Venue unable to give fixed fee?

Hilly_2010

Hi guys,

Yesterday we met with the Hotel Manager at a local wedding venue and we had a long and productive chat about various things and we've eventually decided that we want our wedding there.

However, given that our wedding is in 2014 (and they've just released the 2013 prices) he said quite openly that he was unable to give a 'fixed fee' as to how much things would cost.

I found this very quite frightening because the last thing I want is to put down a £1,000 deposit only to find that 2 years time, prices have gone up so much that we have to find another £1,000 from somewhere.

Is this a common thing? We thanked him for meeting with us and said that we'll be in touch. I'm going to email him at some point this week and say the following:

Firstly, thanks for taking the time to meet with Charlotte and myself yesterday, it was great to get answers to some of the questions we had. We've had a talk over things and we would very much like to book our wedding with yourselves for Saturday July 19th 2014, however our main worry we have is not being able to get a firm price on the cost of events.

As with any couple we obviously have a strict budget we've set ourselves and we need to ensure we stick to this. With this in mind we need to know how much of our budget to set aside for venue, how much to set aside for transport, how much to set aside for the honeymoon etc...

Now we realise that you said you couldn't guarantee prices at this time, but we're happy to pay the 2013 prices as they stand so we're hoping we can come to some sort of compromise to ensure that we can get a fixed fee which allows us to plan the rest of our wedding accordingly.

Unfortunately this is the major sticking point for us because as I'm sure you can understand, we don't want to effectly put a £1,000 deposit down, only to find that 2 years down the line we need to find an additional £1,000 because prices have gone up.

If we can come to some sort of agreeement, I'm happy to put the deposit down within 48 hours.

Thanks again for meeting us,

Mr X

Do you think realistically he's likely to turn us down, and say that's what we want, take it or leave it?

The whole thing seems very bizarre when couples obviously have budgets to stick to.

bubbles0169

id email them they can only say no and if they do id walk away! in this current clime surely theyd be stupid to turn you down?!
we booked our day in 2010 at 2010 prices except for VAT on 50% of the final bill 6 months and the rest two weeks ago(big day a week on sat!!!!)
we also got a discount because it was so early on

CompBunny

I really like the wording of your email, however I would change this paragraph:

"Unfortunately this is the major sticking point for us because as I'm sure you can understand, we don't want to effectly put a £1,000 deposit down, only to find that 2 years down the line we need to find an additional £1,000 because prices have gone up."

I would take it out completely for now and save it for further emails if required. Perhaps you could say something along the lines of "If we are unable to confirm a price for 2014 I regret that we will be unable to proceed with booking our wedding with you" to show that this really is an issue for you. I really like you saying that you would be happy to put down a deposit within 48 hours. I think you should very slightly tweak this sentence

"If we can come to some sort of agreement for a fixed final price for 2014, I'm happy to put the required deposit down within 48 hours."

Just to make it clear that you will not be increasing the amount you pay!

x

Hilly_2010

bubbles0169 wrote: »

id email them they can only say no and if they do id walk away! in this current clime surely theyd be stupid to turn you down?!
we booked our day in 2010 at 2010 prices except for VAT on 50% of the final bill 6 months and the rest two weeks ago(big day a week on sat!!!!)
we also got a discount because it was so early on

Thanks for this.

Going off our discussion yesterday, he didn't seem open to a bit of haggling. His opinion was, that was the price and either take it or leave it (he didn't put it as harshly as that though!). That's why I'm worried though, as the other half has her heart set on this place.

He may of course be playing hard ball, but I'm not the best at haggling at the best of times but I'm worried that given the date (prime time) he may be of the opinion that it'll get filled either way.

CompBunny wrote: »

I really like the wording of your email, however I would change this paragraph:

"Unfortunately this is the major sticking point for us because as I'm sure you can understand, we don't want to effectly put a £1,000 deposit down, only to find that 2 years down the line we need to find an additional £1,000 because prices have gone up."

I would take it out completely for now and save it for further emails if required. Perhaps you could say something along the lines of "If we are unable to confirm a price for 2014 I regret that we will be unable to proceed with booking our wedding with you" to show that this really is an issue for you. I really like you saying that you would be happy to put down a deposit within 48 hours. I think you should very slightly tweak this sentence

"If we can come to some sort of agreement for a fixed final price for 2014, I'm happy to put the required deposit down within 48 hours."

Just to make it clear that you will not be increasing the amount you pay!

x

Top advice. Will re-word it accordingly. Like I say above, just worried because the other half loves this place so much he may just say "Fine".

CompBunny

Hilly_2010 wrote: »

Thanks for this.

Going off our discussion yesterday, he didn't seem open to a bit of haggling. His opinion was, that was the price and either take it or leave it (he didn't put it as harshly as that though!). That's why I'm worried though, as the other half has her heart set on this place.

