Hotel cancelling?

dubtom

Our hotel phoned today, one week before the wedding and cancelled six booked rooms out of a total of seventeen, the hotels capacity. We knew there were renovations going on but were assured that they wouldn't affect the day.They say that they have booked six rooms in a hotel somewhere else and will transport the guests who We choose to and from it.We feel left in a position now where we don't want any of our guests to feel that we're shoo shooing them off. My family are saying We should play hardball, say we can't make a decision, our familys are traveling from far and wide to be together on the day and insist that we get the rooms. TBH it's not in my nature to be the difficult client although I do feel agrieved to be in the situation. I should also mention that when we booked the rooms we had a guest list and each were assigned a room, depnding on how many people were sharing, children etc, but the hotel mentioned no particular rooms, ie room 6 is one of the rooms, joe blogs is staying there,that room is closed.They just said six rooms,take your pick..It left with the feeling that maybe they had double booked the rooms with people who were staying longer or whatever, which I might add would be fairly easy to find out at breakfast after the day, but it's too late then. Anything similar ever happen, any opinions on what we should do?

Flutterfly

There probably isn't too much you can do, if the hotel is actually organising for your guests to be put up somewhere else, the original 6 rooms obviously aren't in a fit state for anyone to stay in. Just put the relations your not too bothered about in the new hotel, and say "very sorry, nothing we could do, talk to the hotel manager". And have a chat with your wedding coordinator in the original hotel, say your very upset, angry etc etc, and see if they can give you some money of somewhere.

babaduck

Ok... this has happened to friends of mine & this is how they handled it

1. Tell the family to back off - you did not create the problem so there's no point in giving you grief. The most important point is that they are actually there on the day to celebrate your marriage, not where they sleep.

2. Ring the hotel manager now & tell them you want a meeting this weekend - not up for negotiation. They assured you that the renovations wouldn't affect your booking, and they have. To muck you around a week before your wedding is not acceptable.

Fair enough they are accommodating your guests elsewhere, but that's really not the point. Is the hotel the same or of a higher standard? How do they propose to transport the guests between the hotels as there will be two trips - one after they check in at the new hotel to get them to the reception venue, and another to get them back.

Will the moved guests be allowed to enter the residents bar in the original hotel

Will the moved guests be allocated rooms suitable to their needs

And finally, what do they propose to offer you two as compensation for the error? They're not the ones with relatives bleating in their ear over the muck-up and they should be falling over themselves to make sure you are happy.

If you want some specific advice, feel free to PM me

LegacyUser

dubtom wrote:

but the hotel mentioned no particular rooms, ie room 6 is one of the rooms, joe blogs is staying there,that room is closed.They just said six rooms,take your pick..It left with the feeling that maybe they had double booked the rooms

From what I read, the hotel have not picked 6 specific rooms, any 6 rooms will do. If that is the case then this has nothing to do with renovations.
Have a meeting, as was suggested above but I wouldn't let this ruin your day though! If I was a guest at your wedding it wouldn't bother me in the least.

RainyDay

It's up to you how much you want to get involved. Assuming that you didn't book the rooms yourself (i.e. your guests booked directly with the hotel), you could tell the hotel that it's nothing to do with you, and they need to sort it out with the guests. Maybe they are looking for you to do their dirty work for them.

If you want to choose who gets bumped, then you'll have to get involved. I would defintely make a big fuss and look for reductions/refunds to compensate.