Venue Problems

alexia75

We are having some teething problems with our venue - I'm hoping someone else will have had similar issues.

Our venue is a small family-run hotel which seems to have a lot of trouble with booking confirmations. When we first booked our reception with them, we tried several times to get a confirmation of our booking from them as well as receipt of the deposit we had paid. In the end we had to present ourselves at the desk to receive a copy. Now we are receiving calls and emails from our guests who are also unable to extract booking confirmation.

I know this must seem like quite a trivial thing but it concerns me because surely it should be one of the most basic elements of running a hotel? Even if they don't send out confirmation as a matter of course (and we think they do, because my inlaws-to-be received confirmation with no prompting) promising to supply confirmation on several ocassions to guests and then failing to do so is poor customer service. They have even lied to us, and one of our guests, by saying that they had sent it by email already when they hadn't.

Of course, if this is the only problem we have with them then it won't seem like such a big deal in a year's time and we'll have got off pretty lightly. But I'm worried that it seems symptomatic of a wider disorganisation. I mean, if they can't organise themselves to send out an email how can they organise a wedding?

We didn't see any other venues in the area that we liked half as much as this one, and I still really want our wedding there but at the same time trepidation at what else could go wrong is beginning to spoil the fizzy excitement I get when I think about it. We can also ill afford to lose our deposit. What would you do in our place?

Debbiecatal

I think I would ask for an appointment to see the manager and then go in and list your issues and voice your concerns regarding it affecting other areas that will impact upon your day. I would explain how much you like the venue and want to have confidence in them, and agree with them procedures that they will follow to ensure appropriate service. Ask for a named contact with whom you can discuss issues as they arise. You can then monitor the situation and hopefully they will raise their game. Good luck!

alexia75

Thanks for your reply.

My partner called them this morning and spoke with our contact there (I'm trying to be circumspect because I don't want to be identifiable). They are promising to send the confirmations out today, and CC us into the emails so that we can see it's been done. Unfortunately, having heard their promises before I'm not holding my breath...

We don't live locally but we'll be going down in the next few weeks to discuss it face to face.

Sammy85_2

I would definately make an appointment to visit them and discuss your issues. Follow it up with an email so you have something in writing regarding any agreements you have made to rectify the issues.

floss2

Sammy85 wrote: »

I would definately make an appointment to visit them and discuss your issues. Follow it up with an email so you have something in writing regarding any agreements you have made to rectify the issues.

And when you've made the appointment, send an email confirming the date, time & who you are meeting with the list of things you wish to discuss at the meeting. Then afterwards, do as Sammy suggests, follow-up with an email to confirm who has agreed to do what.

RainbowDrops

Have you looked up the venue on trip advisor to see if there have been similar issues in the past?

alexia75

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I think putting it all in writing would be a really good move, I'll do that (especially if we don't hear back anything more about the emails, still nothing and we spoke to them before 10am this morning).

RainbowDrops - Yes we looked on tripadvisor. There's only a couple of reviews there, but they're both positive.

RainbowDrops

Air, well fingers crossed that's a good sign.

alexia75

Still nothing from them. I've sent an email to our contact so we'll see if we can even get a basic email out of them.

It's upsetting that something which is seemingly so trivial is spoiling our enjoyment of wedding planning.

Scotsbride

with out wanting names I would if get know joy from your contact see if you can find out who their boss is and keep going up the chain

sammy_wheeler

i echo what scotsbride says

also when you said this- They have even lied to us, and one of our guests, by saying that they had sent it by email already when they hadn't.

is your guest sure that it didnt go to their spam inbox?

anyway yeh i would go higher up if you want to
is there anyone that could go in the venue for you (i know you mentioned you dont live close)