Risking deposit for wedding reception?

Cadiz

My sister is getting married in April. She's looking at smallish country house hotels in Connemara for the reception.

I don't mean to sound like a harbringer of doom, but hotels are going under all the time at the moment. So I'm worried about her putting a deposit down in case the hotel goes out of business and she loses her money.

Any thoughts or experience on this anyone? If she pays her deposit using her credit card, does that give her any insurance?

victor1

She should look in to wedding insurance, should get decent cover for aprox 200euro? Its a fair point though, places going under every week, and some places you'd never have thought would have!

Cadiz

Never thought of that - I'm sure she hasn't either, I'll suggest it to her

€200 is small change compared to the cost of these gigs - fecking hell, €70 per head meals etc. etc. Mad.

victor1

Yep defo, best 200 you could spend for peace of mind, has she also asked the hotel what would happen if they were to go under?i.e do they have any policies in place ect?(of course they'll say that would never happen, bit they may give some idea of have they plans in place for bookings made ectect)

Cadiz

Well she's coming over (she lives abroad) this weekend to do a recce of a few of them this weekend.

She's spoken on the phone to a few and of course they say business is fine. What's interesting is that costs haven't come down at all at the places she is looking at.. Maybe money's still no object for weddings??

BC

Tell her to look at other places.
I was looking in Dublin and costs had come down in the majority of places. Also, most things are negotiable so she might have more luck in a face to face meeting.

On the wedding insurance, make sure to check the small print to ensure that the insurance covers the amount of the deposits you will pay before the big day. E.g some of the insurance packages only cover 3000 worth of deposits, if you'll have paid 5000 before the wedding then you could loose money.

NextSteps

Yes, be very careful with wedding insurance. I looked into it and decided that it would not cover many of the important things at all, or not enough to justify the cost.

Cadiz

Thanks for your replies guys

M&M55

Another option would be to put the Wedding deposit into a bond. The Bond agreement would have to be organised through solicitors. The way a bond works is that it you give the money to your solicior and and your solicitor gives the money to the hotels solicitor. THe hotels solicitors holds the deposit money for the hotel until the wedding day or the week before. Then the money is released to the hotel. The advantage of this is that if the hotel goes into receivership and is forced to close down before your wedding, you will get your money back as the hotel will never have the money but if you fail to go ahead with the wedding you will loose the deposit and the hotel keep the money.

cyning

Also (and I really don't know if this is the norm) we only had to pay a €500 deposit for hotel: rest due day after wedding. Some places were loking for 1/2 the cost of the meal etc to secure the booking (this for a wedding in 2 years) which wasn't something we were comfortable with. I would be very wary of paying a big deposit...

seejay

had the same problem last year, we took out wedding insurance. Most of the packages are geared towards having to rearrage due to illness etc, so check the "insolvency of suppliers" cover - we got €5k cover for €100 from one of the online wedding insurers. Made me much happer writing deposit cheques !!

Cadiz

seejay wrote: »

had the same problem last year, we took out wedding insurance. Most of the packages are geared towards having to rearrage due to illness etc, so check the "insolvency of suppliers" cover - we got €5k cover for €100 from one of the online wedding insurers. Made me much happer writing deposit cheques !!

Seejay would you mind telling me who you insured with? (On PM if you prefer?).

seejay

As far as i remember it was http://www.weddinginsurance.ie which was the first one i got from google



SECTION G – FAILURE OF SUPPLIERS
What You Are Covered For:


Following the bankruptcy or liquidation of
any pre-booked Wedding service supplier We
will pay up to the amount detailed in the
Summary for the following:
1. irrecoverable deposits
2. Additional Costs in arranging alternative
equivalent services
Cover under this Section commences from
the date the premium is paid, and applies
until completion of the Wedding or a claim
being made under this Section of the policy,
whichever occurs first.

Cadiz

Many thanks S

eamor

Could she pay with credit card? I could be wrong but I know I heard of some people getting their moneys back from Kinnity castle before it went under because their deposits were paid via Credit card??

Cadiz

Yeah Eamor that's what she was wondering herself, if she pays with credit card is she covered.. She will be checking that so I will post what she finds out on here..

Robin132

yes, the best thing to use to put a deposit on anything (not just weddings) these days is a credit card because if the company/hotel does go under then the credit card company will refund the money so you are guranteed it one way or another so yes she can use her credit card and its the safeist way.