Soooooooooooo frustrated with prices!!! :(

[welljen]

 

 

Originally Posted by gracielemon 

 

hello lesee!

 

This info is really important to me and is sooo apreciated!! AIRFARE IS TOTALLY STRESSING ME OUT!! My wedding is in punta cana in October and I have over 80 guest booked as of right now and each of them keeps coming to me about airfare and when the prices will go down. I fill it is my responsiblity to know...but how can I possibly know for sure?  I would love to know how long your guest waited? What length of time before your wedding did you find the best prices? Thanks!!

 

 

 

 

Hi gracie,

I just got back from my wedding at Dreams Punta Cana and I can tell you that lesee is dead on. You shouldn't feel like you have to take on the responsibility for booking everyone's travel after you have already communicated the costs and provided them with the contact information for your travel agent. We found that people still thought they could get a 'better deal' on their own vs. anything we provided them.

 

When we sent out our notice to our guests back in August of last year for our May 2011 wedding, we quoted our guests a rate of $1485 (including taxes) for 7 days, direct flight from Toronto.  We did get some flack from our guests about the price, with many of them thinking they could do better. The only people that paid less (~$1285), were those that decided to leave during the week - this wasn't an option for us as we had to be sure to be in the DR for the required 3 business days. 

 

From our experience the cheapest rates were September/October; as we got closer to May the prices started to rise, so that those that hadn't put their money down ended up having to take back their 'accept' RSVP as the prices had gotten too expensive, like $2000 a person! Of course we were disappointed but, we totally understood why they couldn't make it. 

 

Originally after getting some push back from his family, my fiance started to backtrack and ask couldn't we find something that was closer to the $1300 pp range, etc... Now this may sound a bit cold or elitist, but in the big scheme of things when you are paying $1300 an extra $100-150 isn't that big of a difference - and truthfully if it does make a big difference, I think that you should do some serious thinking as to whether a trip is the best use of your money. And the truth of the matter is, that even if we had quoted a price in that range many of the same people that weren't able to join us, probably still would not have been able to make it AND then we would have been stuck at a crappy resort, hearing all the complaints from our guests.

 

Knowing what I know now I am so glad that I/we stuck to our guns. That extra $$ was well worth it, as all of our 42 guests had a great time with only one complaint, from a known complainer - so we took it with a grain of salt - the service was excellent, the food was great and no one got sick.

 

Jenn

 

[letluva5412]

Hey Katiem,

 

My wedding is booked for Dreams in May 2012.  Originally it was supposed to be in Nov 2011, but we had to postpone it.  We were going to go for the mid-March, but my TA told me that this is considered peak season so airfare and hotel are usually a bit pricier then booking off season.  Since it is generally colder because those are the winter months that it's more expensive.  I guess every opinion is different.  Good luck and keep me posted on how it goes. 

 

Leticia

Originally Posted by Katiem2012 

So I know this sounds really bad but I'm glad I'm not the only one having this frustrated experience! We're getting married at the Grand Palladium March 26th and the prices are upwards of $1800 everywhere I look. When we were picking the date earlier this year we were told by several agents that end of March was the cheapest but this is crazy! We told all of our guests about $1300/person give or take.... One agent did say that the best time to book is in Oct for March travel so about 6 months in advance, hope this is true, it'll be too late to switch resorts by then . 

 

[Katiem2012]

Hey Letluva,

 

We were looking at the off season but wanted to pick a date around when the majority of our guests travel south (in Jan-March)... apparently in those date ranges the end of March is the cheapest as it's typically after March break and right before the Easter holiday... the prices have dropped a bit, currently they're at $1500-1600 with the group rate... which is better then the original prices we were looking at. I do find it strange that even with booking 50 plus guests we're only getting about $50-100/person off... for the total cost. I thought we'd be looking at more of a discount. Obviously I'm totally off base with this! lol This price is way better for us though!
 

Originally Posted by letluva5412 

Hey Katiem,

 

My wedding is booked for Dreams in May 2012.  Originally it was supposed to be in Nov 2011, but we had to postpone it.  We were going to go for the mid-March, but my TA told me that this is considered peak season so airfare and hotel are usually a bit pricier then booking off season.  Since it is generally colder because those are the winter months that it's more expensive.  I guess every opinion is different.  Good luck and keep me posted on how it goes. 

