Rant time! Not happy

Wow Emma, I am so frustrated for you. I used to work in a bar/restaurant in a hockey arena that catered to kids leagues and the kids and parents were the WORST.

Seriously wishing you all the best and that your guests are understanding about it.

And I just heard back from the hotel. Absolutely no double rooms available for my guests. They have instead said they will put rollaway beds in king rooms.

I mean seariusly? Now I have to tell my guests they may have to sleep on a cot?

So I just went back my contract and it says that they will reserve our specified number of rooms for us. Then below that it shows a picture of a king room and a picture of a double room. It then lists the capacity of each type of room. Making it look like both types of rooms would be reserved.

View quoted message See that’s what I was thinking. It’s not normal for them to book all king rooms. And there was no mention of only having king rooms or asking what types of rooms we needed. So I figured it would be a mix.

I don’t know if the tournament was booked before or not. But we booked the block of rooms at the same time we signed the contract for the ceremony and reception. Like I said we are actually having our entire ceremony and reception at this hotel. If they had a tournment booked that weekend something should have been said to us.

Our guests being able to stay right there was one of the main reasons we picked this venue.

I agree. It is very odd they did not reserve any double beds. I am a hotel sales manager for wedding group blocks and I always reserve half and half. They may be able to free up some rooms as they are saying now they are sold out but that is because of other blocks. They should be able to free up some from other blocks to sneak to you. Or it could also be because if the hockey tournament as they always need 2 beds. In this case the tournament may have booked before you, took all the double and this is why they were only able to put 1 kings in your block. But they should've have told you. On the day of the check in I'm sure they will put the teams on the same floor that is the usually procedure. Don't worry about the noise too much the hotel is used to it and will regulate it. Just relax, try and see if you can free up some more doubles as that's the main concern and try not to stress the hockey brats lol

View quoted message This hotel is a very popular wedding venue. And they knew we would actually be using hotel rooms as we told them half our guests were from out of town.

Seems weird to me all rooms would be king beds... they should suggest both options for weddings so you can make the decision to best suit you and your guests. I would definitely talk to the manager about this. They should know better than to book all kings unless you specifically asked for them.

I work in a hotel myself, sadly dependent where the hotel is located hockey teams might be a frequent thing and weddings are not. I used to work at hotel where the I had 3 major arenas within 15 min drive and we had 3-6 hockey teams a weekend easily and maybe the odd wedding here and there.

I would check your contract to see if you are guaranteed those rooms you booked. As again from my experience, usually wedding parties block 15-20 rooms and only 2-4 get picked up. So it's in the hotel's better interest to accommodate the hockey teams over the wedding parties. I agree it sucks, don't get me wrong. I'm just putting it in the hotel's point of view where hockey teams are repeat business but weddings are not generally.

I feel for you and really hate that the hotel isn't accommodating you and your guests to the fullest potential.

The thing I also ran into with my venue being a conference center was that if any company was to book rooms ahead of weddings or any other events. Its one of those rules that don't work towards us and clashes as yours is happening.

Get in touch with the hotel manager to figure a solution if he/she can work towards your blocked rooms and ensure the floors aren't close to the hockey teams. I'm sure there must be something that can be done to works towards your wedding day and ask if the room is sound proof. Also, double check about the noise level not effecting your guests and family through the weekend.

View quoted message See I just assumed they blocked a mixture. They didn’t even ask us what types we wanted them to reserve. Since I’ve found this out I’ve talked to friends who have worked in the hotel business and they can’t beleieve that there wasn’t a single double room set aside for our guests. Not even one!!!! The wedding is at the of December so still over 4 months away and every double room is gone!

We have some people (close family members) who need double rooms. Including my own kids.

I still haven’t heard back to see if they have freed up any rooms other then one for my kids. I don’t know what I’m going to do if they don’t.

Actually I'm not sure about this, but the advantage to having the king beds, you would probably be on a different floor then the hockey team. Usually they are in one area, no? But I see your worry about the noise.
I actually want to block rooms and now i know to request different sizes. I think the hotel was blocking out 50/50 queen and king.

I agree - unless you let them know that you'd need double rooms, I don't see how you can expect them to just -know- you needed them.

However, now that you've learned that specification was needed (whether or not the hotel should have asked - it sounds like you didn't know at the time, yourself, as you just asked people recently, unless I'm misunderstanding), it's time to find a solution.

Can the hotel provide cots for the rooms where people needed double beds, free of charge? Or separate the beds? Often in the hotel industry, King beds are made by pushing two doubles together.

