Susan is the Senior Events Planner at a luxury private castle in Scotland. It’s been a very difficult six months with Covid-19 restrictions curtailing all the events that had been planned. The business is still able to operate but in a much reduced capacity. Live entertainment is not allowed and group numbers are restricted to 30, which impacts almost every event. There have been many difficult conversations with clients over the last few months.

This afternoon though, is going to be the toughest yet. Lisa is a very emotional bride-to-be. Her wedding was booked for the end of the year – just before Christmas. They had booked it 2 years ago and had been making payments regularly to pay for the big event. There was to be 150 guests, over 2 days, with lavish entertainment, food and drink. It was to be nothing short of spectacular – and with a spectacular price to match.

The whole event was to cost £25,000. When the contract had been signed (in August 2018 – just over 2 years ago) there had been no indication of a global pandemic. There was a £5,000 non-returnable deposit paid at the start, and a further two payments of £5,000 each had been paid since. So, there was £10,000 still outstanding for the booking.

Over several e-mails and phone calls in the last few weeks there had been much discussion on what to do going forward. So far the following had been discussed:

 

1. Cancel and get all the money back through the bride’s insurance – however as the venue is still operating, the insurance has said that it will not pay out.

2. Move the date of the wedding forward by 12 – 24 months, with no extra charges to pay. The Bride is adamant she doesn’t want to wait.

3. Reduce the scale of the wedding to fit current regulations. The Bride is adamant she doesn’t want this.

4. Lisa has suggested she wants to completely cancel and hold something closer to her home in South England, so it’s easier for all the participants to travel.

Susan has noticed that Lisa is becoming more and more agitated, stressed and upset as the weeks have progressed and Susan is thinks that Lisa is unable to make a decision as she is being very unrealistic about what is doable and doesn’t want to admit her big day will be very different to how she imagined. It’s an incredibly difficult situation, and Susan has a great deal of sympathy for her in this situation, however her business is at extreme risk. Bookings are non-existent: there are a handful of clients who have been able to keep their bookings, most have deferred leaving the Castle company struggling to survive. It is impossible to simply give in to Lisa’s demands for a full refund.

The only thing stopping Susan from holding firm and saying no to any form of a refund is the threat of a social media backlash. Lisa has said more than once she was distraught at the treatment she was receiving and wondered how Susan’s other clients might feel if they knew how such a luxurious establishment dealt with their customers. The way Lisa is behaving suggests to Susan the story she tells on social media might be a lot worse than the reality, and any damage to their reputation could be devastating to future bookings once things are back to ‘normal’. Something that Susan simply cannot risk.

Susan’s boss has suggested she simply ‘send it to the lawyers as its breach of contract’, but Susan doesn’t think that is the best way to handle it.

A Zoom call with Lisa is set for 2pm, and Susan has to try and find a way forward. She doesn’t want to lose the booking, but if she does, she certainly doesn’t want to pay back any more than £10,000. What other options does she have?

 

Questions

1. Show how the four prescriptions of Principled Negotiation could be put to use in this negotiation.

2. How could an understanding of BATNA help Susan prepare for this negotiation?

3. Explain the difference between Positional Posturing and Positional Bargaining, with reference to the above case.