A bride-to-be has been left more than £3,000 out of pocket after a Kenilworth hotel cancelled her wedding in a five-minute phone call.

A fortnight after the call, the Woodside Hotel has still not given her official acknowledgement that the wedding is off – leaving her unable to claim on her insurance.

Owner of the Woodside Hotel, The Sundial Group, went into administration this February, leaving couples due to get married there not knowing whether their weddings will take place, nor whether they will receive their deposits back.

The 19th century Woodside Hotel on Glasshouse Lane has been owned by The Sundial Group for over 60 years and was much-used by Kenilworth locals.

However, a bride who had her wedding booked there for this summer has told Kenilworth Nub News that she has been "left high and dry," by the hotel owners following the administration announcement.

The bride, who asked not to be named, originally had her wedding scheduled for last autumn, but it had to be moved to summer 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

She was told over the phone this February by a member of the hotel's staff that her wedding would not be taking place, and that she may not receive any of her deposit back.

She is yet to receive any formal acknowledgement of the cancellation in writing and does not know now when she will be able to get married.

Having already paid £3,425 to the hotel, as well as a significant amount to other suppliers for her wedding, she has been unable to claim on her insurance due to the fact she has had no written confirmation from the venue.

"We are potentially forking out money to suppliers that we're not going to get back, because we only have until June 6 to make a claim."

The bride also told Kenilworth Nub News that she had tried to contact the hotel repeatedly throughout December and January to ask what provisions the Woodside would be making should her wedding not be allowed the full capacity of guests she had paid for.

Despite asking her to sign a new contract in December, nobody from the hotel responded to any of her enquiries, meaning she continued to be left in the dark.

Following the five-minute phone call by an unnamed member of hotel staff, the website was then closed – to be replaced with a notice that the Sundial Group had gone into administration. The venue's social media accounts have also been closed.

Having realised that she could not contact anybody from the hotel, the bride began searching online about the hotel, where she discovered that the Woodside was on the market for £4,950,000 – and had been since last October.

The Sundial Group also has another property on the market, Highgate House, which is valued at £6.5million.

When the sale of the hotel was announced, Tim Chudley, managing director at Sundial Group, said to Boutique Hotelier: "We have enjoyed the past 60 years as guardians of these wonderful businesses, and as a family have decided to find the best way to pass on the Sundial legacy to new owners that will invest and continue to employ our wonderful people, hosting memorable meetings and events for our clients.

"We look forward to continuing business as usual in the meantime before handing over to the right new owners for the next phase of the business."

Whilst the hotel was well within its rights to continue to trade and do business right up until its parent company went into administration, the bride said that the way the hotel acted had hurt her.

"We are annoyed that they were asking for money and avoiding correspondence, when they would have known that they were in trouble.

"We haven't had any proper correspondence from them whatsoever."

She added: "a lot of people in Kenilworth use the Woodside, during lockdown any events that they have had…we have tried to be in contact with them, support them as much as we can.

"Lots of local Kenilworth people book parties with them, local suppliers have contracts with then."

Kenilworth Nub News contacted the company overseeing the administration of The Sundial Group for further comment.

A spokesperson for the joint administers at Grant Thornton UK LLP said: "Office holders from Grant Thornton UK LLP were appointed joint administrators to the Sundial Group Limited and Woodside Conference Centre Limited on 22 February 2021. The businesses have been heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with the hotels being closed during the current lockdown period. 

"The administrators recognise the impact of the administrations on employees, clients and suppliers to the companies, and are working to resolve outstanding matters in line with their statutory obligations as swiftly as is practicable.

"Anyone who has paid a deposit for a function (including a wedding) or a conference, will be contacted in due course by a member of the Sundial/Woodside team, if they have not already been contacted. In addition, a letter to all known creditors and deposit holders will be sent out shortly.

"At present, the administrators are continuing to work with the directors to assess the options available to realise the assets but unfortunately, due to the current economic climate, the hotels are unlikely to re-open during the period of the administration."

(Header image by Maypm via Wikimedia.commons)