Hundreds of Abu Dhabi residents lost money and their New Year plans were ruined when five concerts were cancelled.
Most people had to settle for lacklustre parties organised by hotels to appease their customers were ripped off by the organiser, Red Line Media and Marketing.
The owner of Red Line is untraceable. Hotels were informed through an email on December 26 that the concerts were cancelled. The owner remained incommunicado at the time of going to print.
The concerts were to be held at the Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi, Al Ain Rotana, InterContinental Hotel Abu Dhabi, Crowne Plaza Yas Island and Dubai Festival City. “I bought 13 tickets for the New Year’s Eve concert at Beach Rotana, each costing Dh850. I was shocked to know that the event was cancelled,” Reem Hamdan, 30, from Lebanon, told XPRESS.
Hamdan, who works as an event organiser, said she bought 11 tickets at Dh500 each for a concert at Sofitel Abu Dhabi for her friends and family who are on a visit.
“It was on December 30 that Beach Rotana sent me a message saying they are holding a party for those who bought tickets. But you cannot wait till the last minute. I got ripped off twice,” said Hamdan.
Hotels told XPRESS they cannot refund the ticket money as they were sold directly by Red Line. Instead, they would organise parties with live entertainment by DJs, bands and also dinner for those who bought tickets.
“We are not in a position to refund the money. It was mentioned on the ticket that in the event of a cancellation, Red Line is responsible for refunds,” said a spokeserson from Crowne Plaza.
Beach Rotana Management said they were accommodating 600 people for the New Year’s Eve party though many more ticket holders had lost money. “The organiser had oversold tickets — five times more than what was agreed upon. The concert was meant for 350 people. But now we are catering to 600 people — the maximum we can accommodate in the ballroom,” the hotel’s spokesperson told XPRESS.
“We do not want to disappoint our customers, and this is the best we can do for them,” the spokesperson added.
