Complaint Review: Worldwide Group Travel - Mount Sinai New York

Where do I start? We signed up for Worldwide Group Travel to handle hotel arrangements for us and our guests as well as wedding planning services. It was a disaster from the beginning and the nightmare still continues.  I have saved every single text message, e-mail and several voicemails.  I would never under any circumstances recommend this company and urge you to look elsewhere.  Honestly, I was a lot less stressed once I took over and planned it myself.  

When we began dealing with Worldwide Group Travel we were working with Sabrina who believe it or not was a "friend" at the time but has since been fired due to her actions with my wedding group.  She told me I had to use her because otherwise we would have to spend all kinds of money on insurances for vendors and she would get great discounts which she would use to get me reduced vendor pricing as our wedding gift instead of making money.  

After meeting with Sabrina we had narrowed it down to 3 places.  One of which was Anguilla because Sabrina pushed and pushed it.  Ultimately we chose to get married in Montego Bay which was not one of her ideas for where we should get married but we felt as though it was the right destination for us and our guests.  We chose The Royalton which was the hotel that Sabrina directed us towards for as it came highly recommended by what she said was her partner, Lisa Jones.  A week after deciding on The Royalton we were given an RSVP date of Sabrina’s choosing for our invitations.  The date was November 27th which was Thanksgiving but since Sabrina was running the show I went with it since the timeline was most important to her due to her dealings with the hotel.  I didn’t really think it made sense seeing as I thought that would be a busy time for us, our guests and Sabrina but she assured me it was the right date.

The invitations went out with all hotel information on them.  Within days of sending out the invites guests started calling Sabrina to set up travel, even before they sent back their RSVP, which was great because it meant people were excited to share in this special event with us.  From the very first guest, I was getting feedback that she was not getting back to them or that she was rude.  I started getting a knot in my stomach, if this is how it is right from the beginning it can’t be good.  The complaints continued and she kept telling me to refer them to her but that was the problem...she wasn’t calling them back or they felt like she was unhelpful, rude and made them uncomfortable.  I sucked it up since I didn’t have a choice, Worldwide Group Travel have over $25,080 of our money for the hotel block and I wanted to just get my guests booked so I could worry about the million other details that come with a wedding.

In the beginning of November, Sabrina travelled to Jamaica for another bride to check out venues and hotels.  While she was there she was also going to do a site visit at our venue, our hotel, go to floral wholesaler and visit a few stores to figure out what we could buy there and what we would need to bring.  When she got back and gave me a bill for the car service I found out she never went to the floral wholesaler which honestly was one of the more important things as far as I was concerned since floral can get expensive.  I only found out she changed her itinerary when she got back and sent me a bill.  Again, I said nothing.  I felt like I couldn’t because she had our money and was very defensive if I said anything to her.  Since she was back in NY there was no point because it wouldn’t change anything.  

Also upon returning Sabrina was trying to push me to switch hotels.  My husband and I spent 2 days researching the hotel that she insisted was SOOO much better and decided we wanted to stay put.  If you remember The Royalton was the hotel SHE recommended and now, she was insisting that we switch.  We didn’t agree, the reviews were terrible including one where a child drowned in a pool there.  And if you recall this was our wedding and we are the ones who know our guests best, not the wedding planner.  While I appreciate her being an “expert” at the end of the day it was our decision to make.  I had not yet contradicted her and said no to one of her suggestions.  Clearly that was the wrong choice because it really went downhill from there.  The next day after I gave the final decision to stay put I started getting messages there was a huge wedding booked and they were spending lots of money.  She said they were overbooked by 60 rooms and they would not guarantee rooms for our guests even though we had a contract with them.  I found it odd, and troubling that this was not brought up until we had officially declined to switch hotels.  How is it possible that she did not know this when she first got back from Jamaica?  There is no way they had not given her this information when she did a site visit there.  I had multiple guests calling The Royalton directly who were told that there was no group booked under our names, Lisa or Sabrina’s names or Worldwide Group Travel.  This of course lead us to speculate that the real issue was that our rooms were not secured in the first place thus forcing the insistence on us to switch hotels.  

