8 replies to this topic

[TammyWright]

if you are thinking about using expedia or orbitz for your destination wedding, you may want to think long and hard if it is the ideal situation for you and your group.

The internet sites will not provide the customer service that a good TA will.

If you found a fantastic package, let one of the BDW travel agents try to price match it. we might be able to even beat the price and provide you with the support you need when planning such a big event.

[jmiranda]

Thank you so much for the information. I will defiantely take that into consideration when I start looking for flight information for my guests.

[Jessica]

I used Orbitz to book our (my and Brian's) tickets. We just booked airfare through them and nothing else.

However, I must say, HUGE pain in the butt. The customer service is absolutely TERRIBLE! Calls are outsourced, which I essentially have no problem with, however when the language barrier makes it impossible for anything to get accomplished during the phone call I do have a problem. It was a super frustrating experience for me and they kept putting me on hold FOREVER and I got disconnected like 3 times. I was in tears because I was so mad and made Brian deal with them.

[jajajaja]

I booked our trip through orbitz. We ended up having room problems with the hotel (they didn't give us the category of room we booked) and it took us (actually ME) months to straighten out and get our refund. I even got in a bitch fight with a hotel front desk manager over it and I really regret not having a TA represent me. It would have saved us a HUGE headache.

[Jacilynda]

I used to work for the airlines, and also if you book through Orbitz, expedia, travelocity, etc you could have other issues. If a flight is cancelled or has a time change, the airline is not responsible for notifying you, Orbitz, or whoever is responsible. And probably at least 80% of the time they won't notify you especially if you're flight is cancelled, then the airline can't do anything for you. Also if you need to make changes to your flight (not due to the airlines fault) you have to change it through the site you used, and can't do it at the airport. Just a couple things to think about.

[**TIFFANY**]

Thanks for the information. I have a local travel agent that I already started working with and will continue but only as long as she can get us a group rate. Do all resorts off group rates or I'm I just being silly thinking we should get a deal since there will be several rooms booked during that time?

Also I do a lot of the research myself on the resorts and have taken it upon myself to contact the resort we want to get information and reserve our date. Is that something the travel agent should be handeling? I think I'm just too much of a control freak that I want to take care of it all.

Thanks,
Tiffany

[J2K]

When we looked into booking a group rate, it always seemed that we needed to have 10 double occupancy rooms booked for the exact same stay/room level. If we wanted a group rate on air/hotel combinations, we needed to book the exact same trip for 20 people (10 rooms). This didn't work, as we have people coming in from different cities and staying for different lengths of time.

Our travel agent is taking care of everyone though, and has negotiated some discounts for us in the process.

[twotees1218]

Travel agents are also insured in case an airline "goes under" which several have as of late, and it is predicted that several more will. Even if it is slightly more expensive through a TA, I sleep better at night knowing that if something else happens in the airline industry, our TA will get everyone there on time for the big day.

[Jacilynda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J2K When we looked into booking a group rate, it always seemed that we needed to have 10 double occupancy rooms booked for the exact same stay/room level. If we wanted a group rate on air/hotel combinations, we needed to book the exact same trip for 20 people (10 rooms). This didn't work, as we have people coming in from different cities and staying for different lengths of time. Our travel agent is taking care of everyone though, and has negotiated some discounts for us in the process.

Most airlines you can actually book a meeting/conference/convention trip. The airline will give you a special code for each person to use when they start booking their trip. This allows you to book from different departure cities, but everyone needs to go to the same destination and must be arriving in the same general time frame. And often if you book 40+ people the airline will actually give you a free ticket!