The Berkeley Hotel Reviews
Reviews
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4.7 out of 5 rating
4.7 out of 5 rating
6 reviews
93% recommend it
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User1497289 Sent on 01/06/2014We held both the rehearsal dinner and reception at The Berkeley and it was great! They were flexible and accommodating to my needs. They even took care of my flowers until it was time for set up. We used the Jamestown room, which is perfect if you're having a small event. -
![Cheri]()
Cheri Sent on 07/09/2019Difficult, stressful, but ultimately a good day
This review is hard for me because despite the difficulties, we had a great time which that was due to some of our other vendors, some of the staff who were amazing, and our friends and family. I received a telephone call the Monday after the wedding to get our side of the issues which were also reported by some of the staff before we had the chance to. We were asked if there is anything they can do to make up for the problems we had. We said no because we are hoping that they will be taken seriously so the next couple doesn't experience this.
First, the problems;
1. I went through four different coordinators during the planning process which began July 2018 and ended a mere few days before the wedding on June 29 2019. The first three people stopped working there at different points along the way. I had to go over my selections each and every time because the previous coordinator had things I selected completely wrong despite it all being through email (I live out of state). The most frustrating part about all of this is, I understand that staffing issues occur, but each time a new person started the job, there was no oversight by management to make sure the new person was handling things as they should have been. The last coordinator only lasted about few weeks. I didn't find out about these staffing changes because I was told the person I was working with left. I found out because sent emails simply went unanswered. When someone stops working there, apparently their emails aren't forwarded to the new person. I finally started to worry after a couple of weeks went by of radio silence and called the hotel because I saw a new name listed on the the wedding sales page of the website.
2. I was told things by one of the coordinators that turned out to be untrue which I found out only weeks before my wedding by the director who finally took over my event. For example, I was told that soft drinks would be included for the guests who don't drink alcohol (i.e., the kids). I was told that beer and wine was included in open bar.
3. My contract was apparently out-dated because the taxes listed on it are not what I was charged ultimately. The contract says 11.3% for hotel rooms and sales tax of 5.3%. It is actually 11.3% including for events. The sales tax was 7.5%. This cost me nearly 3 times as much as I had originally budgeted for based on what the contract said. As a result, I had to remove some things from my cocktail hour and tweak my open bar to make up for these additional costs.
4. My guests and outside vendors told me they were treated poorly by one of the event coordinators the day of our wedding. Our wedding was to have our ceremony in the ballroom, then guests would be in the Jamestown room for cocktail hour while the ballroom was converted from ceremony to reception. Our ceremony was relatively short. We budgeted 30 minutes for it and ended up being done in about 15 to 20. Guests went to the Jamestown room as they should have and were snapped at by this event coordinator because they had the nerve to start serving themselves the hors d'oeuvres that I already paid for before 4:00. Some were told they weren't even supposed to be there yet. I still don't understand why it mattered. I paid for a set amount of food for cocktail hour. Who cares what time it is when my guests start eating it? Even still, attitude is everything. This person could have just asked my guests nicely to wait until all of the food had been put out. I was led to believe that the timings of things would be flexible. Being flexible goes a long way for an event like this.
Our DJ told us they were initially refused from setting up to do the ceremony music because the diagram didn't show a DJ table on it for the ceremony. I never received a ceremony diagram so I'm not sure how one even existed. I certainly didn't approve of it. In the end they gave in but it was after what I was told was quite a bit of arguing. How would I have had ceremony music if it hadn't been allowed? Sing to myself? Clap and snap my fingers? This should have been a no-brainer to just let it go. If you aren't sure, ask the bride.
5. The themed table favors for our reception were mixed up despite the fact a seating chart was given and each table had separate bags which were labeled with the table name. When I say mixed up, I don't mean simply one table got the items meant for another table. They actually put half the correct items, and then put the remaining items on another table, so each table got half the items meant for another table. I still don't get how that could have happened. A special favor bag that I made specially for my flower girl since she was the only one there under the age of 15 there was lost. The event coordinator acknowledged that she saw it but didn't know where it could have gone but said she would look for it. It never turned up and I never heard another thing about it. There was little care involved in the little details which I spent a lot of time preparing for our big day to add our personalities to the day. I created props based on the theme of each of the tables, and one set was spread across every table in the room including ours. After the reception was over, all of the table and photo booth props we brought were thrown into a box without any care of whether we wanted to keep them. When I got the box the following day, many of them had been mangled due to being shoved into the box. They certainly were not given that way.
