Hi tansy,
First let me say (again) that FS is a great wedding banquet venue and if you have chosen it, good choice! Don't let what I say deter you! I think the hotel has great ambience and we have always enjoyed eating at their Restaurant 190. Their service is always top notch.
Ok now that the disclaimer is over...
Singaporeans are gradually getting more wine savvy; but that is not the point of my posting. Wine savvy or not, you still have to pay the corkage charges for the exhorbitant wine prices because you cannot have a wedding without wine.
I did not intend to slam FS; problem with such e-forums is that sentiments come across stronger than they really are. I was just pointing out something that bugged me. Sorry if it came across as slamming.
I was complaining about FS that time because they wanted to charge my friend a higher room rate for his relatives (from overseas) than initially stated; only after complaining to the US HQ did the local Singapore side relent and charged the original room rate. That was just a one-off event and in case it happens to any of you, you know what to do.
I was referring not only to FS; any other hotel that insists on charging corkage gets my displeasure. But that's just me. And like I mentioned before, FS is a great hotel to have your wedding, so don't let that deter you. I was just pointing out to those who are still shopping around for hotel venues that the corkage charges can work out to quite a bit (SGD 20 * 50 bottles = SGD 1k), and many other top-class hotels waive corkage charges. Maybe 1k is no big deal in view of the huge wedding costs anyway, but any savings are surely most welcome. You could spend that extra 1k on your honeymoon.
As long as you get some decent wine for your wine-savvy friends then it is fine.
The other gripe I have is that many Singaporeans new to wine drinking think that all (cheap) wine is lousy because of the general crap that is served at wine weddings due to hotels that charge corkage. That is just not true, and if hotels did not charge corkage, we would have many more opportunities to serve decent wine to our guests at reasonable prices.
I was telling my friend that for the SGD 38 that he paid per bottle at FS, I could have gotten him a wine that all guests would remember for life.
Ah then maybe that's the whole point of it; serve crappy wine so that your guests will not drink so much; keeping costs down. I don't think that's the general strategy of most couples. Surely our guests deserve the best? And it *is* the celebration of your lifetime; so I think it is only right to serve at least a decent wine; not just the cheapest available on the market. IMHO as always.
Hi lys,
Sorry to hear about your bad experience at Conrad. The main problem we have in the service industry (and frankly I don't see GEMS having any noticeable effect) is that there is insufficient training provided. We even had a horrendous service experience at the iconic Raffles Hotel. Looks like our four-million smiles campaign is as successful (not) as our decades long courtesy campaign.
One of our friends got a free bottle of champagne from Conrad after they complained about a waitress breaking a wine glass.