Complaint Review: destinationweddings.com - Orange County/nationwide Nationwide

I was absolutely not told that all payments are non-refundable, until after I cancelled and asked about the cancellation fee.  I absolutely did not get a pop-up about travel insurance and would have chosen to get the travel insurance because I was completing my master's in nursing and working as a nurse full-time so was nervous about getting time off of work and school.  And why does it only come up in a pop-up?  You would think there would be a written record of that option as well as proof that the customer confirmed or denied it.  There isn't.  I dedicate my life to helping others, I am not a selfish person and don't think it's appropriate for a professional to be name-calling and judging someone he does not know anything about.

I had no idea that the travel agent, Dan Smith, who told us we had to book a room through him had booked 30 or 40 rooms at the hotel at the same time, so that is his problem and certainly does not mean I am selfish.  I am still close friends with the couple who was married and cherish their friendship as they do mine.  The credit card company probably sided with me for a good reason.  They have investigators who look into this.  I have learned through this experience to never use a travel agent again and to deal with airlines and hotels directly.

The person who filed this untruthful complaint left a few important facts out. First of all she was absolutely warned that all payments are non refundable. When she logged in to reserve a room and indicated she did not want insurance, a pop up displays informing you that you may not get a refund without insurance. You have to click that you agree in order to proceed and book a room.

When I spoke to her and reminded her of this, her response was, 'Oh, I thought that meant..." In reality she thought wrong and it meant exactly what it said. No insurance, no refund. There are good reasons for this which were explained to her, and which again she left out of her report.

When you take 30 or 40 rooms out of inventory at a hotel, it makes sense that the hotel wants some assuurance they will get paid. This is not the Holiday Inn across town where you can call up and get a room this weekend. These are luxury resorts that book out months in advance. So, when she calls the hotel to ask about the cancelation policy she is given a policy of returned money within a few days of travel, but this does not apply to groups. The hotel is not going to allow 30 rooms to cancel 4 days before an event becasue they will never rent those rooms out and it' s tens of thousands of dollars of lost revenue. So there is a payment schedule with strictly enforced penalties for canceling outside of those guidelines. The hotel must enforce this to protect their business, and to say that this is unethical is pure nonsense. All of this was explained in great detail to her and of course she left that out of the file.

It is the hotel, and not I or Destinationweddings.com that was going to keep her money, but in reality she never paid for her room and she didn't include that fact in her report either. She filed a credit card greivance and falsely accused me of not getting authorization to charge her card. She did in fact give me authorization, which is how I got the number in the first place. Unfortunately however, the credit card company incorrectly sided with her and returned the money. This however did not mean the hotel was going to forgo the penalty. The bridal couple who are ultimately responsible were charged for her room. However, I did not allow that to happen because I was not going to let this selfish person ruin my client's wedding. So I paid for her room so that the bridal couple would not have to. It seems I am a better friend that she is.

All of this could have been avoided had this person paid a simple $59 for an insurance policy. This was also explained to her in detail, and which she also left out of her complaint. So anyone reading this should know that terms for a group agreement at a hotel differ from individual rooms. There are plenty of good reasons for a bridal couple to have a group agreement but the terms are different and it certainly is not unethical for the hotel to request assurance of being paid for their rooms. This is after all, their business. Everything that was told to this person was absolutely true but she chose to ignore it. There was no scam or rip off, only the ignorance to believe that she did not need insurance because she was going "no matter what", until she wasn't.

Insurance also protects you from other things as well. This weekend I had several people have their flights canceled due to weather. That means they will show up to the resort a day late with no compensation for the missed day - unless they have insurance and those that listened to me will receive their refund of the lost day. Just a word of advice, you should always have insurance. Travel insurance is very cheap compared to the investment that you are protecting and the consequences of not having it. 

So inconclusion, there was no scam or rip off here, just someone who thought the rules were for everyone else and was upset when it was explained that the rules were actually for her as well. I personally work 40 weddings every year with over 1.5 million dollars in annual bookings and you won't find my name anywhere else on this website, only here. I have an entire folder of testimonial from extrememly happy couples and their guests that I can share with anyone.