June 2014 Weddings

Hotel Room Block - No point to the story, just put in a situation I had to share.

***Warning: A lot of this story is driven from my family being in the hotel industry and being picky, so if you haven’t booked your hotel block yet or aren’t even going to don’t panic.  This is just my family being anal about their hotel choices.  No real point or question to this story.  I just thought this was a horrible example of customer service, it made me laugh, and I had to share.***<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

We went to book our hotel block back in the spring when we booked our venue.  To our surprise hotels were reporting they were full or almost full 15+ months.  Turns out there is a rather large convention in town that same weekend.  My mom wanted a specific brand as she works for that brand, is very familiar with amenities offered, level of service employees are trained at, fells loyalty to the brand, and this was the newest hotel in town.  We toured it and it was good, acceptable for a bed to sleep in.  We decide to move forward.  After playing phone tag for a few weeks it is apparent that this hotel and a few of their sister hotels in the city did not want to respond.  So we give up a move on to Brand B.

 

Brand B is a brand we don’t frequent because we have a relationship with Brand A.  Brand B steps up to the plate.  They are more than over accommodating, waving a guarantee of rooms, providing shuttle transportation, suite for FI and I on wedding night, and quickly responding to every phone call and email left.  Block is set.

 

Mom is talking with a coworker about the wedding, he goes to look into a room at an employee rate for the wedding weekend (employee rates are deeply discounted and generally only cover the costs to the hotel).  Come to find out hotel of Brand A, who was refusing to get back to us, offers him an employee rate.  We’re talking almost $100 less than what our guests would be booking a room night at.  Mom is not happy about this and writes an email within the brand asking what happened that we can’t book a hotel block at full rate but employees are still being offered rooms at such and such rate (turns out her hotel and hotel of Brand A have the same regional manager).  Email quickly escalates and Mom is contacted by the hotel to try and reclaim our business.  The new room block with Brand A we are offered is now a two night minimum and $45+/night more than our current room block, no mention of bonuses such as shuttles, free room nights etc.

 

I was happy it was mom talking to the manager and not me because I couldn’t stop laughing when I read that.  Not only did Brand A inconvenience us by not responding to request from Mid-March until it was escalated in August, but then once they acknowledged their errors they offer their hotel at a two night minimum with more expensive rooms….Really, this is customer service?  It’s good for us that I like hotel of Brand B better and they have better amenities for our group.  We’re definitely sticking with hotel of Brand B.  Sometimes I just have to shake my head at how people expect to do business.

Re: Hotel Room Block - No point to the story, just put in a situation I had to share.

  • I'm glad you shared this.  It motivated me to do some research and send inquiries to our local hotels.  Well, only through hotelplanner.com though, but at least it is a start.  We've had five offers so far, so hopefully this part will go smoothly.  

    Glad you are sticking with Brand B.
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  • We have a hotel block, it's completely necessary with the destination wedding we are having, and man we went round and round and round with them. I'm glad FI was handling it with our travel agent backing us up b/c I'd of lost my patience with them a lot quicker. 

    We were all set to sign the contract, and the lady went on vacation for 3 weeks...seriously? No mention of it before nothing, just poof she was gone. Well, our 'must agree to contract by' date was while she was gone. So, we waited for her to get back, and they sent over a copy of the contract...well it was completely different from what we were first offered. Thank goodness for our amazing travel agent, she tore them a new one and voila it's back to how it should be. Ugh, be careful they are sometime looking to see what they can get away with. 
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  • We have a hotel block, it's completely necessary with the destination wedding we are having, and man we went round and round and round with them. I'm glad FI was handling it with our travel agent backing us up b/c I'd of lost my patience with them a lot quicker. 

    We were all set to sign the contract, and the lady went on vacation for 3 weeks...seriously? No mention of it before nothing, just poof she was gone. Well, our 'must agree to contract by' date was while she was gone. So, we waited for her to get back, and they sent over a copy of the contract...well it was completely different from what we were first offered. Thank goodness for our amazing travel agent, she tore them a new one and voila it's back to how it should be. Ugh, be careful they are sometime looking to see what they can get away with. 

    Yeah for Travel Agents!  MOH's wedding was at a resort in Mexico.  The resort was not always the best getting back to us on things, especially the room block.  The travel agent wouldn't let the Bride and Groom do anything or have anything to worry about.  She really rode the resort hard to make sure everything was perfect!
  • wow! Glad I didn't have any of these issues. Mine also offers shuttle to and from the reception as complimentary since my reception is just right below the hotel, but on a busy street.
    Daisypath Wedding tickers
  • I have a block of only 10 rooms. As luck would have it, I now work at that hotel, so I'll get an employee discount on top of a wedding discount on my suite for two nights. Any of my guests that book a room from my block will get a discounted rate (bc it's a wedding block, not because I am an employee).
    ~*~June 21, 2014~*~


  • Well, I have to say that was an easy "to do."  After I put my dates in on hotelplanner, I got about a dozen quotes and just picked what we thought were the two best options: a higher price (but not outrageous) hotel walking distance to the venue, and another lower cost option near the airport (and closer to our house) -still only 5 miles from the venue.  We have a 20 room block at each. Guests will be able to book right from our website, and no charge on the out of town bags.  They both said they will auto add rooms as necessary, but gave me a link so I can check the # of rooms booked.

    For some reason, I thought this was going to be a nightmare of a task. I wish it was all this easy.

    melbelleup: The shuttle to the venue is a nice touch.  Both of my hotels have the shuttle to the airport, I'll need to look into rides to the venue though.
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