Hotel Fort Canning

bingqiling

New Member
Ya... I am really disappointed. The deposit have not not refund yet. Waiting for KongWeng's call. I am thinking to look for a few hotel. Orchard Hotel is in my list. But not sure how is everything there...
 


bem

Member
bingqiling: did u ask ur coorddinator why the ballroom is not given to u?

by right, if u book on the fair, and u paid the deposit, den the room is yours!

I think u shd speak to the higher mgt, and get some sort of compensation... mayb a free meal or room stay or smt.... all these is causing u inconvenience... just my thoughts...
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bingqiling

New Member
Yes Bem, KongWeng told me that he overlooked. And his answer made me lose confidence in him as my wedding planner and the hotel as whole. As I have the impression that, on my actual day itself, they might messed up my wedding and tell me the same excuse "overlook".

My boyfriend asked for compensation but he told us, he can give us additional 4 dozens of finger food. Which frankly speaking, how much does it really worth? And they are not aware how much hassle they had caused us. Since we have to look for the venue all over again.

FYI, I called him last Tue and asked for refund. Its one week. No news from him. I am really disappointed with HFC (HOTEL FORT CANNING).

Please think twice if you are planning to hold your BIG day there...
 

bem

Member
bingqiling: yes. i have booked at peony jade. and was thinking of having my 1 night stay at this hotel since its close to PJ.... was looking at this thread to see anything i can find.. but didnt expect to see ur post on their lousy service.... cannot understand how can there be an oversight...

He say can gif u additional 4 dozens of finger food for wat? u mean he tot u are still going to hold ur wedding there?? i do not get it....

Hav u tried bringing this up to higher mgt? Not tat i'm those complain king, but i think tis is really v frustrating.. not having ur deposit back when e ballroom is not booked for u.. how much deposit is it?

How many tables u looking at? If u dun mind a restaurant, I will rec u peony jade. my colleague jus had hers there. my sis is having hers in jun. and mine is nxt year.. food is great!! service during the wedding and each time i go to view/ sign contract is always excellent...
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bingqiling

New Member
Bem

Yes, they are wishfully thinking that we are left with no option and gotta hold our banquet there. Grrrh...

The account department said will credited S$2500 into our account ONE WEEK later. And I asked them to do it ASAP cos we need it for other things. The answer is "that is the faster we can refund".

I understand your point. It is really frustrating and my boyfriend is pretty unhappy with it.

I heard of PJ's good reputation. How many tables are you considering? Mine might be around 22 - 25 tables. Haven't really finalize the headcount.
 

bem

Member
bingqiling: 22 tables den u cant go for PJ.. PJ CQ is pretty small.. max is 22 tables and the 21st and 22nd tables are super far..

u can consider PJ Keppel? its bigger and their ROM is beautiful. but v inaccessible thou...

y did u chose legands btw? did u view the lavender ballroom? i was always looking for a ballroom w window concept.. after i booked PJ den i saw tat hotel fort canning lavender ballroom has windows.. was feeling sian y didnt view tis hotel... but now after reading your post, i think its better to book a more popular hotel which has better wedding reviews...

wat's ur budget? Orchard hotel is v popular. their themes nice. price good. but i didnt like e area.. marina mandarin vanda ballroom oso not bad.. another v popular hotel is grand park city hall.. ur 25 tables shd be able to find a good variety of hotels.. good luck!
 

yvetteteo

New Member
bingqiling

personally, i will complain up to the higher management. since it is the fault of the hotel, why should i suffer any other inconvenience? asking for the refund is not too much to ask for, it is the basic.

i met my coordinator few days ago to sign the contract and there are two issues that i am unhappy about.
1st - they put in the contract minimum 30tables guarantee (and if i do not meet the minimum guarantee table, i still have to pay for it) when the legends ballroom is only minimum 25 tables. I believe it is because i have told them i should be having 30 tables that they put this in the contract; i personally think it is an unethical way. What if i did not see this, sign the contract and did not meet the minimum requirement? Wouldn't it be unfair to me? My coordinator cleared up and said she will amend the contract to 25 tables so case closed.

2nd issue - before paying the deposit, i ask if the contract will be in nett price (many hotels do that, my friends who are getting married all get nett price) as i foresee increase in gst. my coordinator said it will be and then when the contract is present to us, it is ++. Asked her bout it and she checked with her higher mgmt and the answer she received is they cannot give us nett price. I was furious, but my anything-htb said it might be cause that day was hectic and there might be confusion.

