Hotel was lovely, Bar Pass complete waste of time...

“Hotel was lovely, Bar Pass complete waste of time...”

Written on: 17/08/2012

I booked my best friend's hen night in Blackpool through Red7 Hen & Stag Company recently.We booked a hotel for 1 night (a Saturday) and a 'Free Bar Pass' which gave us VIP-style access to 6 different bars/clubs. The cost was £43 each and there were 10 of us going. The first thing that was a little frustrating was the constant calls I had off the Red7 sales team prior to me booking the deal... Considering I had to consult with 10 girls to make sure the plans and price were ok and had told Red7 this (and that I'd phone THEM back) I still received up to 3 calls/missed calls daily from the moment I first enquired into prices with them until I eventually booked. The second frustrating thing was the speed at which you had to look over the booking and make changes once the deposit had been paid... I had 24 hours to confirm places and that the details were correct! I didn't have access to a computer during this time so when I logged into my account on Red7 about 2 days after booking I was met with a notice saying that the 24hours were up and that the party had been locked at 10 persons max and that the price would increase per person if less people came. My friend had wanted to pay in instalments as she was waiting to get paid and the Red7 advisor had said this could be done when I initially spoke to him. However my friend said there didn't seem to be a way to pay in instalments and she had to pay all of the money at once, leaving her a little short before pay day...
Printing the paperwork was a breeze and I didn't hear from Red7 again until we came back from the weekend.
Hotel - Although I was a bit apprehensive about booking a hotel without knowing which hotel it was (Red7 would only tell me after paying the deposit), the hotel (The Alondra) was lovely and the couple who own and run it couldn't have done more for us. They even put up hen night banners and ribbons in the breakfast room around our table the morning after the night before! Lovely, lovely people. I would recommend their hotel to anyone.
The 'Bar Pass' was another story... I had to take the paperwork out with me on the Saturday as it was written that I had to produce the pass and my ID at each venue. Thinking that these venues must be very difficult to get into I thought nothing more of it and was glad that I could guarantee myself and the other ladies free entrance into any club on the list (despite any queues there might be). Well, didn't I look an idiot when we had NO TROUBLE AT ALL getting into the venues - we just walked in (no one wanted or needed to see the 'pass') and worse still the venues were FREE to get into anyway!! Granted we didn't go to all of the venues on the pass (they were all over Blackpool and it would've cost us loads in taxi fares) but it was a bit of a farce... The hotel rooms would've cost around £20-£25 per person for the night if we'd booked it independently so the 'Free' bar pass actually cost us roughly £20.... I know RED7 need to pay their staff too and the customer pays for the fact that the company collects the money (which is a bonus), but we felt a little ripped off at the end of our weekend. Next time I'm going to book things myself and the other girls feel the same way too.
Best thing about the weekend; Being with my best mate and the girls living it up on the golden mile!
Worst thing: Feeling like I'd ripped the girls off with a ludicrous 'Free bar pass' that meant nothing!