Altoona Grand Hotel

Review: My fiance and I had booked the Ramada Courtyard for our wedding and reception back in March 2013. Our wedding in May 10, 2014. We put 750 dollars down and had discussed with their event planner everything from our ceremony to what food choices we would have on the menu. We also discussed booking a block of rooms for our out of town guests. We did sign a contract with them. We heard on our local news last evening(Jan. 4,2014) that the Ramada had been sold and will be turned into a place for veteran's. The Ramada never notified us of this possible sale and how it could affect our event. My fianc and I both called the Ramada today and spoke to a receptionist there who stated someone should be calling us back to TRY and help us find another place for our event. That isn't good enough. We may not be able to find a place for that date now with such short notice, nor should we have to at this point in the game. Our wedding is 4 months away. This is totally unacceptable and something needs to be done about it. We were also planning on using their linens and table centerpieces as part of our wedding package, therefore, we now have nothing for our wedding. Invitations are done, save the dates, etc. All of these things cost money to have redone. Not to mention the stress of this entire situation because of the Ramada's lack of concern for its customers.Desired Settlement: We would like them to have to find us another place comparable in price to what we were paying them for this event. A full refund of all monies put down also. They should have to make all arrangements for our ceremony and reception as we had previously planned with them. I do feel they should have some sort of monetary obligation to us for all the stress of the situation and for giving us no notice of this sale taking place. Very unprofessional for them not to contact their customer.

Business

Response:

Review: I had a contract with the Ramada regarding food and alcohol for an event held at the hotel. The contract specifically stated not to serve "two mix in" drinks, which in our case meant no long island iced teas. The contract was drafted and updated by the staff at the Ramada. During the event the bar tender, who had a copy of the contract on him, served long island iced teas. When I asked the director of sales about this she said she couldn't do anything and she didn't seem to care that our contract had been broken.Desired Settlement: I would like a partial refund of the open bar fee, since the agreed upon contract was not followed.

Business

Response:

As per our telephone conversation today, I am writing this letter to formally respond to the complaint lodged with your organization regarding a wedding that occurred at my hotel on October 19, 2013.

As we discussed Ms. [redacted] entered into an agreement with us for her wedding. In that agreement, she chose to have an open bar and pay $15.00 per adult for unlimited consumption for 4.5 hours (the agreement is attached). With an unlimited consumption open bar where the guest pays a flat rate per person, as in this case, the amount and types of alcohol served to all guests are irrelevant. For example, if only one guest ordered any alcohol, each adult guests would still be charged $15.00. Conversely, if each adult guest drank $1,000.00 worth of alcohol, each guest would still only be charged $15.00.

Ms. [redacted] is accurate in stating that her agreement states "No two mix drinks." She is also accurate in stating that her bartender mistakenly poured several Long Island Iced Teas. However, that mistake did not result in her having to pay anything extra. Her charge remained at $15.00 per adult guest, regardless of the drinks that were ordered and poured. The stipulation that reads "No two mix drinks" is in the agreement to limit our exposure from guests ordering drinks with several different shots of alcohol, thus increasing our liquor costs. If my bartender mistakenly gave each guest an entire bottle of whiskey, the price per adult guest would still be $15.00. In short, the only loser in this situation is me.