Personally, i feel cheated. Though i don't deny that i will still sign up with hfc if my coordinator told me straight from the start that the contract will not be in nett price. But since the perks are good + i personally like the hotel and i still think my coordinator is well-versed in her work and responsible, it is most likely i will still go ahead with it.

Just my 2cents worth
 

klaus_m

New Member
I just attended a wedding last Saturday night and there are 3 weddings happening at the same time and thus when I arrived, there are no more parking space. Went out and lost my way and went through another ERP gantry! (2 in total $4). Finally found a parking lot quite a distance away in a small carpark and luckily it has 1 lot left.

After parking went up the long flight of stairs and walked close to 1 KM to reach the venue. (all linked). I was thinking all these exercises make me hungry so I was eagerly awaiting for the food. To my horror, the food portion is small and barely enough for a table of 10 (5 guys, 5 girls).

The food does not taste good (shark fin soup too starchy, fish meat was hard and not warm enough, melon sago too sweet). I also noticed that there is it is not 1 waiter to 1 table (around 22 tables in all) and each time I asked for a refill of drinks, it will take 5-10mins to arrive.

My sis in law asked for a baby chair from a waiter (looks young, prob a temp) and his reply was we do not have a baby chair and he don't even bother to try to find one. At the end, she asked another waitress and this time, she managed to find 1 after like 15 mins.

Very disappointing experience overall. Wrote all these negative comments in the feedback form provided at the end of the banquet.
 

glori0us

New Member
Yvette, thanks for sharing your post. I thought they were very insightful information. We're considering HFC as one of our options ; currently waiting for them to call us to arrange. How long was their response time to you from the moment you requested for a walkthrough to the actual meetup please? Also, do you know what is Maggie Chooi's designation please? Thanks again and, congratulations to you
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klaus_m

New Member
hi weddingbe, there are 3 ballrooms and its a Sat night and I guess its a popular date so 3 weddings can happen in a night :D
 

elizalynn

New Member
Hi, I'll be viewing HFC this wed. They were very prompt in replying my email and I'll be meeting Kian Boon...

Bingqiling, is your co-ordinator Kong Weng = Kian Boon?
If yes, I'd better be more cautious when I meetup with him..
 

yvetteteo

New Member
hi glori0us,sorry for the late reply. Their replies are fast, and i visited the hotel within a week after sending them my request.

As for the designation, Maggie's designation is asst. catering sales manager.

Klaus_m, thank you for the comment. i noticed during their wedding fair that their waiters and waitresses are not very attentive too. Utensils were ran out and they did not notice, but they brought out more immediately after i pointed out. The food is so-so, not fantastic, too during the wedding show. But 'cause we are not very picky when it comes to food wise, we are ok with it
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lazysheep

New Member
We just held our wedding last sat , 25 June and all the comments coming from my guests are below :
1) Food and service was good so no complaints from that.
2) Food portion were plentiful and enough for everyone.
3) Though the staffs are relatively fresh but they still try their best to attend to my guest which is pretty good for me.
4) The dessert though a bit sweet was rather special so some guest actually likes that.
5) The person in charge Sophia and Lawrence did a fantastic job in getting things done for me on our big day. Kudos to them everything went smoothly.

Overall we had a fantastic and memorable wedding dinner which we have to thank everyone there for.

From
Eric and Christy
 

gsy7

New Member
Hi I'm considering HFC given the generous throw ins, suitable ballroom size for 25 and nice suite. However I'm concerned with the food (given that different reviews are stated here) and the reviews about the different coordinators. My coordinator is Kian Boon, whom i met once I walked in. Anyone worked with him previously??

Also, anyone holding on to 2nd Dec next year contract? Am considering that date
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Thanks for all your help! Intend to confirm soon!
Claire
 

ice03

New Member
Hi, I am considering HFC to b my A.D. venue. Had went down for a site visit and a discussion with Sophia. Has anyone use Sophia as their coordinator and any view on their theme and their ballroom?
 

kewei

New Member
hi raindrop, this is kewei here. I have HFC for 11 Nov 2011 to sell. Let me know (98357134) if u are interesed.
 

sq3169

New Member
Hi Christy

Would you share some lovely pictures with us?
I viewed the ballroom without table setup.. The windows are kinda strange... Anyone find it odd? Or has found solution to deal with the windows?
 

jodium

New Member
Hi! Am planning my wedding in HFC as well but couldn't find many reviews on it. Anyone care to share their review or experience?
 

lozcve

New Member
am also considering hfc bcos of the colonial style, however this doesnt seem like a popular hotel (yet)

anybody can share their experience and more imptly the additional perks they managed to bargain for? :p
 

xiao_ma

New Member
Hi

Just had our wedding + solemization at HFC.

