Wedding accommodation problem

Tango One

So I booked with our wedding venue over a year ago, we have another two month to go. Problem is bar the rooms they held for us(about 15% of hotels capacity) it completely booked up. We did mention at the time of booking we would need more but never put anything in writing as we took it would be alright. Now we could probably live with what we have but its very disappointing all the guest who want stay can't. To make matter worse we were having a BBQ the next day at the hotel and want to make a long weekend of it but can't now because the following day is completely booked up too. They never even held a room for us. Is this just bad service on there part they never thought to call about the hotel filling up. It's are first time getting married (and only time!) so we put alot of faith in the hotel to help with our requirement as they do this a lot more. I wouldn't mind but going through the hotels check list they mention 2 months before discuss final bedroom requirements with the hotel.

mitosis

You can't expect the hotel to hold rooms on the possibility you might want them. What if you didn't and they end up with an 85% empty hotel?

Tango One

mitosis wrote: »

You can't expect the hotel to hold rooms on the possibility you might want them. What if you didn't and they end up with an 85% empty hotel?

That wasn't what I was looking for like I said I mention I would need more room to them, wouldn't you look out for a client who will more than like be spending more money that any other possible guest that day?. Not to mention I said we would be staying over the next day for a BBQ and no room was kept for us.

Merkin

I think holding 15% of the hotel rooms is fair enough tbh, don't you think that's a reasonable enough per centage?

Tango One

Merkin wrote: »

I think holding 15% of the hotel rooms is fair enough tbh, don't you think that's a reasonable enough per centage?

I do but it would of been good customer service to keep an eye on our date after us telling them we would need more. My gripe is more the next day when showing us around they mentioned that they move the bride and groom to the smaller suite the next day so we took it as we had the room.

Senna

I would agree, they should have gave you a call when they seen the hotel was filling up, but you cant expect them to remember that you mentioned you might need more rooms, they probably have 40/70/100 weddings per year and they cant be expected to remember things that come up in conversation with every B&G.

Is there another hotel close by that could hold all the other guests? At-least all your guests could be between two hotels rather than 4 or 5.

clint_silver

Tango One wrote: »

Merkin wrote: »

I think holding 15% of the hotel rooms is fair enough tbh, don't you think that's a reasonable enough per centage?

I do but it would of been good customer service to keep an eye on our date after us telling them we would need more. My gripe is more the next day when showing us around they mentioned that they move the bride and groom to the smaller suite the next day so we took it as we had the room.

When you send out invites you tell people you have x amount of rooms kept and to ask for the wedding when booking. On the invite You list alternative locations if guests either don't want to stay there or can't stay there. It's not your reponsability after that. That's the has always been and the way it should be. If there isn't alternative location nearby then you may have to do something like lay on a bus to bring guests somewhere. But there's usually b&bs.

As for the day after Hotels dont look out for things like that unless, as mentioned above, you had it in writing.

I know its the one day you may ever do this but Write it off as an organizational experience and a lesson learned.

stinkle

As someone else asked - are there any other hotels nearby? Try not to stress, if I was your guest and rang up only to be told it was booked up then I'd ring a nearby hotel instead. These things happen. It'd be great if they'd had more rooms set aside, but from a guest point of view I'd just assume I'd left it a bit late to book and to try another place!

Two of my relatives have had/are planning weddings in "country house" type venues, which had very little room for all the guests to stay so they just sent out details of other local hotels with the invites. No one had any problems with this

D3PO

Cant blame the hotel here. They are a business and a large part of that is selling their accomadation.

If you thought you needed more rooms you should have reserved more. Its unfortunate but Im sure there is a hotel or b&b's close so its a minor inconvenience rather than a major issue TBH.

Tango One

I can understand it's a business but felt it was misleading(probably not intentionally) to tell us they normally move the bride and groom to a smaller suite the next day. It's not like it's coming as a shock to the hotel that we wanted rooms the next day we did tell them, we also had the BBQ booked. The nearest hotel wouldn't be too far away but rather than moved to another hotel I might as well just go home, which is really taking away from what we had planned. Cheers for the advice everyone

clint_silver

Tango One wrote: »

I can understand it's a business but felt it was misleading(probably not intentionally) to tell us they normally move the bride and groom to a smaller suite the next day. It's not like it's coming as a shock to the hotel that we wanted rooms the next day we did tell them, we also had the BBQ booked. The nearest hotel wouldn't be too far away but rather than moved to another hotel I might as well just go home, which is really taking away from what we had planned. Cheers for the advice everyone

If you wanted them, why didn't you book them at the time you told the hotel you were talking to them? Hotels base their business on bookings, not conversations about bookings.
They wouldn't be in business very long if they did.

