Please help - hotel has double booked

mea

Hi

We have just found out that the hotel we had booked our wedding at (for next july) has double-booked and have another wedding that day (they have a strict on-wedding-a-day policy).

We have already booked our church, priest, band, hair, makeup, along with other things.

Can anyone help us understand where we stand in this situation?
We are very upset as we had our hearts set on this particular hotel but it seems the church and band may not both be available on any of the other dates that the hotel has available.

Would appreciate if anyone could help us understand our rights here or any advice would be great.

Thanks

peggie

you poor thing, very stressful time for you right now,
have you checked why or how the mistake happened- it may be you that booked and paid first, if not does the hotel have a sister hotel that would be suitable for you?
i hope you have a great wedding and that this resolves itself to your favour
peg

mea

Thanks Peggy.
Another couple had paid their deposit before us so it's only fair that they get to keep their booking. The hotel had entered their date in the book incorrectly which is how this has happened.

We had our hearts set on this hotel, and in a way we still do despite what's happened as we just love the whole feel of the place.

Just wondering what kind of compensation we would be entitled to because it looks like the band that we love are not available on any of the hotel's alternative dates and so our day is no longer going to be 'perfect'.

Cavehill Red

Do you have any form of written agreement that they would host your wedding on your chosen date?
If so, take it to a solicitor, who will advise you whether it can be enforced.

mea

All we have is the receipt we got for the deposit, which has the wedding date on it. There were no T&C's on it.
Thanks for the advice, will look into the solicitor thing tomorrow.

whatswhat

apart from the Hotel, can you still have the church, band and all the other services you have booked?

mea

Yea all other bookings are still intact at the moment until we decide what to do.

I know some people might think we're crazy still considering the same hotel, but we've been together a long time and always dreamed of having our wedding there.

Dempo1

mea wrote: »

Hi

We have just found out that the hotel we had booked our wedding at (for next July) has double-booked and have another wedding that day (they have a strict on-wedding-a-day policy).

We have already booked our church, priest, band, hair, makeup, along with other things.

Can anyone help us understand where we stand in this situation?
We are very upset as we had our hearts set on this particular hotel but it seems the church and band may not both be available on any of the other dates that the hotel has available.

Would appreciate if anyone could help us understand our rights here or any advice would be great.

Thanks

Firstly, dreadful situation which should not have happened. I'm in the business so here are my thoughts

Firstly, I am surprised you have no contract, it is normal practice a detailed contract would be entered into and signed on receipt of a deposit. You mentioned the hotel has a strict one wedding per day policy and it will be important to get details of this claim, either by way of brochures or their current website. Such a claim will be critical in any consideration of going the legal route. It is irrelevant who paid the deposit first, the deposit was paid and excepted in good faith. I would also be interested to know when you actually found out another wedding was booked on the same date, for example was it shortly after you booked or a longer time frame?

Its difficult to advise if you are entitled to compensation as such but this is a matter that does need to be investigated. On a professional level i would be concerned about you now considering this venue as trust and confidence clearly have broken down and this could play on your mind even if you were able to now secure the date booked. From a hotels perspective such a relationship is critical and in my experience planning can stretch for over two years with a dedicated coordinator dealing directly with the bride and groom.

Finally your receipt and date will be critical and form of payment if you are considering the legal route. Honestly, my thinking is this venue grabbed the bigger of the two events booked on this date, sadly a practice becoming all the more common in the current economic climate crucifying the industry.

Best wishes with this

whatswhat

I sympathise,its a tough one but you have said that the other couple have paid a deposit.If I were in your shoes, I would not want to spend time and energy on what went wrong,whos fault and why? Its your day and seems no matter what you do or say,you are not going to get that Hotel on that day. You need to prioritise on the things most important to you.If the Hotel is your first choice, then you have to change the date of the wedding,but as they caused all your upset to start with,its only fair that they compensate you in a way favourable to you.However,if the band and church and all the other services are still available,is there any possibility that you could consider another Hotel? Seems to me that your word of the day,unfairly forced on you,is compromise.Good Luck with everything and hope you find a positive outcome.

mea

Thanks Dempo1.

