Couple’s wedding plans dashed as Millrace Hotel refunds deposit
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A COUPLE who were counting down to the dream wedding day were rocked last week when they were told that the hotel which was to host their ceremony and afters was closing down and they would have to find somewhere else.
Michelle O’Brien, originally from Clonegal, was due to tie the knot with her partner Will Donohoe from Rathoe at the Millrace Hotel in Bunclody on November 15, however, now they are one of many couples who have been handed back their deposits and told that their wedding can’t go ahead at the venue as it is closing down.
A certain amount of confusion surrounded the situation with the Millrace last week and they posted on their Facebook page that they were having ‘technical difficulties’ with their phones, providing a mobile number instead. This came after news circulated locally that staff had been informed of an impending closure with rumours indicating the landmark hotel would be turned into a nursing home. For wedding couples such as Michelle and Will, this caused panic.
‘Initially, I had sent a few emails about the wedding and heard nothing back,’ said Michelle. ‘I didn’t think too much of it though until a friend of mine sent me a text saying that I’d want to contact the hotel and that it was being sold and turned into a nursing home.’
Immediately, Will travelled to the hotel from Tullow, where they currently live, to try and find out what the situation was. When he arrived, he was one of many people trying to find out what the situation was and was told by the receptionist that all senior staff were in meetings and would be for the rest of the day, so there was no point in him waiting around.
Later Michelle tried ringing the mobile number posted on the Facebook page and it was broken to her that the hotel was effectively sold and her wedding would not be going ahead. The couple had paid a deposit of €100 and were told that this too would be refunded.
‘I just think it’s disgraceful how they’ve dealt with this,’ said the heartbroken bride to be. ‘We couldn’t speak to a manager at any stage and they would not reply to our emails. When I insisted I wanted to speak to a manager I was told the only correspondence had to be through email and then they weren’t coming back to me. I just think it’s very unprofessional. They need to call people and tell them what’s going on, but it seems they’re hiding from it.’
While it had been reported last week that the owners of the hotel denied that it was closing, Michelle received her wedding deposit back into her account towards the end of the week. ‘They apologised alright, but they offered no explanation for what happened. They must have known that this was going to happen in advance.’
Michelle is trying to remain upbeat and says that other brides to be have been left in far worse situations with even less time to organise an alternative venue. ‘I know there are people who’ve had it worse than we have,’ she said. ‘At least we have some time. We are finding it difficult to find venues that are available for our date at this stage though. Then we have to organise to move everything we had booked to the Millrace over to the new venue, but obviously we don’t want to do this until we have somewhere secured.’
Once again, when contacted by this newspaper yesterday (Monday), a member of staff said that while they were open, management were unavailable to comment on the situation. All the while annoyed customers took to Facebook to voice their displeasure.
One person said that they hadn’t been able to get an answer at the hotel for weeks regarding children’s swimming lessons at the leisure centre, while another customer, Rachel Murphy, commented: ‘So is the hotel closed now? I’ve been trying to ring all morning no answer.
‘Just got an email to say our booking is cancelled for September, they could have had the courtesy to phone!’
As of yet there has still been no official comment from those managing the hotel, The McGettigan Group, however, with wedding couples being refunded their deposits into their bank accounts over the past week, the demise of the once landmark hotel seems all but complete.