Destination Wedding Venue/resort Serious Issue

First of all... Wow that’s amazing!! I am planning on doing a Cancun resort.. I still haven’t found a resort yet though, mine is still in 2020.. did you go with a travel agent to book all your guests hotels/transfers? Or are you going directly through the hotel?? I don’t know what to do.

In reference to your issue.. have you try changing the room occupancy to see if it gives you a different rate?? Because I know all inclusive resorts charge you per person.. I’ve never heard of one to charge per room because they have to account for the people staying at the room at check in (in order to get the wrist bands). I tried doing it online just now and when you select 2 ppl it gives you one price compared to when you select 1..

Unless I miss understood the issue??

I’m so sorry you’re going through this.. to PP point I would check the occupancy in your search and play around with it.

Also I’m wondering if “Black Friday/cyber Monday” might play into it? I know it’s the tail end but sometimes resorts will offer temporary rate drops depending on holiday seasons or just timing of booking. The rate may go back up to what is higher than your room rate. Hopefully the resort can clarify why it’s so low

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Thanks for your response and congrats!! Yay for destination weddings, but boo for stressful issues. Lol. We are working directly with the resort. We are inviting about 100 people and we did not want to be responsible for all of their airfare and accommodations. Dealing with their accommodations has been a headache enough as is! Lol.

When I select two people it gives me $313/night and with taxes and gratuity the total for three nights come to $1317, which is still more expensive than our wedding contacted rates of $1380 and guest have the option to pay at the time of check-in if they book online. If they book under our contract, they have to put down a one night deposit and pay the remaining balance by 60 days prior to check-in. I also checked on Expedia an Booking.com. Same thing. Smh. Bigger than that, they want to charge $115 per child per night with our contracted rate. On their site, children are currently free! That's a huge difference. We have people who are bringing their kids. They could pay almost half price if they book through the resort's site and not under our room block. The resort responded this morning and said that they will look into this.

I HOPE that they do something! I have already contacted the person who is making our invitations and asked her to hold off on printing, because we had inserts made with resort pricing. This is a mess!

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Thanks! Playing with occupancy does change the rates; however, it is still more expensive than our contracted rates regardless of the occupancy number. It might be a cyber/black Friday thing going on. Rates are currently 35% off. The resort did not provide an explanation in their response. Just said that she would contact the reservations department and look into it. Another issue is that I was just about to send out a reminder email to all of the guests so people will start booking. I wanted to start prompting people to book since we are now only five months out. And here I thought that wedding planning was going to be fun. LOL!

View Quoted Comment That’s so frustrating I’m so sorry! Sending positive vibes and thoughts your way! I hope the resort gives a good explanation and resolution after their investigation

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Thank you so much! I hope so too!!

View Quoted Comment Wow!! ;( I’m sorry you’re going through such a mess!!! I also thought planning with a resort is easy and stress free because after all youre just paying them and they take care of everything.. I am currently debating if I want to go with a travel agent for my guest booking. I attended a wedding in Mexico 2yrs ago and they had a travel agent and she booked our hotel/transfers and the whole experience was awesome!! I also compared prices and theirs was better, which makes sense, so I hope your issue gets fix because that is a big price difference. And I’m surprised you’re getitng charged for children, based on the little research I’ve done, most of them say children are free up to a certain age. Sending positive vibes your way!!!

View Quoted Comment You know, I also think I was told that for the room blocks, under the contract it’ll say whatever price (cheaper then other websites usually) but that if online is cheaper than their contracted one then they’d be willing to go with the cheaper one.. does your contract say anything about price drop adjustments???

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We decided to not use a travel agent because of the larger number of guests, but if we had a guest list under 50, we would have totally gone with a travel agent! I truly hope they match the online price. That would be HUGE!

We are having a smaller destination wedding (25 people) and opted to not room block for this reason. Websites were offering $175pp/pn whereas the resort was offering $235pp/pn.

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I feared that by not doing the room block, our guest would stay in different resorts. I wanted everyone (most guests) to be in one centralized location.

View Quoted Comment On our save the dates, we stated the resort we were getting married at. And then we reiterated it on the invite.

