wedding venue being brought out. need advice our wedding is 4 months away

tovtm

Hi we have a wedding booked in September this year with the Holton hotel in Farlington/Portsmouth. Thursday we had a phone call from the hotel manager saying they have been brought out by a company called St . James hotel Portsmouth and would be changing hands end of July and was ensured everything would stay the same as we was told when we booked last year. Today we received a letter explaining everything we talked on the phone about plus a sentence that reads

we also understand that you maui prefer to find an alternative venue, and if this is the case all monies already paid will be refunded, plus we are willing to offer you a goodwill payment of £2000.


Now this all sounds great we leave on hope to find somewhere else within 4 months and get an extra £2000 which would help us a lot. But what I have thought is WHY are they offering this goodwill to people to leave but not people who are staying it almost comes across like there trying to get rid of bookings.

what should I do in situation and is there anything else I have forgot I should be concerned about? We're also worried we have sent all our invitations out who quite a few are not from around our location and would be looking out for the Hilton brand name as this location is out of the way now we have got to write to these people again to change our expense again. Thanks for your time to read this in advance.

Kayalana99

I was under the impression that when a venue (place etc) changes hands, they don't have to honour any previous agreements as they are nothing to do with the new owner.

So basically the new owner can just refund your money and say get lost, perhaps you should call them back and find out why the offer of 2k?

(Based on a recent news article about a venue changing hands and she basically doubled all the prices or told them to get lost and a load of bride/groom stories were in the paper)

tovtm

That's was part of the agreement that Hilton put into place was. First part of the letter says.

St. James hotel limited team is fully committed to your event and as part of the hotel sale had agreed to fulfil your booking on terms and conditions originally aged and confirmed with you by the Hilton team.

I did think this too if there trying to get rid of already booked customers because they want to raise all the prices.

Morglin

Well, if you want to keep this venue, then just tell them that, and confirm, in writing, that the price hasn't risen.

If it's worrying you, then take the £2k and look for another venue.

It doesn't really matter why they are doing anything, it's just up to you what you prefer.

Lin

GobbledyGook

It's possible they are getting some complaints from people who want to leave because they want their wedding in a Hilton Hotel.

The £2000 could be their way of trying to stop any of those said people selling a sad face story to a magazine about how they booked a Hilton and then weren't able to cancel the new 'lesser brand' hotel to book another hotel without it costing them a fortune.

The last thing a new hotel wants is any sort of bad publicity

mountainofdebt

or maybe they want to clear the hotel of bookings so they can carry out alterations - and by offering £2K to people 'to go away' that's an easier way of making a window.

I would have thought it was a high risk gamble to cancel your (confirmed) booking in the hope that they can a)raise prices and b) get a confirmed booking for the same date all in 4 months

As for writing could you ring/email around instead?

As Morglin has said what do you prefer to do?

tovtm

We would like to stay but was just confused as to why offer people who wants to cancel 2k for compensation but not to anyone who stays. Only thing we don't like is we booked as the name hilton which is pretty well known and we have no idea who this new owner is as Google dosent find any results. I'm just waiting to hear back from them as the new owner was mentioned to be calling me but hasn't as of yet but just wanted to know all your opinions.

Like you say the 2k would be great however As they've only just told us 4 months is very tight time frame to sort everything new out.

Horace

I found this on the internet about the St James's Hotel Group.
http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Business/St-James-s-Hotel-Group-acquires-fourteen-UK-hotels

Some of the hotels taken over by the St James's Hotel Group were owned by Forestdale Hotels who were in administration. So it is better that they have been bought out otherwise customers like yourself may have been left without a wedding at all and out of pocket money wise.

When a hotel gets taken over it isn't unusual for letters to be sent to all customers who made bookings prior to the change of owner. They are being fair in giving customers the opportunity to either keep their booking or find another venue (difficult when it is so close to your wedding day and similar venues are often booked 12-24 months in advance) which is why they are making a goodwill gesture.

I would be inclined to write to the hotel and confirm that you wish to keep your booking as it is unlikely you will find an alternative venue so close to your wedding. State that you wish the price you paid to remain the same and is there anything else that they can offer you to make your day extra special. (if you don't ask then you don't get).

£2000 goodwill gesture is tempting but you do need to consider the costs of finding an alternative venue at this late state - this is not only costs in time, stress but also in terms of money because an alternative venue may cost more. Brides have enough stress as it is without having to find a new venue.

Good luck with your wedding.

mountainofdebt

Also remember just because people know a 'name' doesn't necessarily mean that everything will be perfect - things do go wrong even with the best of brands

totallybored

Take the money, go to Vegas to get married and use the 2k for a party when you get back!

Or take the money, have your wedding ceremony and don't bother with a reception and save yourself a load of money.

susancs

I just googled the HIlton Portsmouth and they seem to have been offering some very good wedding package deals such as:
http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/portsmouth/Hilton-Portsmouth/14259297

I would think that as the new owners are offering you your money back and a £2000 incentive that you probably got a good deal on the wedding package, that is not as profitable, as the new owners would like. I expect that the hotel group has considered that if they cancelled it would generate bad publicity from you and any of your wedding party who have already booked rooms in the hotel for the wedding, which they would want to avoid at all costs.

The new owners will have a reputation to build up and will want good reviews on sites like Tripadvisor etc from you and your wedding party, so I would think it would be a good place to have a wedding. As a precaution I would just confirm that there are no planned building works going on around the date of your wedding and the inside and outside of the premises and they will be in the same good condition as when you viewed them e.g. not have scaffolding up outside etc.

I hope that you have a lovely wedding day.