The Darcy

My partner and I were planning to use The Darcy for our wedding and wedding reception scheduled for October 10, 2020. We planned to have 110 people, and to satisfy a minimum of $10,000 in food and beverage on the night of the event. The total cost was anticipated to be greater than $20,000.

We submitted a deposit on August 17, 2019 for $3,400, which is non-refundable according to the contract; however, the contract has a force majeure clause that states as follows: "Either party may terminate this Addendum and Venue Contract, without cost, penalty or liability to the other, if, due to acts beyond the control of the terminating party, travel to Program location is rendered impossible, unreasonably difficult, or unreasonably unsafe; including acts of civil or military authority, terrorism acts, national emergencies, fire, work stoppages, major mechanical breakdown, floor or catastrophe, acts of God, insurrection, wars, or failure of transportation, communication, or power supply, which prevents 50% of attendees from being able to attend the meeting, or which otherwise materially affects a party’s ability to perform its obligations under this Agreement. Venue will refund any deposits or monies paid out. The affected party may terminate this Agreement without liability upon providing written notice to the other party within ten (10) days of the occurrence.

In light of the current Covid-19 public health situation, we do not think we will be able to have the agreed upon wedding and reception that was specified in the contract. According to DC Mayor Bowser's phased reopening guidance recently published, it seems almost impossible that we will be able to have 120 people together for the wedding reception without social distancing (if at all). No one had the idea of guest dancing 6 feet apart and wearing masks when the contract was ratified.

The covid-19 social distancing requirements will almost certainly make it impossible to have the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception that was agreed upon in the contract. The ceremony space has a limited seating capacity of 100 people, and based on that, we invited over 100 people to the wedding (when factoring in wedding party who did not require space to be seated). Based on the current situation, and the mayor's public health guidelines, that amount will likely be limited to less than 50 individuals or less should we not enter phase 2. This materially changes the event, and we believe that triggers the force majeure clause which requires the hotel to refund any and all money already paid.

In addition to the ceremony, the cocktail hour is to be held in a small space (roughly 1,000 square feet) which, based on the mayor's guidelines, would not be able to accommodate the number of guests we have invited to the wedding. Further, the reception would likely be limited to less than 50 people when factoring in weight staff, vendors, etc...

In addition to the limited amount of guests who would be able to attend, the contract states that force majeure would apply if "due to acts beyond the control of the terminating party, travel to Program location is rendered impossible, unreasonably difficult, or unreasonably unsafe...which prevents 50% of attendees from being able to attend the meeting." The majority of our guests have to travel to our wedding using airlines and various methods of mass transportation. The covid-19 situation, we believe, makes it unreasonably difficult and unreasonable unsafe, if not completely impossible (due to travel restrictions in various areas) for our guests to travel to our reception. We believe this also triggers the clause in the contract which requires a refund of our deposit.

We've contacted the venue several times in order to cancel the wedding and receive a refund. They are holding us to our original contract, and stated that the only concession they are making at this time is to allow couples to postpone their wedding and satisfy their original food and beverage minimum (without considering taxes and a service charge). This concession is stated nowhere in the contract that we signed. We do not want to postpone our wedding, and are having a private ceremony on our original date. We do not wish to spend that kind of money a year later on a party, and have asked numerous times to have our deposit refunded. The position of The Darcy is that they will not be able to refund our deposit unless the mayor specifically lays out a timeframe that states we will not be able to have the gathering. We believe that while yes, that would make the force majeure situation very clear, the clause already applies due to the reasons mentioned above.

At this rate, the requirements for social distancing are changing from week to week. It is unreasonable to assume that guests will wait until two weeks or so before the wedding to book travel arrangements. Further, we have already incurred expenses to plan and prepare for the wedding and we felt that proactively canceling our reception in order to protect the health of our guests would be our best decision.

If we continue using the hotel's logic regarding our event, we should just "wait and see" which is unacceptable. Further, we are mandated by the contract to cancel before July 8th in order to avoid a 75% cancellation fee. July is just around the corner, and we are uncomfortable waiting until after July because we do not want to be responsible for 75% of our total which would be a significantly larger amount. We were told that if we chose to cancel before July, we would not be refunded our $3,400 payment. Further, they have taken a position that if we do decide to cancel prior to July, not only will we not receive a refund of our deposit, but we would not be entitled to a refund should the mayor impose restrictions for October subsequent to us canceling because we would have then voided our contract.

In times like these, it completely unreasonable to hold people to deposits for weddings when it is almost certain that the event will not be able to go over as planned. We feel that it is currently reasonable to conclude that the event will be materially impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and that it would be unsafe and cause an unreasonable burden on our guests to make travel arrangements and attend to attend the event. Our guests would not only suffer economic losses if the event is cancelled, but possible health problems should the event actually happen (if some miraculous cure is discovered).

It is completely unreasonable to think that we will be able to have 110 people together in the reception room, singing, dancing and celebrating a wedding. And it is completely unreasonable to assume we should just wait and see what happens. The notion that we should just wait until the fall completely fails to consider the amount of planning and the amount of financial impact that would have on us and our guests.

I had to cancel a 4-night reservation (paid fully in advance) at this hotel due to a family medical emergency. The reservation was initially booked for Friday, November 29th - Tuesday, Dec 3rd 2019. I cancelled the reservation 24 hours before my check in. Following our family medical emergency which included a 5 day hospital stay for my 4 year old daughter, I contacted the front desk of the hotel inquiring about a full or partial refund. I was directed to talk to the manager and was forwarded to the managers extension line where the call would go directly to voicemail. I have called the hotel four times over the course of 10 days to inquire about a refund for my cancellation, all four times I was asked to speak directly to the manager , and my call would again be forwarded directly to his voicemail. I have left the manager 3 voicemails in total and I am still awaiting a response, I recently complained to the front desk that the manager has yet to contact me to address my cancellation where they said they'd mention this to him in person. I have also sent an email complaint to the hotel that management has yet to contact me. I have not received a response in email either. I'm appalled at the costumer service at this hotel, where they willing ignore a costumer to avoid offering any sort of refund for a legitimate cancellation. It is not only wrong in principle but it is also theft.

For some context my 4 year old daughter who has been battling T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma since November of 2017 was hospitalized in critical condition due to medical complications two days prior to my visit at The Darcy Hotel ultimately resulting in me cancelling my entire visit to this hotel. It is unfortunate that in addition to the trauma my family has endured the last two years since my daughter's cancer diagnosis, subsequent cancer treatment and her recent hospitalization that I have to go through this much trouble trying to speak with someone from someone at the hotel about a cancellation.