Getting stressed and upset doesn't solve the situation you're in now.

View quoted message We did not request a specific type of rooms. All we were asked was how many rooms we needed. Our contract states the number of rooms only. Not the type. We assumed it would be a variety. We never imagined it would be all king rooms. We had no idea how many people would need different types of rooms. It wasn’t until I discovered that there wasn’t a single double room that I started asking people what they would need. The fact that they would give all the double rooms to one group and none to us is absurd. And yes the hotel should bump some of the double rooms to us. Because we were never asked or told we needed to give specifics.

And i’m forseeing noise issues based on past experience.

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Ah ok. Yes, I would definitely be upset that they didn't block the type of rooms you needed - assuming that you requested those types of rooms. And I don't think it is a ridiculous request to ask for your room block to be on a different floor than the hockey group, it is it possible. However, if they are unable to accommodate that request due to availability and spacing, that's just tough luck and you'll have to accept it. Again - if they do end up breaking noise rules and being disruptive, the hotel will need to deal with that at the time, but it's not ok to just assume the worst about people you don't even know and complain about a group before they've even done anything.

Did you request a variety of room types for your room block? If so, the hotel definitely needs to do their best to accommodate that. However, if you never actually made that request, and they've since sold those rooms to other guests, there really isn't a whole lot they can, or ought to, do about it.

View quoted message There are other hotels in the area but that defeats the purpose of us having the wedding at a hotel. We chose the venue because our guests could stay their. And honestly we shouldn’t have to. The hotel screwed up. We had a block rooms. It was the hotel who decided to give all the double rooms to this tournament and not a single one to us.

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I would ask anyway, just because you don't want to deal with that the day of, or have guests remember you tossing out wedding crashers! As for noise and people drinking, I'd ask the hotel to do everything they could to ensure your guests have a pleasant experience by being on a quiet floor together. However, if the hotel can't accommodate, can you check out different hotels for accommodations?

View quoted message Well I’m super pissed at the hotel because we booked a block or rooms months ago specifically so we wouldn’t have any issues. But they didn’t include even a single double room in that block of rooms. I only found out now because I was testing the code they gave me (before we put it in the info going with our invitations) and trying to book a room for my kids. we weren’t even going to do those this early but my fiancé was bored last night and started them. What if I didn’t find out until November when people were trying to book rooms?

So yes they found a room to accodidate my kids but we have others who need those rooms. We should not be in that position.

And i’m not saying they should deny a large group booking. But I have the right to be upset about it. And the hotel should know what these groups are like and should place us on a different floor.

Honestlt what I want here is them to bump some of the rooms booked for the tournament (doubles) and give them to us. And do there best to keep them on a separate floor. It’s onky fair. We booked this months before any tournament did.

I don't see any sense in pre-stressing about it. The hotel is a business and they're not going to deny service to another large group of customers because there is a possibility that they might be loud... I'm not sure what exactly you want here? They won't be allowed in or near the ceremony or reception, and if they end up being obnoxious in the hallways and disturbing other guests, including your group, then you complain to the front desk and security goes and deals with it.

View quoted message The rooms for the ceremony and reception are off to one side of the hotel so hopefully we won’t be bothered there. And our wedding is small so we will notice if any uninvited “guests” show up and I will freak on them myself, and ask the hotel to kick their buts out.

My big concern is in other areas of the hotel where the rooms are. I don’t want my guests to be bothered by kids running up and down the halls or parents sitting in the hallway drinking. All of which are common at tournaments.

Can the hotel assign security for the areas where your ceremony and reception are so people can't accidentally or intentionally crash your wedding?

Hopefully the hotel can find some double rooms for you!

No we can’t move the date. We picked the date specifically because family will be in town.

I’m already in touch with the hotel. They offered a suite for my kids to stay in. Funny my fiancé and I get a regular room and the kids get a suite lol. But we have other who need double rooms.

But i’m super concerned about the behaviour of people there for the tournament and how it will affect us and our guests. I’ve witnessed people letting their kids run looses all over the hotel with no supervision. Kids running up and down halls. And parents sitting in the halls partying and drinking.

I’ve asked the hotel to find more double rooms and ensure none of us are put in rooms on the same floor as anyone from the tournament, but I don’t know if they can do that.

Holy moly... I wish that I had some advice or something to offer but other than contacting the hotel about the bed situation I don't think that there is much else that you could do this close to the wedding day (meaning I assume you have already planned for the day you chose and can't move it by a week)