Think we are very lucky on our wedding day, there is only US holding our weddding at the hotel. No other couples, no seminars, no meetings.... So, Overall experience I can give it a 8!

+ points:
1. Food was good and the portion is big. Guest feedback that both the vegetarian and halal food were very nice too.
2. Overall hotel ambience is very good, love the colonial style. The biggest factor why we choose HFC.
3. Banquet manager is very good! He is very responsive and always by ourside reminding and updating the situation.


- points:
1. Ballroom. Its all about luck!
There are 2 ballrooms sharing a common reception area, so if there are 2 weddings on the go, the reception area will be a mess!
2. Carpark.
The hotel carpark slots are very limited, so again, if there are 2 weddings, the guest will have to park at the public carpark.
3. Location.
I dont know if its the signboard or what, some of my guest actually missed the entrance and end up turning into orchard which will bypass ERP! So must let them know the exact entrance in advance.
4. Theme
We basicly choose our banqet theme based on the coordinator's handphone picture and her description! I can say there is no choice at all, its either oriental (super red) or western (v pale and whitish). If you are looking for nice setup maybe need to reconsider again...

Hope this helps!
 

shavaine

Member
Hi everyone,
We went down to see the Lavendar ballroom this weekend, and found the size and ceiling height to be decent. The ballroom was set up for a wedding then, which was a garden theme I think, that is quite nice. However, some of the tables were put right against the projector screen, so it was pointed out that the guests who are sitting right in front of the screen would have the light from the projector shining into their eyes. Also, the linen (tableclothes and chair covers) were crumpled and some had holes in them, so they didn't seem very well maintained. Think the main thing that we didn't like is the entrance to the Lavendar ballroom (the smaller ballroom) was through this long, narrow and rather dark corridor that was maybe the width of a person with their arms stretched out, and went by the toilets - not very attractive. Hope it helps.
 

fennn

New Member
Wow xiao ma, sounds like ur wedding's a great success!

Would you be able to share the pictures?

I'm looking at having my wedding at HFC too! But the website doesnt seem to have many pictures for reference.
 

summerlifen

New Member
anyone had their wedding banquet with HFC, and bought their own lightings and does a wedding dance with the long narrow ballroom?
 

lozcve

New Member
Can anyone advise whether HFC provides free function room for solemnization? Also, how much do they charge if you extend your stay/book rooms for family & friends? Anyone booked their outdoor venue for solemnization?
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summerlifen

New Member
Giftgalz, HFC wouldnt provide free function room.
they charge about $1k for the function room or their outdoor venue,
the alternative they suggest is to use the banquet (if your solemnization is the actual day of your wedding)and that would be FOC
Hope the above helps
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xiu_li

New Member
Hi Everyone,

Due to unforseen circumstances, i will have to let go our wedding package contract with HFC.
We have paid a deposit of 5k and have in fact signed this package during the wedding show back in Oct last year. our signing of wedding package with HFC on the wedding day itself have entitled us to the following:-

1. Unlimited serving of draught beer from 7 pm to 11 pm
2. 01 bottle of house wine per confirmed table to be consumed during dinner
3. 12 dozen delectable butler-passed Deluxe Canapés during pre-dinner cocktail
4. Additional 01 night stay in our Premium King and breakfast for 2 persons
5. 01 unit of Ang Bao Box
6. House wine at S$25.00++ per bottle (min. 12 bottles)
7. Waiver of corkage charge

We are letting this package for a lower deposit money to interested couples.
I would like to seek every kind soul who is reading this post to please help to pass this message around to those people who are interest.
My email address is [email protected] / contact no: 90909277.

I really really hope someone can take over this contract, else we will have to pay HFC $15,000 for the cancellation.
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Thank you very much all...
 

xiao_ma

New Member
Hi

Sorry I did'nt log in for a long time.
Will find some pictures to upload.
btw, we paid 500 for our outdoor solemnization, at pool side.
 

ckoo79

New Member
don't use HFC as your AD venue. My wedding is on 18 Nov 2012, signed a package with them last year with Kian Boon as my coordinator whom is very attentive.

When he left HFC, he even email to inform me and my fiance, saying someone will take over. I just liased with them, their senior manager is very rude. Ask us to liase with the florist about the decor ourselves. Mention they don't work on weekends and we have to take leave to accomodate them. Accuse us of not compromising to their requests.

