Please help!! What are my rights? Sorry its long!

[lau_lau73]

Last year I booked my wedding and reception in a hotel, lets call them A in west Wales. The main reason for choosing this hotel was the fact all of my 80 guests would be able to stay in the grounds in cottages, which would be reserved for my wedding party.

I paid a deposit by cheque as per their request for £350 to secure this booking. After a few months of no contact with them, I began to worry a little and so I emailed them in January, to ask if they need any more information off me, when did they need confirmation of numbers or the menu I wanted etc. I also stated that I had never received a copy of my terms and conditions.

In response to this I received 1 copy of terms and conditions and the new menu options for 2007. But no instructions to go with them, I assumed that I would be contacted when I needed to make any decisions.

Since then, my invitations have gone out and 5 or 6 members of family and friends have booked cottages without a problem, each stating our wedding as a reference.

Last week one couple tried to book a cottage, and were told the hotel was fully booked. When I called to check this, I was informed that the hotel had booked a wedding on the following day, and that the other bride and groom had booked and paid for 10 out of the 14 cottages. They were sorry but there was nothing they could do.

To cut a long story short, they are now denying that they ever said the cottages would be reserved, unfortunately in my naivety I do not have this agreement in writing. The hotel have been extremely rude to me over the last week, have offered me no help, I asked them if they could sort out any other accommodation locally and all they did was email me a list of b&b's within a 10-15mile radius, which I could have got myself from yell.com!

They have also implied that this is all my fault for not being in contact with them more.

Fortunately I have managed to find another hotel who have been extremely helpful, and have re-arranged my wedding to have it there.

I have not cancelled my wedding in Gellifawr out of choice, the way they have dealt with this problem in the last week has been disgusting and there level of customer service is non existent.

I think the least they can do is return some or all of my deposit. As they have not complied with the terms that we verbally agreed on our initial meeting. They have had ample time to make us aware of this situation; instead they have left us to find out ourselves 10 weeks before our wedding.

I have asked them for my deposit once, and they have declined. Where do I go from here?

Sorry its long - thaks for reading!

lau x

[gyzmo]

What a horrible way for what should be the most happiest of occasions to start.

 

One problem that comes across is the issue of proof. As you have pointed out, anything said verbally cannot be proven (if not recorded or witnessed). It is possible that the verbal agreements could be inferred by conduct (such as family members booking), but this would be a hard, difficult (if not impossible) slog.

 

One thing that does spring to mind though is the issue of enrichment. A deposit is generally non-refundable (it is a statement of your intentions to do business) where the depositor (you) fails to perform on the contract (and I am not saying that you have, I am merely using the hotel's situation against them).

 

In such a case, the depositee (is that a word?), i.e, the hotel, can retain the deposit. Where, however, they receive payment from another source for the service that you would have had, then it is (I believe) required that the hotel refund the deposit less any costs incurred (someone feel free to correct me on this). If not, then it becomes a penalty dispropertionate to their loss.

 

Failing any other posts on this, I would contact Consumer Direct (easily found by Googling) and explain the situation. They should be able to provide more definite advice. But it does sound like you have a case.

 

Good luck in your marriage. Remember it is only the start of a wonderful journey. Otherwise, when you next get asked by one of these accident "specialists" if you have had any accidents in the past three years, just say "yeah, I married it!"

[buzby]

From the hotel's point of view, did you ever discuss the number of cottages your required? From what I can gather, it was left to the guests to book their accommodation (ie you were paying for the reception and not the accommodation). Therefore it would be unreasonable for the hotel NOT to accept bookings on a first come first served basis. If guests were slow in making these arrangements then I don;t see how the hotel or you could be liable for this. OTOH, if you paid deposits on X cottages and they released them to the other wedding guests, you have a case. However if you did not have a formal commitment, I do think it unfair you expect the hotel to keep the cottages vacant on the promise of a subsequent booking.