To not understand why this is an issue

OMG. they'd have to share a bed as well and for 75!

It's also not fair of the first organiser to impose an expensive hotel on the others. The booking should not have been confirmed without everyone's agreement.

People go batshit over weddings and this is another example: when else would it be ok to spend other people’s money on luxuries they can’t afford, in order that one person gets to feel like a spoiled princess?

years ago I got invited to what I was told was a ‘fake hen for X, it will just be fun as X is in town and got engaged’ (X lived far away) - obviously I declined because wtf is a ‘fake hen’? Turns out it was a real hen but the wedding was a ‘surprise’ (guests thought it was an engagement party) - the whole thing was utterly bizarre and just captured the self absorbed and selfish nature of the bride to be to a tee! Imagine thinking you are such a celebrity you have to tell your closest friends your hen do is ‘fake’ (and still expect them to spend £100s travelling across the country and so on for it!). Safe to say - we’re no longer friends after more of this nonsense over the years.

£75 to share a bed with a colleague- no thanks

The bride selected someone to organise it.

But she didn't did she?

Your friend the organiser, is a presumptuous cheeky fxxker thinking she can organise something she likes the sound of, and think people have no choice but to accept that.

Really bizarre meesed up thinking.
I would be majorly pulling back.
She sounds utterly unhinged.

The bride selected someone to organise it. If people are trying to suggest alternatives then they are being rude. They can decline if they are not happy. Ohhh I truly hate hen parties!

It sounds more unappealing by the minute. Of I were the op I'd have rsvd'd that I had a previous engagement.

Whatever happened to a pot luck supper with your besties the week before the wedding.

The hotel shouldn’t have been booked till everyone agreed and alternatives discussed properly. Some people may not have been able to afford the £75.

Because the organiser who has unilaterally decided on a hotel (and which one) is also insisting that they should all wear the same tops.

Also why do so many hen dos have to be weird like this?
Hotels, strippers etc.

Is there no other way to have fun and a good send off?

Honestly, unless I was really close to the bride, this is pretty expensive so I don't think it's a problem if some don't want to spend so much.

I hope you all have fun but it would annoy me to keep spending.

Well I don't do room sharing or strippers so it would definitely be a no from me!

Will the bride want a stripper?

I would choose an apartment over a hotel any day even if it were not cheaper.

A stripper? 😱

I don't see the issue at all, the hen do sounds like it will be a nightmare tbh

All this from work colleagues? Madness.

Has the organiser even checked the bride can go away that weekend?

Having just read the op's posts, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than share a room with three other women and a bed with one of them. I certainly wouldn't pay £75 for the privilege.

Other than taking in cost considerations, it’s not about what any of the hen do attendees want it should be about what type of accommodation the bride would prefer. Whoever is maid of honour should ask the bride if she would prefer a hotel or an apartment. You can easily do that without giving anything away about the rest of the trip. It’s also going to be massively awkward for the bride to be split between two groups.

The thing I don't understand is why anyone needs a new outfit to attend a hen party. Ditch the new clothes and surely there's more than enough to cover the hotel bill.

Half the party going home at half 9 and if you're staying you're sharing a bed - screw that 😂
It's be like spending a long weekend with Zippy and Bungle.

Have you ever organised a hen do OP... feel for the organiser here!

Oh dear. This is all a bit of a mess. I totally get why the organiser is pissed off with people going behind her back and it will be shit for the bride staying in a hotel when half her guests are staying elsewhere.

BUT you are work colleagues, not the bride's best friends. None of you are even invited to the proper hen do. A works hen do consists of a meal out and drinks after work. Nothing more. Unless you are all very good friends. Which you are not.

I think you all need to speak to the organiser and change the plans to something more appropriate for work colleagues. If she won't listen then you decline the invite. And if my work colleague organised a stripper and life drawing I would be mortified.

Well that's an entirely different situation and a vote would be more appropriate. I organise a lot of weekends away for my various groups of friends and obviously it should be a joint decision.

When you say live drawing, do you mean life drawing i.e. an art class drawing a nude model? If so, I’d worry about that being an activity she has in mind alongside hiring a stripper. I hope she doesn’t think it’s another chance to giggle at a naked man, as life drawing isn’t for that at all.