Packages for your guests?

[LadyCheese]

Hello ladies, I'm just wondering how everyone is making arrangements for their guests (??). Are you going through an agency and blocking airfare and hotels for them? Are you just blocking rooms at the hotels for them? Or are you letting guets do all the arrangements on their own?

 

I'm just really confused and I'm having a hardtime with our TA and reserving airfare at a group rate. Help...

 

[Alipires1]

I'm using a travel agent and while it is too soon for him to get airfare he told me he is looking into all of the options. While he will def block rooms at the hotel, he is also looking into the cost of a chartered flight since we are having a lot of people going.

 

If you want the name of my guy I can give it to you. I see you are a Jersey girl too. We are both local to South Jersey. Are you also?

[cheese_diva]

We didn't do a room block or flight packages.. we only had 40 guests (invited 95) and before I even sent out the STDs many had booked using online booking agents (expedia/hotwire/etc) so it didn't make sense for us.

[LadyCheese]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alipires1 I'm using a travel agent and while it is too soon for him to get airfare he told me he is looking into all of the options. While he will def block rooms at the hotel, he is also looking into the cost of a chartered flight since we are having a lot of people going. If you want the name of my guy I can give it to you. I see you are a Jersey girl too. We are both local to South Jersey. Are you also?

No, I'm in Northern NJ.
When is your wedding date? Its frustrating bc I booked the wedding date with the hotel and now my TA is saying that the low-fares are ending this month & she even made a comment that I may want to look to get married in a different country!!

[LadyCheese]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheese_diva We didn't do a room block or flight packages.. we only had 40 guests (invited 95) and before I even sent out the STDs many had booked using online booking agents (expedia/hotwire/etc) so it didn't make sense for us.

thx. we approximate to have 40-60 guests & were hoping to get a good deal for them...but maybe people will do the same thing and reserve online themselves.

[Alipires1]

Oh I am marrying in April 09 at Moon Palace in Mexico. I actually looked into Dreams in Punta Cana for the week before you are getting married.

 

When my friend got married we all used her travel agent and she was able to get us a group discount and she got a discount on her room too.

 

I guess it just depends on what is available on the internet.

[DanielleNDerek]

The travel arrangements were such a pain in the ass. We ended up going through a travel agent, she was having a hard time getting rooms blocked but finally we did. Our guests had a month to put down a $100 deposit to save their room. For the rooms our TA's rate was cheaper than the resorts group rate. And as soon as airfare came out, our guests had like a week to pay in full their airfare. We got a group rate for the airfare.

 

The one thing great about having a TA is that she/he can answer all of your guest's questions reguarding travel and they can also make sure people make their payments on time. Of course I still had to stay on top of my family, all procrastinators.

[Bride010101]

We are going through a TA as well to make it a little more stress-free for everyone.

 

But we are not blocking rooms or airfare at all. We have guests coming from a couple different cities (in 2 countries)... plus our guests will be staying different lengths of times (5, 7 and 10 days). For us it was easier to let everyone book what worked for them!

[Agape Gems]

I used a TA but she did not book anything under a group rate b/c it didn't end up cheaper and would have been more complicated. The only reason I recommend a TA is b/c people don't have to pay for everything up front. They can call and make payments all along the way. Also, she made sure that everyone got on the same flight and that no one is staying past Monday b/c we are staying at the same resort for our HM and I don't want to see anyone I know for that week!

[MelanieS]

So far my daughter has 19 guests going to her DW, and I have done all the booking of rooms and airfare. As long as you have 10 people flying, you can get a discount on American of 5%; they will send you a promo code to use. There are also lots of good sites that combine air/resorts at great prices. Try worryfreevacations.com, cheapcaribbean.com, vacationstogo.com, applevacations.com.