Surf Hotel & Chateau

ar this in no way reflects the great job our event coordinator, Melissa, did. She was fantastic - but there are arbitrary rules that she has to follow, that become red tape for us as GUESTS AND CLIENTS of the hotel. As some background, all of our guests were not local and they stayed at the Surf for 2-4 nights, in addition to spending money at their restaurant. Here are a few of the issues we had: -Our package came with choice of 2 craft cocktails to add to their sign above the bar. Everything else was open bar. I wanted to add a "Tanqueray and tonic" to honor my dad. Melissa informed us that because it was a 3rd drink, even though part of our open bar, that they couldn't add it to the sign above the bar or they would charge us like $10 pp additional. -No bridal suite, or or place for either of us to get ready without seeing each other. As a solution, they offered to sell us another room for the night for $200. This made us feel nickle and dimed given how much we were spending in addition to all of our guests. I mean really, out of $65k, you need an extra $200? (More on pricing strategies for a business below) -Disco ball rental costs an additional $500. Now we are in PRICING STRATEGIES. Add $700 to our total package cost, and we wouldn't have gotten pissed at the $200 bridal suite room and $500 disco ball rental. -Help installing ceiling installations for the florist was $100/hr. -Would not accommodate any sense of overflow when we were anticipating an extra 10 people, even though they have a private dining room in the restaurant. Instead, the solution was to rent out the entire building. -Would not store our cake for 1 night (baker was leaving town and needed to drop the cake off on the Friday before) -Told us they require us getting enough cake for every single guest because they did not want our guests getting angry at their staff (Not really our problem/my guests know how to act right??) -THIS ONE IS THE WORST OF THEM ALL: we had 10 people for our rehearsal dinner, which we wanted to keep casual at their restaurant. Our wedding was in the shoulder season (Nov.). When I asked if they could prepare a table for 10 in their dining room at 5pm, they said they don't take reservations but we could go check in with host once it opens at 5pm. At this point, my husband (who never gets angry), threw down his hands in frustration and the lack of hospitality. Coming from this industry and the restaurant industry, we were shocked. -Whoever designed the rooms have no business designing hotel rooms. In many of the rooms there is no where for guests to hang dresses or suits, or put clothes in general. Bathroom counters have no counter to place make up/toiletries. Cleaning services do not pick up anything or move items around to wipe surfaces down. Overall, we regretted going with the Surf because of how stressful it was to plan and how icky it felt being a transaction. Our next wedding (Ha) will take place at the Sonnenalp - where we are treated like guests and clients.

Rebecca who was outstanding—she was flexible, responsive to our (many!) emails, and so creative in helping us bring our vision to life. She was organized and worked seamlessly with all our vendors, which made the day run smoothly. Each of our vendors commented on how grateful they were to work at the Surf and a few said it was their favorite venue to work at! The staff at the Surf Hotel was beyond accommodating, especially the front desk (especially Darien!)—they were so helpful the entire time. Dinner service was incredible, and our guests couldn’t stop talking about how great the food was. Everyone was blown away by how gorgeous the venue and the whole town are! Guests who stayed at the hotel absolutely loved the beautiful rooms and kept telling us how much they enjoyed their stay. If we could do it all over again, we would choose the Surf Hotel every single time. It was everything we hoped for and more—truly the best day ever. Thank you, Rebecca and the whole Surf Hotel team, for making it so unforgettable!

her! We took advantage of the trails right out the front door, jumped in the river with everyone, and loved hanging out on the lawn right outside! When it came to the wedding, everything was beautiful and dialed. With the surf it feels like you have a second wedding planner, making sure everything is just perfect. We even had multiple guests come up to say that the food was the best that they had ever had at a wedding. 10/10 would get married at the surf again!