A Plaza-hotel-loving couple from New Jersey says the romantic landmark broke their hearts when it canceled their daughter’s bas mitzvah, never telling them about a massive renovation that began in the spring.
Dr. D. Scott Alenick and his wife, Suzanne – who were married at The Plaza – sued the storied hotel this week, claiming they were victims of fraud and deceptive business practices.
“We approached this bas mitzvah as an opportunity to share with our daughter a great tradition,” said Suzanne Alenick, a Manhattan attorney who had her own bas mitzvah at The Plaza in 1975 and planned to hold Ashley’s 12th-birthday celebration there.
Alenick said she was “sickened” when told the ceremony, scheduled for May 22 of this year, would have to be scrapped – after she had paid $12,000 of the $20,000 bill and sent out invitations to 100 guests.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event,” she said. “Everything was ready to go.”
In their suit, the Englewood, N.J., parents say The Plaza, which closed in April, holds a “magic and singular importance” for them because Scott proposed to Suzanne there and they were married in the famed hotel’s Baroque Room in 1990.
Suzanne and her sister celebrated their bas mitzvahs at The Plaza. Their brother had his bar mitzvah at there in 1984.
For Ashley’s big day, the couple had looked forward to a candle-lighting ceremony and the reading of a poem.
The suit seeks unspecified damages for “humiliation, indignity, distress of mind and mental suffering.”
“They made no effort to compensate for the uniqueness of The Plaza,” said Suzanne.
She said the hotel accepted a deposit from her just days before canceling the event Nov. 29, 2004.
Ashley’s bas mitzvah, held in Manhattan, was a letdown, she said.
Lawyers for the hotel say it did nothing wrong.
They said the Alenicks were repaid their $12,000 – and even got another check for $2,060 to compensate for the invitations, 60 Plaza pins they’d bought and a $1,500 family photo montage.
“Many people had events that were canceled,” said Lloyd Kaplan, spokesman for Elad Properties, which bought the hotel in 2004.
“People were disappointed, and we understand that.”
Added lawyer Steve Solomon: “It was hardly a secret The Plaza was going to be renovated.”
The Alenick family’s canceled Plaza poem.
“Candle Number 13”
Fifteen years ago next month
in this very room,
A man named D. Scott Alenick,
was such a handsome groom.
His bride had been bas mitzvahed here
some fourteen years before.
She came back for her wedding
in the gown her mother wore.
The groom of course is Ashley’s Dad,
her Mom his wife would be.
The final candle’s theirs to light,
with love from sweet Ashley!