Destination Wedding - Guest Payment Collection Question

Yeah, I guess it must be different in France, as their brochure and pricing sheet states a few times that most guests pay for their own stay, stated in the price breakdown document we were sent:

I think it's also important to make clear that guests don't have to stay on site if they don't want to. I did look up prices at the closest hotel (20 minutes away) and it's around €290-€400 a night for accommodation elsewhere (without meals included). So I assume it would make sense that guests would want to stay with us on location to avoid the higher accommodation fees plus whatever it costs to transfer back and forth. But if they don't want to - they don't have to.

Additionally, there is no "guest booking requirement". The quote they gave us is in case all 26 of our suspected guests would want to stay on site - but the pricing is based on specific count, not total rooms. Essentially: we're just reserving a number of rooms for guests at a certain rate in advance. I don't really think that is anything too different than reserving a block of rooms at a hotel. The catch and difference from the norm is that we need to pay for accommodations up front (as, I assume, the owners want to sell the rest of the rooms).

Thank you for sharing this information and your experience!