DoubleTree Columbia

I booked my July wedding at the Doubletree in October 2010, just shortly after the hotel changed managements. I will admit, the beginning part of the process was horrible, probably due to the management changes. My planner took several calls/e-mails/messages to get a hold of, I could not get the answers to my questions to even send out invitations, and I was totally clueless and worried how my wedding was going to turn out. The saving grace for my wedding happened in May when the Doubletree finally hired some competent, amazing staff members, including my sales manager/planner Antoinette Duncan. Antoinette swooped in, answered my questions, and fixed all of the issues that occurred with the previous staff. I finally felt like I had guidance and someone who I could trust to put on my wedding the way I wanted it to be run. The next couple of months were a breeze. Antoinette listened to all of my ideas, helped me with the menu, and took notes on how I wanted the banquet hall to look and the timeline of how the reception would run. The actual wedding reception was, for lack of a better word, PERFECT. Antoinette had set up the tables and room just how I imagined it, the food was some of the best wedding banquet food that I have had, and the staff were both helpful and friendly. I gave the Doubletree five stars because of the number of compliments I received on running such a fun, beautiful and delicious reception and because I honestly have no complaints for the actual day of the wedding. I would definitely recommend the Doubletree any couple getting married. The service is now top quality, the actual venue is really pretty with the atrium and large ballroom, and the price was very reasonable. It may have been a tough road to get there, but I think that if Antoinette had been there in the beginning, planning the wedding would have been too easy.

Let me preface by saying my experience might have been due to the change with the hotel. When I booked this hotel for my reception and catering service a year in advance, it was the Hilton. I was warned of the change and accepted it. Nonetheless: The Bad I got a great package deal and contracted with Jane, THEN she quit. I met Sarah but she was just an interim person, THEN I heard nothing else. I contacted her for an update and found out Julie was taking over. I met with Julie who was nice, but you really could never get a hold of her unless you requested an in person meeting; THEN she quit. I got an email from Antoinette that she was taking over about 3 weeks before my wedding. We had to go over the entire plan because she had no notes from Julie. Luckily my Planner, Alicia from From Yes to I Do (see my review of them) was on the ball with updating her. The idea of blocking rooms were a joke. The rates were more expensive than booking through southwest for some of my guests. Not to mention, the reservation number had no record of my wedding. But the front desk seemed to be more informed, go figure. Oh there was also the issue of charging the wrong card to pay the balance, but that was corrected after we caught the mishap. Nothing that a little more attention by the staff couldn't have prevented. And on the lessor end of Bad, I saw a banquet staff on the dance floor with my guests. It led to some laughter and a little annoyance. THE GOOD Antoinette was very interested in making sure she had the correct information. She was better at responding and overall very pleasant. I had to reach out to Sarah from time to time, who was also extremely helpful and professional. The reception was flawless. Set up was exactly as I requested. Antoinette was there to make sure all was well along with my planner Alicia from From Yes To I Do (see my review of FYTID). The food, especially the seafood option was GREAT. lots of compliments on it. THE UGLY The day before my wedding I got a call and email from Antoinette of some tax increase on bar service effective immediately and applying to my contract signed 1 year ago. Needless to say I was heated and hit the ceiling. It ended up not being about $11 more which wouldn't be worth my lawsuit, but the legal department needs to reread their contracts law books on that one. And I'll leave it at that.

It was tough going at first. The former catering manager wasn't responsive...we couldn't get her on the phone and e-mails were slow to return. Three weeks until the wedding and she was still always hiding. But then (luckily for us) she quit and Antoinette Duncan came onboard at the Doubletree. She turned everything around! In a short period of time, she got everything organized and executed perfectly. She called us to make sure she knew all the little details and stuck around during the wedding to make sure everything went well. She was friendly and professional and ready to pitch-hit in a second. We had the brunch reception and the guests loved the food (they loved the breakfast food the most). They went back for seconds! The chef was super nice and helped us make the food selections, so I think that had something to do with it. :) The banquet captain led the order of events, which was good so we didn't have to think about it. It started out as a stressful experience, but by the end of the day (thanks to Ms. Duncan and her staff), we had a great wedding reception. And at the Doubletree Hotel, the price is right. Just compare their rates to the other nearby hotels. They offer quality service for the reception, but you don't feel like you're paying through the nose or getting ripped off. And that turned out to be a lifesaver when our guest list got out of control... :)

The only thing saving the Doubletree in Columbia from getting 1/5 is that somehow my wedding reception itself was amazing. Everything before it (planning) was absolutely ridiculous. The staff at the hotel is basically clueless and very unprofessional. It would take multiple phone calls and emails for me to get answers from anyone. The only way I found out that the manager who was handling my wedding was replaced was when I went to the bakery where my cake was being made and they told me someone new was hired. The food for the night, although it didn’t look as good as what I had during the trial, still tasted great. It got lots of compliments. The room that I stayed in the night before and the night of was great, clean and plenty of space for me and the bridesmaids to get prepared in. I would suggest not having your guests book in a room block with the Doubletree, my guests who booked after the block was full got a better price then those who booked with the room block, which is why I thought you even bothered with the room block anyway! The front desk, which I was assured was "in the loop" for all the weekend events, was useless and some of them were just rude. I had to tell most of my guests staying at the hotel that there were welcome bags waiting for them and they had to go request them after the wedding, since the front desk was confused about what a welcome bag was. Even though I went the day before and explained who they were suppose to go to. All in all, my reception turned out great. I had an amazing DJ who kept everyone on the smallish dance floor. There was an open bar with lots to choose from. The food was great. The banquet crew was more helpful then the managers who I'm sure make way more money then those who deserve it.

Although we did not use the Columbia Doubletree for our reception, we did book a block of rooms there for guests and hired a function room for out of town guests the night before the wedding. Hiring the room and arranging the catering was an easy process, even though the people behind those plans were not in MD. On the night the food was good and the event ran smoothly. Throughout the few days we spent staying at the Doubletree around the time of the wedding the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. They were very flexible in catering to our various requests (including changing rooms to be in a quieter part of the hotel), and liberally distributed delicious fresh cookies to guests. The rooms were nice and everything clean; it looked as though some refurbishment had been carried out quite recently. On top of all that, the rates were very reasonable. The only real complaint we had was the morning after the wedding at brunch. The food was fine, but very expensive - and this came as a shock because everyone was under the impression that it was complimentary. An apparently random assortment of guests received vouchers for brunch when they checked in, but not always one per guest per night, and it was not at all clear until after we had eaten that we would be paying something like $15 for some fruit and a waffle. It also didn't help that of the two staff members there, one was very awkward and the other, frankly, rude. Despite the brunch we came away with a very good impression of the hotel. The front desk staff in particular were consistently helpful and went the extra mile to ensure that we had a good experience. On balance we thoroughly recommend it.

I was not happy with the services of the Hilton Columbia. They lost my wedding programs, lost my garment bag for my wedding gown and guests never received welcome bags. Two family members that were supposed to watch the gift table had gifts snatched from them by the hotel's staff member who said that she would take care of it -- only to find that the gift table was left unattended and anyone in the hotel could have walked off with a gift. Several of my guests staying at the hotel received terrible service from the hotel staff. The front desk staff is totally clueless -- they had know idea of the events occuring even with a giant flat screen hanging right in front the desk posting the events scheduled for the week. The only good thing was the food served at the reception was very good and the banquet staff was excellent.