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Room booked for wedding receiption damaged

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  • 18-10-2018 8:49am
    #1
    Xcellor
    Registered Users Posts: 2,804 ✭✭✭


    I'm looking for some advice on how to handle this. I posed on wedding forum but this is probably more suitable.

    1 week until the big day and the wedding coordinator contacts my fiancee to tell her that the room where we were planning on having the reception has suffered a collapsed ceiling and will no longer be in use.

    Apparently this happened a number of weeks back but they only decided to tell us now. They have offered us another area within the hotel but it is substantially different in that the original area was isolated and self contained and completely different decor and much more suitable to the number of guests we are having.

    My fiancee is absolutely distraught. We have no option at this stage but to proceed but the negotiated rate etc was all signed on a completely different basis. Essentially what we are paying for now is substantially altered. The area is not suited for the size of wedding and now guests have to walk across main reception to get to the the toilet and to access their rooms which were part of the same damaged building.

    We have contacted the hotel in writing to state the alternative is less than ideal.

    Any suggestions how to proceed?


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    #2
    L1011
    Registered Users Posts: 69,013 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Can you find out if the offered room cost less to hire at the time of initial booking?

    I'd be looking for any difference in charges to be refunded at a minimum. Not sure of the situation now but a few years ago a slightly similar situation resulted in a 15% refund after some negotiations for some friends.


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    #3
    Xcellor
    Registered Users Posts: 2,804 ✭✭✭Xcellor


    L1011 wrote: »
    Can you find out if the offered room cost less to hire at the time of initial booking?

    I'd be looking for any difference in charges to be refunded at a minimum. Not sure of the situation now but a few years ago a slightly similar situation resulted in a 15% refund after some negotiations for some friends.

    Unfortunately the room offered now serves as the restaurant. I don't believe I'd be able to get any published prices. Basically they have a massive reception area for weddings and then the smaller self contained venue. We had booked the entire self contained venue. So basically the intimacy is completely lost when you're facing out to main reception!

    What I find most disappointing is that the hotel withheld that the room was damaged which gave us no opportunity to decide if we wanted to find alternative location or make arrangements for seating plans etc. The entire wedding is planned around the room, flowers etc.


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    #4
    minikin
    Registered Users Posts: 2,980 ✭✭✭minikin


    Focus all your efforts on improving the situation you now find yourselves in. You’ve the best part of a week to reorganise that which you need to. Be positive, nobody should be distraught, nobody has died, it’s just that plans have to change so it may not be perfect but life (and married life) isn’t perfect - you get through it by dealing with change and things that go wrong by being practical and positive... not by getting distraught.

    1. You’re still getting married.
    2. It’s at the same venue so all your friends and family will still be there.
    3. You will still have a great day.
    4. You will have an interesting wedding story to tell for the future.

    Perhaps insist that the venue close off ‘public’ (aside from pre-booked and existing guests) access to the property rather than go down the route of looking for discounts.


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    #5
    BeardySi
    Registered Users Posts: 1,707 ✭✭✭BeardySi


    Firstly, a wedding is about the people, specifically the pair standing at the front. Everything else is window dressing. I can appreciate that it seems catastrophic that the day you'd intended isn't going to work, but try to focus on the reason for the day itself - that hasn't changed at all.

    All that aside, the reasons you've listed above should be used to wring a fairly hefty discount out of the hotel - regardless of the value of the new room.

    For our wedding they switched the ceremony room the day before the wedding due to a double booking, changing our plans for the pre-wedding stuff etc (the room we got was actually far more suitable, I don't know why they didn't suggest it in the first place). We asked for (and got) a free round of drinks for the toasts (I estimated the cost about €750).


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