In response to your queries - they have details of the 'strict one-wedding-a-day policy' on both their brochure and their website. We just paid our deposit last week and were given the bad news 2 days later

smelltheglove

If its meant for you it will not pass you by, maybe its not meant to be, any chance of saying the hotel? Not to name and shame just to maybe get some ideas of alternatives that are similar?

Dempo1

mea wrote: »

Thanks Dempo1.

In response to your queries - they have details of the 'strict one-wedding-a-day policy' on both their brochure and their website. We just paid our deposit last week and were given the bad news 2 days later

Seems to me mea some one at this hotel made a major Boo Boo but i do tend to agree with other contributors when they say that perhaps after such a fundamental error on the Hotels behalf another venue might be advisable. At this stage you are both rightly upset and i doubt you would be able to forgive this venue for what has happened. Given its only a week and you have made other commitments/bookings, i am sure if you act fast you can alter these arrangements. I still feel you should pursue this matter if only to find out why this happened.

clint_silver

Dempo1 wrote: »

Seems to me mea some one at this hotel made a major Boo Boo but i do tend to agree with other contributors when they say that perhaps after such a fundamental error on the Hotels behalf another venue might be advisable. At this stage you are both rightly upset and i doubt you would be able to forgive this venue for what has happened. Given its only a week and you have made other commitments/bookings, i am sure if you act fast you can alter these arrangements. I still feel you should pursue this matter if only to find out why this happened.

I dont think there is any legal route to be taken, the date was taken in error, its unfortunate, its not like their saying they wont host the wedding due to other reasons like background, and I take it theyve offered alternative date.

Mistakes happen, they shouldnt, but they do, and when they do I think you have to judge the offender by how they react.

As it seems to have been caught quick enough in this case, if theyre extremely apologetic and willing to do as much as they can to help OP get another venue and either contribute or give a free nights stay, or a dinner or "something" to make up for it then I would just accept it rather then pushing as it would only cause stress, the OP seems to have accepted they wont get their hotel on their night.

The other side is if the hotel just want to wash their hands of it, I would scream up and down the country with the name of the hotel so people could avoid.

Without knowing the exact timeframes, there would seem to be enough time to get another venue, so it may be better to concentrate efforts on this but I repeat it would depend on how the hotel have reacted post-mistake that would guage how far Id let it lie. Only the OP can decide that.

pa99rk

Recently had a similar situation happen while trying to tie down a date with a venue. We didn’t have a deposit paid nor had we as many arrangements made but left after with the date in our heads and hearts. When we called a week later to pay the deposit we found out that the date had been given to another couple who were in the book at the time we booked but we were assured they had been given adequate time to confirm and had not.

We don’t feel this was intentional and we have secured another date with teh sae venue. Does anyone have experience of negotiating with a venue post this type of scenario?

clint_silver

pa99rk wrote: »

Recently had a similar situation happen while trying to tie down a date with a venue. We didn’t have a deposit paid nor had we as many arrangements made but left after with the date in our heads and hearts. When we called a week later to pay the deposit we found out that the date had been given to another couple who were in the book at the time we booked but we were assured they had been given adequate time to confirm and had not.

We don’t feel this was intentional and we have secured another date with teh sae venue. Does anyone have experience of negotiating with a venue post this type of scenario?

Well, youd be negotiating on their goidwill as You have no case here at all. First to put down deposit secures. Has to be that way. However I'd be interested to see if the hotel had confirmed the date with you and you had agreed on a date for you to pay the deposit at which time your booking lapses.
Also, why did you leave the hotel without paying the deposit?

Theboinkmaster

mea wrote: »

Thanks Dempo1.

In response to your queries - they have details of the 'strict one-wedding-a-day policy' on both their brochure and their website. We just paid our deposit last week and were given the bad news 2 days later

This seems a bit odd:

- paid deposit last week and received cancellation 2 days later
- in that 2 days you booked your church, priest, band, hair, makeup, along with other things
- you still want to have your wedding in this hotel