Ticket holder out $90, barred from Christmas pop-up bar because of overbooking
A woman who was eager to celebrate the holidays at a seasonal pop-up in Vancouver said she was barred from entering because the Tinseltown Bar was overbooked.
Elizabeth Drewes told Daily Hive she was eager to visit the Le Soleil Hotel, which has been transformed into a winter wonderland.
She said she purchased six tickets for the event two weeks in advance, found a babysitter for her children, and travelled from North Delta to downtown Vancouver to visit the bar decked out in Christmas decor.
However, when she and her loved ones arrived at the entrance, Drewes said an employee told them, “Sorry… unfortunately we overbooked. There’s no slots left for you to come in tonight.”
She added that the employee said organizers had attempted to contact everyone impacted. However, Drewes said she had not received a phone call or email.
“It was a little bit frustrating,” she added. “We did travel quite a ways to come all the way down there… and be told that we can’t attend this event after spending the money and taking so much time out of our day and everything. It was really frustrating.”
Courtesy Tinseltown Bar
In an email statement to Daily Hive, a spokesperson for the pop-up bar explained, “Unfortunately, when the fitout was completed, we did have to minimize the capacity a little, which caused some last-minute issues with the session in question.”
The spokesperson confirmed employees “tried really hard to call everyone” before they arrived and tell them they were entitled to a refund or extra tickets to another time and date.
“The Tinseltown team have since been in contact with all ticket holders to these sessions and offered a full refund/to move their tickets,” they said.
Drewes told Daily Hive she had not received a $90 refund for all the tickets since employees did not provide any contact information when she visited the bar on Saturday.
Courtesy Tinseltown Bar
While Drewes and her group were able to find another bar to spend the evening, she said, “It wasn’t what we were expecting to do with our night for a [Christmas-themed] night out.”
Drewes said she attempted to reach out to organizers but did not hear back.
The Tinseltown pop-up bar spokesperson added the capacity for the event has changed to ensure it does not happen again.
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