A national beauty awards held at a Manchester hotel has been blasted after guests at the £120 a head event say they were served 'inedible' food and the organisers failed to hand out trophies before apologising for the 'absolute s*** show'. Beauticians from across the country travelled hundreds of miles to attend the Nail, Brow and Lash Awards at the Mercure hotel in Piccadilly Gardens.
But attendees say the night - which celebrated salons that 'deliver high-class services' - descended into a 'shambles', which ended two hours late after the main presenter didn't show up. The hotel and the organisers have now apologised to the disappointed beauticians.
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Lauren-Ann Lee, a salon owner from Waterlooville, near Portsmouth, travelled for seven hours with four staff members to attended the ceremony. The 25-year-old said: "We thought it would be amazing. It was such a big deal to us. But it was a huge waste of our time and money. I wouldn’t have paid £4 for that food in a café, I would have sent it back."
"It's the longest I've ever driven before. When we got there, we were waiting in a bar area for ages. There were only three people on the bar, so the queue to get a drink was ridiculous.
"The awards evening was due to begin at 6pm, but they kept us waiting in the bar until 7.30pm before entering the main room. There were 26 tables with 10 people per table - so there were about 260 people all in this tiny room."
Miss Lee said that at 8.30pm they were served a starter of tomato soup that 'tasted like a tin of Heinz and had a layer of skin over the top'. "The main course was chicken which was really dry. It was inedible and stuck to the inside of my mouth. The beans tasted like they were out of date, and the potatoes were rock solid. The four carrots were the best part of the meal.
"The quality of the food we received wasn't up to the industry standard. The host told us the awards presenter hadn't turned up, and didn't even acknowledge how late it was getting.
"At 9.45pm, people were so fed up of waiting they went up to the front and took the awards themselves, without them being announced. I can’t believe the organisers just left them all unattended up there."
Later on, the host from the organiser, Oceanic Events, stepped in for the no-show presenter and asked for the awards to be returned so they could start. Miss Lee said: "The host who took over presenting the awards went up and said 'I'm really sorry for this absolute s*** show' before she started.
"It really was just an absolute shambles. They must have made so much money from that one event." The event was supposed to finish at 10.30pm but lasted until midnight.
They asked for a refund, but Oceanic Events, who organised the awards, refused. She emailed Oceanic Events herself to complain and ask for a refund. Miss Lee said: "They replied saying 'You paid for tickets to an event, you got an event'.
"And now they’re ignoring our emails. They switched off their comments on their Facebook posts because everyone was complaining there.
"We’re all fuming. It was such a long drive. I was so tired. On the way up, we were all so excited. On the way back, we just thought 'what a huge waste of our time'."
Oceanic Events said: "We appreciate our attendee's feedback in regards to the food served by the hotel. Having hosted many events in this venue, this is something we have never experienced before. We share your disappointment.
"We have a high standard that we aim to achieve with every event. For those of you who have never attended before, we would love to see you in the future to show you what an Oceanic Event really looks like."
A spokeswoman for the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel today apologised, saying: "Our event space was hired for an awards ceremony. On the night, event organisers faced external issues which resulted in a substantial delay to the planned event schedule.
"As a result, organisers requested that food service was delayed to suit the new event timings. We regret that following this, some attendees felt the service did not meet our usual high standards and apologise for any disappointment caused."
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