The "Catering Sales Manager" is not competent. My fiancé and I were going to book the Diplomat as our wedding venue. While touring the south palm court and 33rd floor lounge was sh...own as a ceremony/cocktail/reception space. However, she was unable to provide for the ceremony space shown.. the hotel does not confirm that space until 30 days prior to the event (information that was not shared with me until I was at the contract process). She then offered me another ceremony space, at the hotel pool (where guests would be), so noncomparable in privacy. At the tour, she offered to provide a breakdown of all fees.. that took over 2 weeks to obtain, post receiving a contract. Simple services/responsibilities of the hotel, that are included in their wedding brochure (complimentary stay on the wedding night in ocean view suite), are not in their contract template. Their contract is all about the client's financial responsibility. I had to ask several times for the room block/rate to be included in the contract; which changed from phone conversation to email. She gives information without the approval and then goes back on it. The room rate she quoted was initially "$252, mid 200s" on the phone, then via email it was $299. She does not take responsibility for the misinformation and then holds the client to the higher price. Their contract also states that the menu cannot be determined until 6 months prior to the event; they did not even make a concession such as "will honor current menu pricing." Read the fine print because there are surcharges for relocating the ceremony; if there is as much as 20% chance of rain in FLORIDA, and it is the "hotels final decision." The Director was copied on 2 emails expressing frustration with the service and he did not reach out until we had stepped back (a week or so later).
Sales Manager was not able to explain or answer questions about many of the legal parts of the contract and then went as far as to say that maybe our small wedding was not at the level of the Diplomat. I have never experienced this level of condescending customer service and want to warn potential brides.