We are very displeased. This is the worst can happen to a couple I believe, with no one else but your wedding coordinator!

No reply from HFC general manager regarding my problem yet. How well can you trust this hotel on your BIG DAY!
 

dyeann

New Member
Hi Christine .. i'm helping my gfren with her wedding event for dec. may i know which senior manager are you liasing with? we are facing a huge issue (lack of service) with their banquet sales manager. indian / malay dude.
 

shlim_amelia

New Member
Hi All,

I am new here. Currently, I am considering either fort canning or one degree 15 marina club as my wedding venue. Can anyone of you provide some feedback?
 

ke83

New Member
Hi all,

Together with my partner, we have visited 2x to HFC and both sessions have been fruitful experience with their Director of Catering Sales. He is very experienced and patient to answer any queries that we have.

However, due to some families issues, my partner and I have to change our preferred wedding venue.
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Noentheless, I will like to share my good experience on HFC. HFC is different from the usual hotel wedding banquet and their legends ballroom is long/huge, which offers a long march in. And most imptly, the director has been very understanding and flexible in package negotiation. Let me know if any of u is keen to liaise with him. Quick advice: Visit HFC @ night! The atmosphere/ambience is good and different. And HFC is participating in BOWS event this Fri-Sun. Do visit their booth and check out the package.
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PS: Both my partner & I know what we want, so I will say both of us are not easy couple to deal with. But the Director has been very professional in dealing with all our queries and requests.
 

missyhannah

New Member
Hi all,

Went to meet up with HFC yesterday. Met up with Ariff and I'm totally displeased with his service. He doesn't seem interested in our discussion. He was texting in the middle of our discussion. Also, it's very hard to reach him. He takes so long to reply via email, hard to reach via phone. With all these factors, I'm giving HFC a miss
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junie1

New Member
Hi Xiao ma,
Seems like your wedding was a success. Congrats =)

I'm thinking of booking HFC. Can i know who is your wedding coordinator?
Thanks!
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cindyopw

New Member
Hello!

I've a dinner banquet - Cinnamon Ballroom @ Novotel Clarke Quayon 22 December 2013, Sunday to transfer. The date cannot be changed but it is a general auspicious date for wedding
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Details are as follow:

- $200 off per table ($928 nett)
- free flow beer
- free flow wine
- additional night stay in bridal suite (2 nights in total)
- champagne and cake in room
- free weekend high tea buffet for 2
- 25% parking coupon
- complimentary food tasting for 10 pax
- complimentary day use room from 2pm - 7pm
- complimentary use of function room for solemnisation

I have yet to choose the theme/menu. You can mix & match the dishes so long as the final value of the banquet balances out. For info, i have also checked with them on the no. of servers for the banquet. There will be 3 servers to 4 tables and additional serves for beverages.

do let me know if you're keen!
 

dyeann

New Member
hi brides to be .. just to share the experience of helping out with my best friend's wedding in late december at HFC. Up to this point, we are waiting for the hotel to come back with answers but not even an official word of apology as yet.

the dinner was for min of 50pax western styled as the husband is french. the list of issues / problems on the night ..

1. the cutlery, plates, drinking and wine glasses were either dirty or marked with water stains. the staff were still wiping and cleaning when guests are mingling around for cocktail.

2. The couple ordered the traditional french wedding cake croquembouche from an external pattisier. the agreement was that the chef will cut this and serve together with their dessert. we had guests who went out for a smoke tell us that the waitresses were eating the croquembouche even before the wedding party was served dessert. this is truly WTF.

3. They've set up a drinks bar at the patio outside the banquet room, their waiting staff were all hanging around there cursing at the various wedding guests in hokkien vulgarities. didn't matter that there were guests standing nearby smoking hearing the full onslaught of verbal abuse.

4. The waitress serving the head table tipped over a glass of red wine on the groom's father's white shirt, suit jacket, pants and shoes.

5. All the food served were cold. I suppose the living room / jasmine room at the glassblock is really far from the kitchen. taste were good but the experience all ruined cause the food is cold.

