PEOPLE who booked weddings, parties and other events at of one of Liverpool’s best-known hotels are celebrating after the new operators vowed to honour all monies paid before it went into administration over the summer.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds had been paid to 30 James Street hotel leaving more than 200 events in the balance.
But now new operators Legacy Hotels & Resorts have worked out a deal with Moorfields, the administrators, to ensure that 127 weddings and 95 spa days, as well as more than 660-bedroom reservations have not been lost.
A letter to the hundreds of people who paid deposits or in full for their event has been sent out this week telling them of the good news. It says that at the date of the administration on 25 June 2020, all deposits and advanced purchase payments became unsecured creditors of the administration and that no deposit money previously paid to 30 James Street had been passed to the Administrators which left the huge shortfall for weddings, accommodation and events scheduled.
The letter’s signatory Calum Colquhoun, Regional Operations Manager, for Legacy Hotels, wrote: “Whilst there is no obligation to do so, I am pleased to inform you that the new business will be honouring in full the value of any deposit paid to 30 James Street Limited on or before 15 April 2020.
“It has been a substantial task to address this financial issue, at the same time as planning for the re-opening of the Hotel. I would like to thank you for your patience and understanding at what must have been a difficult and unsettling time.”
30 James Street hotel reopened at the end of July after the Administrators appointed the new operators, Legacy Hotels, who also operate the Pullman Hotel on the waterfront and are opening a Novotel at the new Paddington Village.
Vicki Hanlon, General manager of the Grade II* listed four-star venue, said: “It’s amazing news and it has constantly been in the back of our minds whether this would be possible. The thought of telling anyone, especially a bride and groom, that their money which they had saved for their wedding was gone was unbearable.
“These will now be happy days and it feels like we can finally move on because how can you carry on planning, when there are people sat at home worrying about what’s going on. Now we can get back to where we should be, helping to organise the most important day of their lives.
“All weddings are special, but when these go ahead in 2021 these will have that something extra and I get goose bumps thinking about it and I cannot wait to be part of it.
“Weddings aside, it’s great news for everyone else who had paid – hen parties, birthday celebrations, this has affected a whole range of people – it really is the best news we could have ever had.”
