Posted by Nancy BR on 5/14/2008, 8:15 am
75.128.121.38
Some people are happy that we'll be in Frankenmuth this year. Others are concerned that the costs will be higher. Still others are concerned that it's a big festival weekend there and we'll be swamped with people. I thought you might want to know how fortunate we are to have changed locations. Frankenmuth will be an experiment and, in many ways, a challenge. But the people in charge are delighted to have us there.
Without going into the gory details, suffice it to say the general manager at Valley Plaza and his new food and beverage manager were far from accommodating last year. Then, after the event, I was "informed" that many of our privileges would no longer be available: scooter for Mom, walkie/talkie to keep in touch with staff during the weekend, Grand Ballrooms (we were moved to the little rooms on the other end), use of the entrances and hallways for activities, ability to set up the room a day early and lock it, and many other things that made our event enjoyable and easy to manage. We were also told to expect to work around a minimum of two weddings in the same building on Saturday.
Shortly thereafter I learned that the new F and B manager felt we don't spend enough money there (a measly $20K from us and another $20 from guests in the form of room rentals). He wants to turn the convention center into ALL weddings and big parties: they are quick big-bucks events that require no extra room changes,
Fast forward to my last email from our former sales associate. They eliminated her job. To get to her, they also had to fire four other sales associates under her. The last two quit. All of the events Sonja had coordinated have already bailed or are making this their last year at VP. The GM's wife is now working in sales because they have only one clerical assistant left and no sales associates. THe woman who was in charge of catering left and took her two daughters with her (they also managed various aspects of catering). To cap it all off, the owners of VP sold a large adjacent plot of land to the county to build a JAIL.
We truly believe they are on a mission to go bankrupt and cut their losses. The GM and F and B guy are both out of their minds.
Can you imagine the horrible treatment we would receive if we were still planning to go to VP this year, if there even IS a VP this year???? We were fortunate to book the Bavarian Inn and Lodge and could only do that because we took the weekend we took. It won't be ideal, but we can always make it FUN. My mind is in overdriving trying to do just that.
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