He may of course be playing hard ball, but I'm not the best at haggling at the best of times but I'm worried that given the date (prime time) he may be of the opinion that it'll get filled either way.


Top advice. Will re-word it accordingly. Like I say above, just worried because the other half loves this place so much he may just say "Fine".

If he just says "fine" then I'm sure he wouldn't turn down money offered to him if you change your mind and decide to proceed anyway! However, no matter how much your future wife loves the venue I'm sure she can see how concerning it is to have no idea how much you will be paying... I think it would be quite a risk to go ahead and book.

If the guy point blank refuses to tell you a price for 2014 could you ask when he will be in a position to give you a price and go from there?

jtr2803

Is it a chain or independant hotel?

I would be tempted to ask if you could add a contract clause that says when the 2014 prices are released, if the fee has risen by more than x% you have 14 days to either cancel or confirm your booking.

Some very popular venues can very much afford for you to walk away, I don't buy the 'everywhere is struggling line, one of the venues local to me is a) blinking expensive and b) booked solidly into 2015 unless you want to try and get a cancellation. Obviously your date will be a prime one too so haggling will be that much harder.

It will never hurt to ask though!

faithless

If he comes back and says no, the only other bargaining chip I can think is offering a larger deposit if you can afford it?
NB if you're paying large sums up front, and you want wedding insurance, most wedding insurance only covers payments made after the insurance is taken out, so you might want to sort it out online quickly.

Hilly_2010

jtr2803 wrote: »

Is it a chain or independant hotel?

I would be tempted to ask if you could add a contract clause that says when the 2014 prices are released, if the fee has risen by more than x% you have 14 days to either cancel or confirm your booking.

Some very popular venues can very much afford for you to walk away, I don't buy the 'everywhere is struggling line, one of the venues local to me is a) blinking expensive and b) booked solidly into 2015 unless you want to try and get a cancellation. Obviously your date will be a prime one too so haggling will be that much harder.

It will never hurt to ask though!

It's an independent hotel. See where you're coming from regarding a clause - perhaps I could word it something like:

"If when the 2014 prices are released and they are substantially different to the 2013 prices, we will only be liable to pay x% extra of the difference from the 2013 prices"

faithless wrote: »

If he comes back and says no, the only other bargaining chip I can think is offering a larger deposit if you can afford it?
NB if you're paying large sums up front, and you want wedding insurance, most wedding insurance only covers payments made after the insurance is taken out, so you might want to sort it out online quickly.

They want a £1,000 deposit currently, but if it'll help us secure things then I'm sure we can put down a larger deposit.

In terms of wedding insurance - good call. I never thought about that at all (silly me). Does anybody have any recommendations for cheap but good insurance providers?

The one I've found so far is:

http://www.my-weddinginsurance.co.uk

However, reading the small print it says that as part of the 'Cancellations & Expenses' cover - they are only entitled to pay out a maximum of £1,000 pound for a 'non-refundable' deposit on the venue. So if I was to put down a larger deposit, this could be an issue.

faithless

Wedding insurance is not very expensive but does seem to exclude a lot. Ecclesiastical do some, and I picked up a leaflet from John Lewis the other day about it. I haven't got any yet as I need to find one that covers payments already made as I've already booked my venue (hence my tip to you to get insurance first if you want it at all!)

You could pay all or part of the deposit on a credit card, as the total is over £100 then you have s75 Consumer Credit Act protection (ie as well as your contract claim against the hotel, you can claim against the credit card company for any breach of contract, v useful if the hotel goes bust)

Hilly_2010

faithless wrote: »

Wedding insurance is not very expensive but does seem to exclude a lot. Ecclesiastical do some, and I picked up a leaflet from John Lewis the other day about it. I haven't got any yet as I need to find one that covers payments already made as I've already booked my venue (hence my tip to you to get insurance first if you want it at all!)

You could pay all or part of the deposit on a credit card, as the total is over £100 then you have s75 Consumer Credit Act protection (ie as well as your contract claim against the hotel, you can claim against the credit card company for any breach of contract, v useful if the hotel goes bust)

Thanks again, faithless.

Looking at things I think Ecclesiastical have stopped their wedding insurance, but I see Debenham's do a version and I can get £15 cashback & 10% off with an online quote thanks to Quidco! So I might go with them.

I won't buy it just yet though because it's asking for a firm wedding date, so if we can't come to some sort of agreement with the venue (email has been sent by the way - eek!) then this may change. If they do agree, then I'll purchase the insurance before going to pay the deposit.

jtr2803

Dreamsaver are another company who were highly recommended to me, I like that you could mix and match various parts and choose the most appopriate cover for your wedding cost.

Fingers crossed that you get a good response on the email