Should I wait to book until air and resort can be booked together?

[meliss238]

Hey! I joined about a week ago and love reading everyone's posts, I figured I'd get in on all the great advice as well!

 

I've heard a lot about how great the deals can be if you book airfare and resort together vs. booking resort and then airfare a few months later. We're getting married in April 2010 in Jamaica and am getting info. from travel agents but thought I'd try here first!

[YoursTruly]

I have found that air prices fluctutate depending on the seasons in which you travel. If you feel you can wait on the airfare sometimes you have a better chance that your package will be cheaper since airfare will be reduced. It depends...

[big3n09]

They say that but sometimes it depends. Air rates should be out for April by the end of this month so you might want to wait 3 more weeks to do a comparison. You'll get some good information here also.

[claerin]

I am getting married March 2010 and my TA told me to wait.........she said then I wouldn't have to pay twice the fees (whatever that means).

 

Also, as far as I know airfare doesn't come out until 330 days until the date, so that would put you at the end of May not April. I have been patiently waiting myself..............also because I can't make a decision on what resort to go with!

 

Good luck, with whatever you decide!!

[meliss238]

Thanks for the quick responses! I'll definitely let you all know what I find as well, I'm sure it will help once we have actually decided on a hotel as well . So many questions!

[blana]

I am in the same boat as you are however our wedding is set for May 17th so thats even farther away. I have talked to several people regarding the rates as well as done alot of research...The rates for airlines only come out 330 days in advance so unless you wait until that happens you will have to book them individually. If you could decide on where you are wanting to have it then you could go ahead and book your room, pay your deposit then jump at the airfare once it comes out. Naturally, the earlier you book your fare the cheaper it will be. The other thing you want to consider is that if your getting married in April that is really close to wedding season and you dont want to lose the day you want at the venue you want after all that research so you want to make a decision on your venue quickly. Its not to say this will happen but just be aware that it is a possibility. Airfare usually has a window of how much it goes down and goes up for going to Jamaica if you want to know what the rough rate is for that you can either look it up yourself or better yet call someone in your area who knows the rates. To give you a rough estimate from Dallas its between $350-$550 per person. So what I did was I played around with dates and the times of year and just took a guess at what I would be looking at. A travel agent would be perfect to use for this where as they sometimes can get you cheaper rates on the resort but airfare only goes down so much. I hope this helps you out. In my situation I found the place I wanted and booked the wedding as soon as possible. Good luck!!

[Trice]

We secured our resort first and booked airfaire later when the tickets were on sale. Then to only have the flight cancelled by Air Jamaica. We had to re-book on Delta but they were having a sell then also. Airfare changes so much plus we saved a lot of money by waiting for a sale. Most of my guest booked 2-3 months before the wedding and saved also.

[ehegwer]

Sometimes it isn't worth it to book airfare too far out in advance. I know some guests want to get their tickets out of the way, but I've been to weddings where some of the "Early Adopters" paid twice what people who waited did.

[bsullivan2]

We are getting married in June at ROR. We reserved our rooms with a deposit last March and waited quite a while to get our airfare. Our TA contacted us with a great rate late last fall. We could have waited longer, but everything that has been out so far has been more than what we ended up paying. On another note, in Feb. this year, our room rates dropped quite a bit. I think we saved $200. Our TA re-booked everyone in our group at the lower rate. I would talk to your TA and get their opinion. I would not book too early. You might end up paying more by doing so. Good luck!

[Marie]

I dont think theres a right or wrong answer here....We're getting married May 2010...and Ive been wanting to book since January! lol..mainly becasue I was so excited and wnated to get some plans put in place.

 

First thing I did tho was extensive research on resorts. After a month or so of getting prices n stuff, I finally settled on RIU Ocho Rios-I fell in love withit, and knew I wanted to get married there! Once I decided on that resort, we got a quote for May 2010---knew it was just a quote...to get an idea of pricing....it was difficult b/c Sunquest didnt have their prices out yet.....and for some reason, I felt a bit weary booking hotel and air seperately.....

 

Next I got out my invitations, we put them out end of feb....the invitation also served as a brochure to the resort-they were AWESOME!......AT THIS POINT, ROR had put out their 2010 wedding packaged and pricing.....so dates were avaiable to book.....we wanted the first week of May--so we booked immediately, as I heard a lot of the spring dates sell out fast! Once we had the wedding booked with ROR-we had I think 120 days to confirm it--with out booking reference...and of course, we were all booking as a group--so we set a date for guests to rsvp by--this way, by booking early, those who wanted to go were sure to get there! It worked out fine, and we now have 25 confirmed guests......with more to book Im sure.....then we went back and confirmed the wedding with the booking reference.

 

HAVING SAID ALL THIS.......I took a lot of grief from people, saying we booked too early--but in our defense.......sunquest flies from toronto...so with the ai package plus flight from NL we're looking at a lot of money--and we wanted to give our guests ample opportunity to pay for the trip, its OUR wedding, we wanted a plan...we wanted a date, and now--I can take a deep breath, and know that our plan is in place. Id much rather do it this way then book it seperately,.......from what Im seeing....pricing everything this year (in consideration for next year) even now at a month away.....the resort isn "on sale", airfare did not drop.....and even on sunquest website......the price is around the same...........

 

I know this was a long post to a simple question, but I thought Id share our booking experience.....thats all---we booked over a year in advance, yes....but we made sure we go what we wanted.....and we're not going to be paying a ridiculous price!