The Sheraton at BWI has a great ballroom for a recpetion or any other type of event, but their customer service and attention given to brides is horrible. The service we have been recieving from them is so bad, that my FI and I are canceling our contract with them and looking elsewhere...we are 3 months away from the wedding.
Basically the Sheraton has been ignoring our requests for a cost estimate and refuses to take a payment from us. We are on a payment plan and the last payment was made in January. Up until March-April we had decent service. In May we met with our then wedding coordinator and went over some details and also requested that a payment be taken. The payment was never taken and she left 2 weeks later. We were not told that our coordinator left until we called about 3 weeks later inquiring about the payment. We now have a new coordinator, who is quite busy with her brides and was hoping tha ta new coordinator would be hired, so she did not have to take on new cilents. She still has not updated our cost estimate and has not taken a payment. When I called last week to talk to a manager about this issue, he found it funny and laughed about it. When we finally got in touch with someone who felt the issue was ridiculous and the that it was unacceptable it was JULY 28, 2011. Although she found the issue to be unacceptable, our payment still has not been taken and nothing has been offered to recifity this issue.
When our coordinator was talked to by upper mamangement she wrote my FI and I an email, basically saying that she did not appreciate how we went above her to get something accomplishment - even though she ignored the requests made over two days through emails and a voicemail.
I just would like to prevent other brides/couples to have to go through this type of an issue.
Below is the letter we sent to the corporate level (i took out the names):
July 18, 2011Mr. President and Chief Executive Officer - Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.1111 Westchester Avenue
White Plains, NY 10604 and Ms. President, North American Division1111 Westchester Avenue
White Plains, NY 10604 Dear Mr. and Ms. l,My fiancé and I are writing to express our great displeasure, frustration, and anger towards the Sheraton at BWI and staff regarding the service we have received for our wedding reception scheduled on November 5, 2011.We originally started working with Mrs. and signed a contract with the Sheraton in October 2010. We were promised excellent service and that “no detail would be overlooked” during the planning process and the event itself. Mrs. largely met our expectations and took care of any requests we had, none of which were unreasonable.However, beginning with our scheduled payment in April, the service we have received has not been up to par. We requested numerous times for Mrs. to take the scheduled April payment.. We again asked her to accept payment, when we met with her in person on May 21, and were promised the payment would be accepted. When Mrs. left the Sheraton at the beginning of June, our payment had still not been accepted. The Sheraton failed to notify us that Mrs. had left her position, leaving us to discover on June 20, two weeks after Mrs. left, that Ms. would be our new wedding co-ordinator. After meeting with Ms. on June 23, we were promised again that our payment would be processed the next day and we would receive a new Estimated Invoice, neither of which happened. We then emailed her three times asking her to accept the third payment and provide a new estimate. On July 7 and twice on July 11, we also left a voicemail for her. After no payment was accepted and with no response from Ms. Franzini, we attempted, several times to contact the general manager, Mr., Even after finally speaking with Mr. on July 15, the situation was not resolved. Mr.. considered the situation to be a laughing matter. We then spoke with Mrs., who has taken the situation very seriously, and finds it unacceptable. We are currently still waiting for our payment to be accepted and a new Estimated Invoice to be provided. For the past few months, we feel that we have not been given the attention that is expected for such an important event. We understand that the Sheraton prides itself on providing stellar customer service. Overall, the Sheraton has not delivered during our reception planning process. We would like to know what steps the Sheraton would be taking to rectify this situation for the distress the Sheraton at BWI and staff has caused my fiancé and me over the last several months. At this point in the reception planning process, we are not comfortable recommending the Sheraton to friends and family for stays or events.Thank you in advance for your timely response to this matter. We will expect a plan of action to be developed to address these concerns no later than August 5, 2011 or we will be terminating our contract and taking our business elsewhere. We can be reached by telephone or email at We will be out of town from July 23-30 and will have limited access to telephones during the day; but we will have access to our phones and email each evening. We will make every effort to return any telephone calls in a timely fashion.