3 days later I heard from Sabrina stating that The Hyatt was having a grand opening sale of $390 a night and that was merely a retail rate, she could get wholesale rates for our group.  The Hyatt was beautiful but at this point a number of guests had already booked and Ryan and I still thought we should stay put to avoid confusion.  I requested the contract from The Royalton that I had been asking for since the beginning so my sister in law could look at it as she is an attorney.  Sabrina then said “you realize if you get legal it is with me and Worldwide Group Travel, not The Royalton.”  I never said anything about getting legal, I simply wanted to have my sister and law read it as it made no sense to me that we had paid $25,000 to hold rooms that they were telling me now may not be available.  Sabrina told me if I did not move hotels as per her suggestion I had to sign an agreement stating that we declined her suggestion to make the hotel change.  If you recall, The Royalton was also her suggestion but now, months later with invitations out and rooms booked she was changing her suggestion and asking me to accept the responsibility.  She then said I should have asked her to look at other hotels while she was in Jamaica.  Why on earth would I have done that???  I knew nothing about us having an issue until after she got back!  When she went to Jamaica as far as I was concerned we were all set with our hotel.  This leads me to believe she knew about this issue before she even left yet chose not to share that information with us. It is the only thing that makes sense.  

In the meantime Sabrina continued to negotiate between The Royalton and The Hyatt as The Royalton had offered compensation in order for us to move.  At that point we thought let’s see what they offer.  If they are going to get us the same rate and we are going to be compensated we will consider the move.  On November 23rd Sabrina said we needed to make time to speak with her and you will “have Hyatt/Royalton compensation offer in writing by end of day today” and “Royalton will pay the difference up to a certain amount and Lisa will cut commission to only over her merchant fees for processing all the credit card payments.” Same day I was told “Will have it all in written form for you to review tonight and make a decision.”  We trusted Sabrina and Lisa and we agreed to move.  We never got this, we got written out rates via e-mail but nothing in regards to compensation or any deal that was worked out.

On November 24, 2015 we discussed sending e-mails to both people who said yes AND people who had not RSVP’d in order to inform them of the hotel change and also to serve as a reminder that they needed to RSVP and book if they were coming.  They were to be sent separately one to the people who had confirmed they were coming and the other to those whom we had not heard anything from.  She sent the first one and then said, “Next one I am working on is for the people who haven’t RSVP’d at all.”  Then on December 4th my mother in law got a text from a friend who had booked the day before for her, her husband and another couple.  The other couple she booked for had spoken with yet another guest who told her it was at a different hotel (Hyatt as opposed to Royalton) and everyone was completely confused because when her friend had booked for the 2 couples she was never told that it was at a different hotel than the invitation.  Sabrina told me that she would call everyone the next day and clear it up.  The next day she called to let me know it was all taken care of and that they “never got it because they never rsvp’d with you.”  It was very clearly stated on November 24th that those people had also been e-mailed which to me was extremely important for seemingly obvious reasons.  So I said that I thought we had e-mailed everyone who hadn’t RSVP’d as well and she said “I did send an e-mail to everyone who did and didn’t RSVP.”  This directly contradicts the previous statement as to why everyone was confused.  And as I spoke to more and more people it was the same thing.  No one who was on the list of having not RSVP’d yet got the e-mail.  I also realized that, my boss, who’s e-mail I check never got it either.  He too was on that same list.  This caused us to make a ton of potentially unnecessary phone calls and texts to people that had they gotten that e-mail would have taken care of it.  I asked that it be sent again and I know some people got it and others didn’t again including my boss as I get his e-mails and nothing came through.  I checked junk mail as well.  I also got an e-mail on Saturday, December 6, 2014 stating we had 3 incorrect e-mails.  All 3 were e-mail addresses were for people who hadn’t RSVP’d yet so if it had been sent on November 24th they would have bounced back then as well.  

With the deadline of November 27th rapidly approaching I received a terrible voicemail from Sabrina stating she chose to take Thanksgiving weekend to be with her family and not deal with my guests.  If you recall SHE choose that date.  I hadn’t even spoken with her or complained about her spending time with her family, I wouldn’t expect her not to.  As a matter of fact, any of the guests I spoke with I told to wait till after the weekend and not call her till Monday.  

