Christina Leonard of Revere, Massachusetts, had made arrangements to book ten rooms for her wedding party with Home2 Suites by Hilton in Walpole for her wedding next year. However, when Taylor Swift announced a concert at Gilette Stadium in Foxboro on the same weekend as her wedding, the hotel tried to cancel her reservations so they could instead sell the rooms at a higher rate to concert-goers. While some people may have accepted the situation and found alternate accommodations, Leonard refused to back down.
The hotel claimed that the contract was not binding, even though they had sent it to Leonard, who had signed and returned it. The hotel argued that they were not obligated to honor the agreement as they had not countersigned the contract. In a phone call with Leonard, the hotel manager informed her that they could make over $1,000 per room from concert-goers, which was far more than the guaranteed rate of $169 per night that Leonard had secured for her wedding party.
Leonard realized that she would have been charged a cancellation fee if the roles were reversed and decided to escalate her complaints to higher levels of hotel management. However, despite her efforts, she was unable to reach a resolution. As a last resort, she turned to the media and shared her story with local news outlets, who ran her story on the evening news.
After receiving media attention, the hotel finally apologized for their mistake and reversed its decision. They sent Leonard an email apologizing for the misunderstanding and offered to reinstate her room block. They even went a step further by offering Leonard and her fiancé complimentary accommodations for the entire weekend.
Although the situation was eventually resolved, Leonard is still angry that the hotel tried to take advantage of her and her wedding party. She believes that the only reason the hotel changed its mind was due to the media attention she received. Leonard stated that if she had not spoken up, the hotel would have likely gotten away with their actions, which she believes is unfair. Despite requests for comment, the hotel did not respond to multiple local news outlets.