Jems

i think you are all being a bit harsh here. any hotel with a wedding co-ordinator of any worth would know about every wedding in their hotel.

15% is not very many rooms. they could've held more a bit closer to the day or given a cut off date for when they would be released to the general public.
they could've rang tango one & said when they were at 50% capacity to ask their guests wanted to get booked.
I got married recently and got this service. every couple knows they are not the only ones getting married in that hotel, but a hotel should make them feel like they are and give them as much assistance as possible. they are getting paid enough!

also I can't believe they didnt keep bride & groom a room for the 2nd night when you are planning a BBQ there?! :eek: that is ridiculous. its fairly obvious that if you are going to hold a function the 2nd night you will want to stay in the hotel again. its not rocket science just poor business. at worst they could provisionally book you rooms & refer back if you wanted to proceed.
I wouldn't have a 2nd night there after all this.
can you pm me the hotel?

PCPhoto

OP ... if you had booked properly you should have enough rooms ... we booked 50 rooms when we booked our wedding.

We would be fairly confident on getting them booked - and possibly more !

if you are really that annoyed by it ... change the venue of your wedding - goto another hotel !! (I'm assuming you booked a weekend which is a bank holiday or is a busy weekend...hence why all the rooms are now gone....did you tell your guests where you were getting married prior to sending out invites.)

these days Hotels are not bending over backwards to facilitate you ...and you seem to have the attitude that they should !!

Jems

OP is hardly asking them to bend over backwards?! and yes hotels should.
hotels should be doing all they can to get the best feedback possible from their weddings, it is a major source of revenue. they're not just hiring a section in the bar.
our hotel held 50% at a reduced rate and it was a lot smaller venue. it also sent me reservations list so I could see who was booked and who I might need to chase up to get booked. they would never let the place get close to booking out before contacting me.
To be honest, I think you all have pretty low standards of expected customer service. OP is right to be miffed.

PCPhoto

Jems wrote: »

OP is hardly asking them to bend over backwards?! and yes hotels should.
hotels should be doing all they can to get the best feedback possible from their weddings, it is a major source of revenue. they're not just hiring a section in the bar.
our hotel held 50% at a reduced rate and it was a lot smaller venue. it also sent me reservations list so I could see who was booked and who I might need to chase up to get booked. they would never let the place get close to booking out before contacting me.
To be honest, I think you all have pretty low standards of expected customer service. OP is right to be miffed.

chances are that the OP booked their wedding and a gig/festival has been announced at the same time or its a bank holiday weekend and the hotel started booking up - the OP should have thought well..maybe we should tell our guests to book up (we'll be telling our family members soon - and we have over 12months left before our date...we also have provisionally booked 50rooms.)

The OP cant expect the hotel to read the mind of the OP, granted I agree with you that its bad form that maybe the hotel should have contacted the OP and told him/her that rooms were being booked and they should inform their guests that the hotel is near capacity.

Tango One

Just to make it a bit clearer we met on multiple occasion with them prior to booking and said what we wanted a BBQ, having it on Friday for a long weekend etc. We were walking away from the hotel, as we had read a few bad reviews and it was a bit pricer that other similar hotels. They came back with a better price on the condition we book a minimum of 15% of the room which wasn't a problem, we also said we would need more. We also told them that we needed rooms for the next day, but not the whole 15%. Every time we met we told them this(no mind reading needed) and took it for granted that they held some rooms. Its not a bank holiday and the only thing on I can find is some game in the Aviva which is no way near our hotel. The first we heard of a problem with rooms was last week looking to take some of them back.

I think part of the problem was there normal wedding coordinator was on maternity leave. They were very apologetic and said it wouldn't of happened if they was there and have made change that it doesn't happen again, but that's no good to me. At the end of the day they are the professional should be there to assist on all the information we give them.

triona1

Are you sure that it's not some of your guest that have booked their rooms in advanced.I had set aside rooms for family coming from abroad and outside the county.And other guest booked their own rooms.