Then also on December 5th I looked up and found that there was still a Worldwide Group Travel webpage showing up that had Royalton information on it.  I made the mistake of asking Sabrina about it as I was concerned that someone who looked it up would find the same page and book at the wrong hotel.  A seemingly understandable concern given the circumstances but apparently not.  I was berated and given a defensive hostile attitude that was completely unprofessional.  I was told, “I have invested more time and energy into your wedding already than the other 5 weddings I’m also currently working on.”  A good deal of this work and issues was related to the hotel change.  Something that had absolutely nothing to do with us and was insisted on by Sabrina.  Another part being us having to call people back that weren’t given the correct or necessary information the first time.  Also having nothing to do with me.  So to make me feel like a burden and a high maintenance was completely unfair.   At this point I was also fielding e-mails and calls from people stating that they called and hadn’t heard back, not to mention a host of other complaints.  I was told that all calls and e-mails pertaining to travel from invited guests would be managed by you which is also stated in my contract with Worldwide Group Travel.  However in an e-mail from you it said “Please also understand I am not your guests personal travel concierge.”  They say she doesn’t call back and she says she did, I was caught in the middle and chastised by her for saying anything.  All I did was relay the messages, what else was I supposed to do?  Ignore it and have them miss the chance to book?  I repeatedly told them to call her but a majority of guests were dissatisfied with this option as their issue was you not calling them back in the first place.

On December 12th I got an e-mail discussing a timeline and then when we spoke December 30th these dates were all the same.  We were told that we would discuss room reductions on Friday, January 2nd, you would be available January 3rd and 4th to accommodate all guests making last minute reservations and that Monday, January 5th was the actual date to release rooms.  I was also told via e-mail on Monday, December 29th that “Rooms 1-40 are taken care of you don’t need to do anything.” Ryan, myself and his mother spent more time calling people etc.  All while his son who he sees very little was here.  Then I get another e-mail the next day when we had to bring my husbands son to the airport asking for information from guests that were in the 40 rooms we “didn’t need to do anything” Friday morning we were in the ER due to me having a panic attack and they were monitoring me to make sure I was not having an actual heart attack.  No questioning what brought it on!  I got everything via e-mail and since I was in the hospital I didn’t get it till later.  Neither Ryan or I got a single phone call or a text.  Ironic considering I was told by you when I told you that a guest had called ten days earlier and hadn’t heard back that  “I get back to and respond to everyone who contacts me, but it will sometimes be 2-3 business days especially during holidays and weekends. But...it is their responsibility to contact me,......they have 2 different modes in which to do that, Phone or email....so if one way doesn't work for whatever reason.....they need to be proactive and follow up and reach out via the other method.   You stated she called 10 days ago and left a message on my phone.  I have reviewed all my messages for the past month and do not have one from her.  It could very well be because I was in the mountains and had no service for a few days though I would think that I would get a message notification when I came back into service......Either way I didn't get it, didn't know to call her back till you told me. If I called someone and didn't hear anything for 10 days and had their work email address I would most certainly be proactive and reach out via any method I had access to.”  She didn’t leave a message she spoke to her directly and I was BCC’d on the e-mail to Sabrina stating as much.  Anyway, that night we received an e-mail at 7:45 PM stating that saying that you needed to speak to us ASAP and was turning in the room count THE NEXT DAY as opposed to Monday.  I asked that we stick with the Monday deadline as we were still working things out with a few people and was told, “Things have changed. It has to go in tomorrow as my wholesaler has asked for it by Sunday morning and I still have lots of back end work to get ready for delivery to my wholesaler. Your guests have been given a due date of Nov. 27th from the beginning and then extended till Jan 1st.  The email I wrote that you are quoting also states that you needed to make time in the morning today to speak with me to review. I wrote an email today asking what time we were speaking.”  So let me get this straight,  my guests who you are supposed to be helping are expected to continuously call you back but when it comes to something as crucial and important as our room block you are going to just e-mail us 13 hours before it needs to be turned in and not call or text either of us?  And again the reason we didn’t call in the morning was because we were in the emergency room.

