MUMBAI: The District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, suburban Mumbai, has asked a five-star hotel in Sahar, J W Marriott, to own up to its negligence in the incident of a falling chandelier at a wedding party and directed it to pay Rs one lakh as compensation to the complainant.
The commission, while passing its orders, held, “Customers choose the Marriott brand because of its high level of service, product excellence and proper management; therefore, though the incident that has occurred is unfortunate, however, the same is not at all expected from J W. Marriott. We therefore observe the five-star hotel guilty for its deficiency in service.”
About The Incident
A resident of Dadar, Kimberly Dias, had booked a ballroom at the hotel for her wedding reception in January 2022. She had to pay Rs 7,25,847 as ballroom rent for the event. On the day of her wedding, January 2, 2022, an unfortunate incident occurred in the ballroom, one of the chandeliers fell and injured Kimberly's brother. No one else was injured, but because of the disaster, the reception had to be called off.
Complaint Registered At The Consumer Body
The hotel, taking cognizance of the incident, had asked Kimberly if she would accept a refund of Rs one lakh. Kimberly, however, refused the offer and complained to the consumer body.
The commission, after going through the case, asked the hotel to file its reply, but it failed to do so. Thereafter, the commission passed an order directing the hotel to return the booking amount of Rs 1.5 lakh paid towards the rental of the ballroom, along with an additional amount of Rs one lakh as compensation and an additional Rs 20,000 towards the complainant's litigation charges.