My fiances sister was the only one to fuss about the resort. She ‘threatened’ to stay off site because she ‘shouldn’t have to pay all inclusive prices if she doesn’t drink.’ I offered to pay her night pass for the evening of the wedding but would not be paying for her to be on resort with her family the other days she is in Mexico. Also, the groom doesn’t drink either. She is staying on resort. We didn’t give another option for guests to stay. They would have to do their own research.

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Makes sense! If we they do not renegotiate our contract, we will try to get out of the room block altogether and take a similar approach.

What resort did you go with because usually a room block comes with perks ..meaning if they don't book thru that block they don't get those perks and (I'm doing a dw also) the room block is basically your guest list sooo will they be able to participate in your wedding activities and or wedding period?

If your wedding contract doesn’t require you to have a certain number of rooms booked under your wedding block, just tell people that it’s cheaper elsewhere. Appologize for the confusion, admit that you aren’t sure why that is, and I guarantee people will be more thankful that you’re saving them money than annoyed about you previously pushing the booking your wedding block.

Hi there, also having a destination wedding in Playa del Carmen in March 2019. For sure the biggest headache and most stressful part of all has being the room block and the famous contract so get ready.
I say wait for the reservation group to get back to you. I had originally reserve 15 rooms then increase it to 20 and in the last couple of weeks I lowered back to 15 which is the minimum for a group rate. The hotel can work with you for this but most likely the number of rooms would be the same.
Now a lot of hotels are having winter sales so don't stress it that just temporary and if your guest are like mine they would book at the last minute (literally). Regarding the price change a lot of hotels in Mexico are now not only all inclusive. Some high end hotels give you the option to pay per night and not be all inclusive meaning you pay for everything else or maybe just have free breakfast while also offering the all inclusive package. I personally never being to one that offers both but that can be the option. If this is something that is new then the hotel should honor it and add it to your contract so your guest have both options.

My only regret is getting the contract for the special rate. I would of gotten a room block without any discount for anyone so if you can get out of it I highly recommend it. Have everyone book on their own.
So heads-up: My deadline for booking is December 31 and only had 7 rooms at the beginning on December. The last month as being stressful harassing people everyday and sending reminders and we still have one person that has not booked.

View Quoted Comment Hi there!
I looked at all different routes when doing our room block. Mostly to get the best possible price for our wedding. All the different agencies I spoke to (about 4) had a much higher price then the hotel itself. They claim is hard to coordinate big groups ect. They included transportation but the difference was about $62 per person per night which is not what transportation costs. So after much looking I decided to do the reservation directly with the hotel and that included the contract. Do I regret it? YES! What a headache. I would for sure get people a room block so they are able to book on their own time and hotel is not sold out. Maybe even an agency to arrange it all but they also had contracts and the prices were higher so you might have the same situation. I wanted to make it sooo easy for all my guest but honestly they did not made it easy for me. They still are giving me a hard time and I don't even know if the appreciate the whole room block and extra discount.
I did get the best price for the hotel as I got the spring deal with an additional 10% off. I have not found my price on any other website or even their own website this entire year.

Hope this helps in making your decision!

Ugh, I hope this all worked out for you! This is exactly why you should use a travel agent, and especially when you have more people! they can be helpful in negotiating on your behalf and they have more pull than a single person. I would definitely try to get them to renegotiate the contract, it doesnt make sense for them not to! Also check the fine print to see what it says about price drops or any other applicable changes in circumstance. If the price is the same booking direct as it is on a site like Expedia, ask your guests to book direct. That way, the hotel doesnt lose on commission to Expedia and you can try to get those rooms to count even a bit towards your block.

I am actually a travel agent and in the middle of planning my own destination wedding in Italy, where we will have exclusive use of a resort in Tuscany, so I know exactly what you are going through! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about this, I am happy to help!

Hi there! Can you share how your wedding went?
I just got back from Cabo visiting my site at Dreams and was sadly disappointed 😔

i couldn’t get an appointment at paradisus to take a look but it was recommended to me ..along with Hyatt Ziva and Pueblo Bonito sunset.

View Quoted Comment Good morning, I’m currently planning a DW in Playa May 2020 and am really considering not doing a contract room block. All of the room block quotes I’m getting are more than what currently advertised. What other options did you have If not going the contract group rate route?