Wedding couple fear losing £8k
A COUPLE fear they will never see the £8,000 they have spent booking a wedding at the troubled Coal Exchange Hotel in Cardiff.
Leysha Xuereb and her fiance have already stumped up more than threequarters of the cost of their £11,000 wedding, which was due to be held on July 20 next year.
But, with uncertainty surrounding the future of the hotel, whose owners have fallen into administration owing £25m, the couple decided to cancel and re-book at another venue.
Now, after two years saving up for their big day, the couple fear they will never see the money again.
Miss Xuereb, from Llanrumney, said they could have to wait another five years to get married while they save up the money from scratch.
Miss Xuereb, 36, said: “I’ve told them we want to cancel the wedding for next year because I’m not happy with it going ahead. I want to book another venue which I know is secure because we don’t know what’s going on with the Coal Exchange.”
Their big day was initially postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions and the couple were sent a new contract to secure the date.
But after hearing that Signature Living were in financial difficulties, they decided to pull out and cancel entirely and didn’t sign. The Coal Exchange is owned by Signature Living Coal Exchange Ltd, which went into administration on May 6 owing at least £25m and with just £17 in the bank.
Miss Xuereb met her fiance Jamie Attard 17 years ago and the date for their big day has a special significance.
She said: “We had planned to get married on July 20 this year, which was my nan’s birthday. I’m just worried that if next year comes and we can’t get that date, we’ll have to postpone it again, because I want that specific date.”
She has provisionally re-booked their wedding at Hensol Castle but needs the money back from the Coal
Exchange to pay for it.
The cost of the wedding is £12,500 so they can “scrape together” the deposit they need from the remaining money they were due to pay the Coal Exchange, but they are still £10,000 short.
She added: “We’ve just lost £8,000 which is all of our wedding. We just want our money back, because if it goes into liquidation, we won’t get our money back at all.”
She has been desperately trying to contact the wedding planning team at the hotel but has heard nothing for several weeks.
The last thing she was told by the company was her money would be returned once the business is back up and running.
But that was some weeks ago and as the full picture of the financial troubles facing the hotel emerges it is looking increasingly unlikely.
The Coal Exchange Hotel is operated by The Exchange Hotel Cardiff Ops Limited, which has not filed for administration and is still listed as an active company. However, the operating company is owned by Signature Living Hotel Limited which has itself filed for administration.
We contacted The Exchange Hotel for comment and were referred to Duff and Phelps, who are acting as the administrators for Signature Living Hotel Limited. A spokesman for the administrators said the trading operations (including bookings) of the properties under the Signature Living Hotel Ltd group fell outside the scope of Duff and Phelps’ responsibilities.
It is understood the Coal Exchange is taking steps to reopen in line with the latest government guidelines in due course. We contacted Signature Living for comment about bookings at the Coal Exchange but received no response.