On January 1st she then told my husband via e-mail “The compensation from Royalton to Hyatt is also an internal matter and is between the Group Sales managers at both hotels who have discussed the situation in a conference call that I had with both of them.” And “Our merchant fees, and commission contracts with our wholesaler are proprietary and honestly it's quite shocking that Andrea feels she has a right to question or even inquire about it.”  On Saturday, August 9, 2014 Sabrina told me that she would be getting a 5% referral fee from Bellefield and planned on giving that back to me to cover DJ or musicians, I told her to keep that and use it for your airfare.  She also said “My hotel room for your wedding I can get for free.  The hotels always give us a staff room.  I’ll use any Bellefield commission to pay for airfare and then give you the rest to use for something.  I’m not looking to make any money on your wedding.  But having it pay for airfare is a good deal.  Thank you.”  I never asked that her to do anything for free and multiple times told her that it is fine for you to make money off of the wedding.  Again we weren’t questioning that but if we really want to put it all on the table as stated above she did say “I’m not looking to make any money on your wedding.”  So while we never intended for her to not make anything on the wedding the fact that before we had a falling out she stated that and then after changed her attitude so dramatically to be so appalled was very confusing to us.  We were never questioning anything about commission, just the compensation from Royalton.  And we weren’t questioning her we were simply questioning what it was since we were told it would go us as would the agreement.  As far as the compensation we only got adjustments on 2 rooms types and also only for 3 days of wedding hold.  So at the end of the day our guests booking other rooms or extending their trip were paying a good deal more than they would have at Royalton which sucks because as far as we were concerned we did everything we were supposed to in order to secure a room block.  As it said in our contract “Worldwide Group Travel, LLC will secure a room block with your hotel of choice based on the estimated total number of invited wedding guests.  The room block guarantees the rooms, locks in the lowest available price.”  And while I now understand there is a clause with an “out” that covers anything that was never explained to us until it because a problem.  I am sure you can understand that since we were told in November that there would be a compensation offer in writing and then told in January that it would be worked out once the rooms were all booked and paid for we were confused and simply asking for clarification.  

Sabrina then claimed via e-mail that we hi-jacked her personal life and text her personal phone so much, in not one single text or e-mail were we asked to use her work phone.  She always initiated texts via personal cell phone, I never, until December, got a text from her on her work phone.  I have gone through my cell phone bill and counted since September that I received 217 texts from her and sent 137.  Had we been asked to please refrain from using her personal phone we would have been happy to do so.  A reprimanding, condescending e-mail was completely unnecessary and unprofessional.  

In January, Sabrina told us in the late evening that she had to leave the next day for a family emergency.  The next couple of days was when our final deposit was due.  Later we found out she had known for over a week she was leaving as she had told Lisa so she intentionally left us with no notice on purpose.  In February, Sabrina was fired and Lisa Jones took over when she found out what was going on.  It was then that we found a slew of other problems.  For one, Sabrina had always told me that the $25,080 we paid could and would be used to pay other vendor deposits since as we moved along and people booked their rooms the money would be coming back to us so to speak.  This was particularly stressful because at this point there were larger deposits coming due and with such a huge chunk of money already out there we had to scramble.  Fortunately we were able to do so but we were very lucky to be in the position to get help.  Someone else could have had a huge issue on their hands.  

Also, Sabrina had told Lisa that she was only setting up hotel arrangements and was not involved in any other vendors including the wedding location, florist photographer etc.  ALL things that she told be I MUST use her for because we would be using their insurance.  Lisa said this was not allowed and Sabrina was not authorized to have done this.   

At this point I was in the middle of still dealing with Sabrina and also Lisa.  I had Sabrina telling guests to book via Expedia which she also told me via e-mail.  I also had to go through and contact all the vendors that she was “handling” in order to obtain new contracts in my name.  Can you remind me again what the point of having this “wedding planner” is?  The rest of the planning went smoothly because I ended up doing it all myself.  

The last thing to deal with was the money we were due to get back.  One of the inclusions of the deal when we moved hotels was that we could receive 2 free hotel rooms for every 20 booked (I have this in writing). We have gotten nothing. Lisa said we would get it, she was looking into, it was the hotel, then it was the wholesaler, then we got silence. Not one return e-mail or text message, voicemail nothing. She also told us that due to the circumstances we were put through she was making no money on our wedding. (This is also in writing). When I didn't hear back from her I reached out to the wholesaler who told me they mailed her a check and they also sent my message to her. She told me I had no business asking how much money she got paid which I did not. You can imagine my confusion as she told me she was making NO MONEY, therefore when I was told a check was given to her I had no reason to believe it was for anything other than our room credit.

If you want to have a stress free, positive experience and not get ripped off, look elsewhere.  I wouldn’t wish this experience on my worst enemy.