready in and its coming up at £140 per night cos we need to stay till the afternoon :-( i only wanted a hotel room so my photos of me getting ready and pre ceremony is nicer than in my house , its a lot to pay considering that weve kept the budget down loads x hope u get sorted hun xx

BodyShopBabe_2

My venue started messing us about with price rises etc. I phoned around and found our new venue which we loved but couldn't afford when we were looking last year. They did it for half price and are throwing in loads of extras. All because we booked at such short notice (5 weeks before the wedding).

Ultimately we are trying to get our £650 deposit back but we have more than made it back in savings at the new place. Our venue was trying to recoup as much lost profit from us as they admitted "...we have no weddings until the end of May so have to make our money back from somewhere...!"

It would do no harm for you to phone around and see what deals places are prepared to give you locally so you have something to threaten your venue with. They will get scared that you are serious about cancelling and more than likely will drop the room rate.

I'd definitely not recommend cancelling but no harm in threatening them with it

Hope you get it sorted.

Evansangel

Watch out though, if you do threaten to cancel they may just say "ok then" and follow it through!
That would be rubbish

xxx

sexki11en

Thanks for the advice everyone. I won't cancel (not just yet anyway) I'm going to sit down in a bit and e mail explaining I am not very happy and asking for an explanation on the room rates and the fact that I have to pay for a room to get ready in when I was told there would be one for me.

If I don't get the answers I want, we have a few other options before cancelling - including the fact that the hotel over the road from us have offered rooms at £45 so we'll ship EVERY SINGLE guest (over 150!) to that hotel to stay so they don't have our business as far as that goes.

SK x

Sammy_Girl

Ok, you need to think carefully!! They will say that the rooms are £89 because they are advanced purchase rates and the guests will have to pay for them now and they will be non refundable and non changeable.

If I were you, I would give the website to your guests who you know 100% are attending and get them to book now at the discounted rate - but no mention of your wedding when they book them. Once they have booked and paid, then you can reduce your wedding allocation accordingly.

Please be aware, that if you go all guns blazing to the hotel, then at a click of a button they can withdraw the advance purchase rate and leave you with no option but the wedding rate. I used to do this when I worked for Hilton. If the hotel thinks that you're aware of the advanced purchase rate then they can and will withdraw it. But, at some time they will make it available again as they'll need to sell the rooms.

So, to recap lol - get your parents, close friends etc who you know are attending to book on the website (as once paid they can't be cancelled), and then in your invites put the website down and advise the guests to check for the advance purchase rate first before calling the hotel to book the wedding rate. Any bedrooms allocated to your wedding that aren't taken up before the wedding are released without charge to you.

Knew that my hotel knowledge would come in useful one day lol.

Good luck!

paddingtondoo

My friend had exactly this with her daughters wedding. They were going to be charged wedding rate of £125 rather than the normal amount of £85.

She rang and asked why and said fine would hire a bus and ship everyone in for the wedding then ship them out again afterwards.

Hotel backed down and they all paid £85 (I live 5 mins down the road so didn't affect me) This was however for last Saturday so don't think they would have been reselling many for the first week of March.

sal-ad_daze

We were given 'preferred' rates when my daughter booked her wedding, I asked if the rooms were available cheaper on line etc. would our guests be given the cheaper rate and we were told flat out 'no'!
Even the Bride and Groom have to pay full rate for their room.