6. champagne is an important element of celebration for the french. but the hotel told us to make do with red wine glasses. the reason they gave was that they ran out of chmpagne glasses due to the wedding event at the main ballroom. It was not until we made noise that they went to dig out champagne glasses for us. this should have been arranged even prior to the event as they've been informed that champagne will be served during the event.

the wedding event just speaks of the lack of communication between the Sales team and F&B/Operations.

to be fair, the banquet sales staff that signed the contract with my friend left HFC. there wasn't any proper handover within HFC sales team. it was quite stressful for us to have to follow up. I was not very impressed with Ariff who picked up our case. One would think that you will do homework prior to meeting customers but he was totally clueless when we met. During the appointment at hotel to discuss layouts, signage etc, it was clear he did not check up the files for details. In fact, he thought we are just there to have a look see at the hotel for interest. I had to whip out the contract and explain the details of the wedding event to bring him up to speed.

We were assigned a lady, Afifa, to oversee the event. But the whole evening, not once did she turn up to check if everything was going well.

if it wasn't for a couple of heroes (captain running the show that night) that saved the night, it would have been a total disaster.

Please do reconsider if you want to deal with such stress on your wedding day!
 

sunnygirl88

New Member
Dear BTBs,Due to personal reasons, need to let go Hotel Fort Canning wedding package. Dates still available for selection.

Package valid from:
1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014, at S$968.00++ per table of 10 for weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun, eve of PH and PH) wedding dinner.
(Current dinner price: $988 to $1038++)

-> Free flow of soft drinks and mixers
-> Free corkage waiver for hard liquor, wine or champagne
-> Free flow of beer
-> Free bottle of wine per confirmed table
-> Pre-dinner snack for couple
-> 2 night stay in Premium King room
-> Food tasting for 10pax on weekday
-> Complimentary 12 dozen canapes for pre-dinner cocktail
-> Pre-dinner cocktail reception
-> House wine at special rate $25++ for full carton, else normal price at $45++
-> 1 VIP parking lot for bridal car at hotel lobby + 2 reserved lots in carpark
-> Complimentary ang bao box, wedding favours and guest book

Interested, please email me at [email protected], willing to let go at $3000 deposit. Best for couples who has a wedding date and are just looking for location. I can help to check on the dates immediately.
 

cuteasabutton

New Member
hotel fort canning is very unprofessional, and i know now that it is not just us that experienced it => see above for recent bad exps! - met their director of sales - collin who is rude, has no sense of punctuality/respect for customer and time.

he took more than 20 days to revert on contract after multiple chasers, and only gave us less than 7 days to put in deposit and sign off.

speaks a lot on whether or not they can be trusted with a once in a lifetime event!

even tho the venue is nice, the ballroom is not fantastic with big pillars or long runway and my cols went there for wedding before recently and said the food was really bad!
 

baabaab

New Member
Just helped my friend with her wedding at HFC last weekend.
Service was VERY POOR.
All considering HFC should seriously re-consider the decision.

the AV throughout the night was very bad.. highlighted to the manager from the START of the wedding but nothing was done.
already the FIRST march-in, the music that was played had problems.

the first video did not have any music accompanied, and the AV did not even do any contingency actions by playing some form of background music.

no support from the hotel came down to attempt to resolve the issue; even though it was highlighted to the manager many times.
from the 1st video to the LAST video, totally worsen on AV side.
the AV side totally screwed up; ultra blur images for ALL videos and montage, and some projectors got NO SOUND AT ALL.
the band could not sing at the start cos the mic not working.
the AV got from bad to WORSE through the entire night.
totally ruined the wedding night for the couple.

AND the manager had the cheek to brush it off as merely a technical glitch!
(so roll eyes. if the glitch cannot be resolved from 8pm till 1130pm, it is called a PROBLEM)

From my table and feedback gathered from my other colleagues who sat at another table:
  • Slow, had to repeatedly ask the service staff to refill CHINESE TEA (let's not talk about wine even!)
  • food served was inconsistent; some guest already finished dessert and about to leave but others havent even finished the 2nd last dish
  • food served was also not hot enough; timing control regarding food was poor

the worst thing is that their service recovery from the hotel is VERY BAD.
to the point where the hotel is not even willing to apologize and admit that responsibility for the screw-up lies with them.
they even tried to PUSH THE BLAME to the couple and us (the couple's entourage).

apparently the ops manager assigned to the dinner had only worked 1 WEEK at the hotel.
which he conveniently tried to use it as an excuse.
totally ZERO apologies from the staff.

heard high reviews from the couple after they spoke with the sales and decided on the hotel.
but too bad the hotel COULD NOT DELIVER.
highly likely all talk only.

SERIOUSLY ULTRA POOR experience with HFC.
i would NEVER even consider them for my own wedding next time.
Will also advise all my friends to NOT consider this hotel at all!
 

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