Wedding venue refurb! advice needed

I would phone them and demand money off, you have paid and booked for a service and that is what you should get. I think it is totally unacceptable for a company to do this, there has been another post like this one and it was mentioned in there that these things dont just come out of the blue, they are planned months in advance. Do they possibly have a sister hotel that you can use instead? Hope you get it sorted.

No sister hotel, and a lot of our guests have either booked this, or a slightly cheaper hotel just round the corner, so I can't really change the venue! I'm just going to have to be brave and phone them, I'm just not very good at what to say lol!

Which venue is it? we are in the manchester area...

i would be annoyed too!! they shouldn't do refurbs when they have weddings booked...

i would tell them that your guests only booked their hotel because they could all have a quiet relaxing family meal the night before and for the breakfast etc and say that you have written all the details of the breakfast and meal in the restaurant on invites etc and say that its now going to look a bit silly to guests if they are put in a pub instead...basically make them feel you have adapted things and informed people around your plans that they have now decided to change!!

explain that guests are travelling and having the restaurant to have a family breakfast and evening meal in was a selling point of the venue so you can't help but feel that you are now getting something different to what you paid for then ask if there is anything they can do to compensate you for the inconvenience...

don't get annoyed with them just explain what you planned, that you are now dissapointed and that you feel you are not getting what you paid for and would like them to sort it in some way....

also is the refurb in the room that you will be having your ceremony/wedding breakfast? if yes then i would be asking what colours they were changing too as this could affect your theme etc!!

Good Luck! x

Thanks! Its the Village Hotel, at Cheadle. The room isn't where our reception is, but it backs on to it, so I'm worried its going to smell of paint! Which gives me a headache really easily! Thats a good idea about saying I put it in the invites, I actually had but I'd completely forgotten that! I'll let you know how I get on, finishing work soon and then I'm going to phone them!

x

Good luck!! XX

Have you contacted them yet, how did you get on?

My venue has recently commented on tripadvisor that they will be having a refurb this year, I am hoping it will be all done before our wedding but I am going to mention it in our next meeting with them. I would be expecting some money off or extras if it was going to affect the plans I had made. Good luck!

I think it's totally out of order they arrange that you can't have your wedding breakfast where you originally planned, surely that's part of what you booked that place for? If you wanted it in a pub you would have booked a pub. I hope you get something sorted.

It might not be as bad as first feared, my main concern would be noise from any building works, on the plus side the venue may feel more exclusive to your party if the restaurant is closed there will not be as many 'non guests' of yours in the venue, i would suggest making a site visit before your wedding to evaluate the situation and bring your concerns to their attention they are less likely to fob you off then over the phone showing them your concerns (if there are any) they may be able to put write before your day, if not try and get some money off or a few freebies thrown in.

Quick update....

I have spoken to the hotel twice in the past two days, and OH has spoken to them as well. They are definitely refurbishing the dining room throughout the whole of august I didn't relaise it was big enough to take a whole month, which leaves me suspicious)!

They haven't apologised to us for the refurb, only for the fact that we found out in the way we did. Our co-ordinator doesn't see what our concerns are, and says that our guests will still be looked after. If they don't want to eat in the pub area (when its the first day of the premier league season and my guests have children) they will 'find them a meeting room'. When I said that this wasn't acceptable, all they have said is that they don't know what I want them to do!!

So, OH phoned them as I wasn't getting anywhere, the person he spoke to was quite rude and kept talking over him. He pointed out that if we were in a restaurant and our meal was cooked badly, the restaurant would compensate us in some way, and the hotel basically just said that won't be happening. We are expecting a call from the general manager today.

We have only paid £250 deposit so far, so we are considering moving our venue, I've been looking at other hotels and found 2 which we did like that have still got availability (with it being on a Sunday). Only problem is that obviously invites etc have gone out! I keep alternating between being really angry and disbelief that with 8 weeks to go, we are considering changing our venue!

Thanks for all your replies ladies, I'll keep you posted! And if anyone has any more suggestions.... xx

Firstly, yes the venue should have told you as soon as they knew when the work was scheduled. But that's done now so le's not waste energy on what can't changed.

With reguards to your guests arrival meals the nght before the wedding, and you not wanting them to have to eat in a (maybe perfectly nice?) pub, I'm not sure what ese the Hotel can do apart form offer you a meeting room. WHy is that unacceptable? What else CAN they do? Apart from magic another restaurant out of a cloud of smoke?!

You hadn't planned to use the restaurant as part of your wedding day, just your personal choice of where to eat breakfast. So again, from the Hotel's point of view perhaps they didn't think it was be of such a concern (but they should have still told you).

And as for it possibly smelling of paint... well it might. But it may well not. Builders often don't work weekends due to a higher labour cost so they may not even be working.

I think you are making a bigger deal out of this than it is, try and focus on every other aspect of your day and forget that the room next door is being decorated.

I've got to say I agree with Ducky.

No, it's not perfect.

No, they haven't gone about this in the best way and could possibly learn a few customer service skills. But realistically it doesn't actually impact you that much.

I think changing venues with 8 weeks to go will actually be cutting your nose off to spite your face. Surely your guests have already booked rooms at this hotel?

Our hotel was separate to our venue and when we got there they informed us the pool wasn't working (not a massive deal but the kids were looking forward to using it over the course of the weekend). We left it to the individual if they wanted to complain and get some money off their room bills on departure. Quite a few did (us included) and got 1 night free.

DB, I see what you're saying and that it might seem like we're making a mountain out of a molehill, but we chose the venue specifically because it has a nice restaurant, and we knew that our guests would be making a weekend of it (most of them live in Newcastle but the wedding is in Stockport, not to mention the odd guest from abroad), so we wanted somewhere that they could have a really enjoyable weekend.

I'm getting a lot of my guests phoning me and asking what's going on, some of them have still been told they can only have a cold buffet on the Saturday night!

My BM is considering not staying there because she has a small child and she doesn't really want him having to eat in a pub when the football is on (I agree with her on this, I wouldn't take my daughter to a pub with football on), which will cause us childcare issues on the night of the wedding. I don''t want them eating in a meeting room because I think that they will feel just 'shoved out of the way'?

Our wedding is on a Sunday, and we've been warned there may be workmen around. I'm sure that it wouldn't be as bad as we're imagining, its just that we have so many people travelling such a distance, and the hotel are really not dealing with it in a very professional manner.