Hyatt Regency Lake Washington

reception, and Sunday goodbye brunch. We utilized their food for 3/4 meals and yet here we still are. I should have heeded my now-husband’s warnings about hotel fees and disruptions but interestingly enough, it sounds like the Hyatt issues are newer in the past year. Our wedding planner had highly recommended this venue in the past and no longer does, along with the majority of our vendors who found them impossible to work with this time around. Our Hyatt coordinator is now also “no longer with the Hyatt” and I suspect she was fired for how badly she messed up our wedding and our financials. Please note that even though we were not informed by our Hyatt coordinator that we didn’t meet our food and beverage minimum, as we were told we would be when we submitted final numbers a month prior to our wedding, they still kept that money. I informed both the GM and the event director that this is a deceptive practice- not that we didn’t meet the minimum but that nobody informed me that we were going to be FOURTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS short. So we paid 14k for nothing, to the Hyatt. It’s also a lesson to read the contract intently because service fees ARE NOT included in your food and beverage minimum, even though in all the cost estimates it’s listed as “food and beverage total”. Other issues- kids buffet was not laid out on our Friday night event, instead we randomly had waiters asking kids if they wanted buttered noodles. It was incredibly odd and not what we paid for. We were told they were doing us a favor by not charging us for the wedding cake and then told they would charge us for additional tastings even though we were using them for 3 meals plus the cake/dessert. Getting the managers involved was the only way they would “comp” this for us. They could never tell us what linens they had and could provide, in what color, for which event- on the day of the wedding, they were yelling at my planner saying that she didn’t give them info about the linens (we have emails back and forth with them about this). We were charged for not meeting our room block fee when we have email communication from them stating we met it, then the director tells us well it’s a moving target because if someone canceled their room you then would not meet the attrition rate. This was not conveyed to us in the days leading up to the wedding when we could’ve upgraded someone in the room block to make up the cost. I wish I could believe they had good intentions. I think the coordinator they fired was incompetent and they’re covering it up by only giving us 5k back and hoping we don’t raise more of a stink. In the end we spent over 120k at this venue and they can’t even respect us enough to give us some of our money back. It’s not worth the cost to fight this with an attorney and in the end what matters is we’re married. It’s hard to start your new life as newlyweds feeling like you got hustled but I do plan to post this on vendor sites to save future brides the hassle. Deceptive business practices in 2024 don’t sit well with me when it looks like all the Hyatt wanted was our money without providing the service to live up to that cost. There’s so many other issues and things that left me with such disappointment but at this point I have to let it go and chalk it up to a life lesson.