I was negotiating a few years back with a major hotel chain for a large event that we were hosting at one of their finer properties. Because of the importance of the event, I made sure to lay out every detail of what we needed at every step of the negotiations.

The hotel’s RFP response clearly stated that there would be no food and beverage minimum. But in their second written response a short while later, they demanded a minimum food and beverage order of no less than $50,000.

When I called them to confirm the numbers, they told me that the $50,000 minimum was in fact for every two days of the event, making the total tally that much higher.

I spoke with my partner, and while neither of us was happy with the magically changing numbers, we agreed to go ahead as planned. The hotel sent over the final contract to be signed, and sure enough, it laid out our minimum food and beverage order of $50,000 – per day.

They had missed deadline after deadline in sending us the information, and when the contract finally did arrive, none of the clauses we had agreed to by email were included in the paperwork.

It was too late for us to do anything at the time but swallow our anger, strain our budget and proceed with the event. But you can bet that was the last time either my partner or I used the services of that particular hotel chain.