7. I was told by the director if I would allow the dance floor to be placed ahead of time so it would be down during the ceremony, they could guarantee a turn-over of the room in 90 minutes. I agreed to being flexible on this in exchange for that. On that day as time got closer to our entrance, I was relayed messages from some of my wedding party that nothing was happening in the room to prepare it in time for 5:30 as agreed. When I sent my brother-in-law to talk to the event coordinator, she insisted that the plan was for 6:00 ( a 2 hour cocktail hour). I sent him a screenshot of the email where I was guaranteed 90 minutes if I allowed them to lay down the dance floor ahead of time and she blew it off saying she wasn't told that, that the event order was her "bible" but she would do what she could to get it done sooner. Now I don't pretend to know what all goes on outside the ballroom in order to prepare for a dinner service but what I do know is that after that, very little was being done to complete the tables so we could be ready to do our entrance shortly after 5:30. One of my bridesmaids tried to offer to help get the tables ready because nobody was doing anything to make that happen and instead my bridesmaid was forced out of the room. They were also given a stack of place cards, grouped by table for the registration table. Somewhere along the way the card order was messed up. Mistakes happen. No big deal right? They have the seating chart. The cards can be fixed. That didn't happen. Instead, one of my wedding party was told to do it.
Now the good:
1. Adorna, the Director of Sales worked with me to try her best to reduce any stress that was caused by the high turnover of her coordinators. It took some work but we got there and I thank her for making that effort. I can imagine it was stressful having to handle everything at that point in the timeline. She also called me after she got report of many of the things that occurred during our wedding from staff. She wanted to get our side of things to confirm it all and said she would include it in her report that would be given to upper management.
2. I was offered a reduced cost for the soft drinks for non-alcohol drinkers, and the beer and wine for our open bar at no additional cost. I appreciated that gesture.
3. The front desk staff, the valet staff, the hospitality staff and the servers were all amazing and went above and beyond. We appreciate the apologies received from the sous chef, the other coordinator, and the front desk staff and servers for things that were not quite right which were clear, even to them. Again, attitude is everything. We didn't expect perfection. Every wedding has issues and things that go wrong. Some of the things we experienced could have been easily avoided or were outright unnecessary.
3. The governor's suite was beautiful and I couldn't have imagined how necessary having that much space available to get ready was. My husband and I both used it to get ready that day. Yes, it is that big. Just imagine, in one room it was me, four bridesmaids, one flower girl, two mothers, aunts, etc. On the grooms side, he was with his groomsmen, and a few other family members. There is plenty of seating. We sent some of the dining chairs over to the bedroom so the guys could have more seating. My husband and his groomsmen got ready in the bedroom side, and my bridesmaids, flower girl and I got ready in the parlor side. I was not aware prior to my arrival, but it is essentially two separate rooms, each with a full ballroom, each with terrace access, with a hallway in between so there is no worry about the groom seeing the bride. He never saw me the entire day until it was the right time. Additionally, there is a separate outer door that can be closed and the two room doors can be propped open using the stoppers if needed. There is plenty of terrace accessible from both rooms. Just keep in mind that both terraces are view-able from the other so bride and groom should avoid going out on them that day if you do what we did. I have to say the cost of this space was well worth it. If you have your ceremony and reception there, the bride and groom get one room night free. They allowed us to book the governor's suite for two nights and deducted the cost of that free night from one of the governor's suite nights so we only paid the difference for one night. They also sent up some chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of champagne to our room. Very sweet. :)
If the Berkeley can fix the problems, this is a beautiful hotel to have your wedding. I will say, if you go with this hotel, you have to stay on top of things and be very thorough with verifying what is being told to you. Get everything in writing and be sure to have them confirm everything with an event order. Some of the problems came to light when I received a copy of the event order. -
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