 

Leticia

 

 

[letluva5412]

Oh ok lol. I did hear that the end of march is a little bit cheaper, but you'd have to do it before any breaks.  When we were looking to pick our date in March they wanted to charge triple the room rates!  It was around 875/pp and that was not including airfare back in December.   Our wedding is booked 5/4/12 @ Dreams Palm Beach and we have a contract rate on a basis of 350/pp starting at 3 nights.  Airfare isn't included yet because it isn't available. I don't think that's too bad, I'm just waiting to see what airfare will be.  I hope it's not too steep.  Do you have a contract rate with your hotel? 
 

Originally Posted by Katiem2012 

Hey Letluva,

 

We were looking at the off season but wanted to pick a date around when the majority of our guests travel south (in Jan-March)... apparently in those date ranges the end of March is the cheapest as it's typically after March break and right before the Easter holiday... the prices have dropped a bit, currently they're at $1500-1600 with the group rate... which is better then the original prices we were looking at. I do find it strange that even with booking 50 plus guests we're only getting about $50-100/person off... for the total cost. I thought we'd be looking at more of a discount. Obviously I'm totally off base with this! lol This price is way better for us though!
 

 

 

[Katiem2012]

No we don't have a contract rate. We're going through a travel agent so the airfare/hotel are all together. We're hoping to get a rate around $1500 incl taxes per person for the airfare/hotel for the week. The rates we're getting right now are around $1650, which isn't too far off at least!
 

We had to wait until the beginning of May to get the airfare prices for March of 2012. It seemed pretty strange to me that they don't have prices/flight plans outlined until 10 months beforehand but I guess thats how it works! lol.

 

Originally Posted by letluva5412 

Oh ok lol. I did hear that the end of march is a little bit cheaper, but you'd have to do it before any breaks.  When we were looking to pick our date in March they wanted to charge triple the room rates!  It was around 875/pp and that was not including airfare back in December.   Our wedding is booked 5/4/12 @ Dreams Palm Beach and we have a contract rate on a basis of 350/pp starting at 3 nights.  Airfare isn't included yet because it isn't available. I don't think that's too bad, I'm just waiting to see what airfare will be.  I hope it's not too steep.  Do you have a contract rate with your hotel? 
 

 

 

[letluva5412]

We are going through a travel agent as well with our hotel contract rate.  IDK how it works but right now we have a 10 room block.  She also told us that airfare wasn't available until 10-11 months before departure which I thought was strange as well.  LOL

 

Those rates seem pretty good for a week.  I attended a destination wedding for a really close friend in Aruba and paid about $1350 w/tax. 

 

Which airline are you flying? Is there one that's cheaper than the other?  Right now I've just been searching with the latest dates and the airfare alone is still pretty steep.  I searched the end of March last night and r/t it was $560 on American Airlines.  My travel agent said that usually Jetblue has the cheapest.   
 

Originally Posted by Katiem2012 

No we don't have a contract rate. We're going through a travel agent so the airfare/hotel are all together. We're hoping to get a rate around $1500 incl taxes per person for the airfare/hotel for the week. The rates we're getting right now are around $1650, which isn't too far off at least!
 

We had to wait until the beginning of May to get the airfare prices for March of 2012. It seemed pretty strange to me that they don't have prices/flight plans outlined until 10 months beforehand but I guess thats how it works! lol.

 

 

 

[Laurelyn]

I don't know if this thread is helping me or not....I'm starting to think that maybe I should wait until September for rates for my March 2012 wedding in Punta Cana.  The only issue being is its over Ontario spring break as two groomsmen are teachers.  The other issue I'm having is wether to book out of Vancouver or Seattle and then I have to think about the Ontario people who are wanting options out of Ottawa, Toronto, and Sryacus.    Right now my TA has group rates for us  at $1650pp but not the best flights as we wouldn't get in until 10:40pm and they are out of Seattle and Syracus but from what we are seeing if we go out of Canada we are looking at spending $2000pp.  Sometimes I wish I had a crystal ball that would tell me what to do.....  

[Katiem2012]

Well we're flying out of Canada with guests coming from Ontario and Nova Scotia so the vacation providers we're looking at are Air Transat, SunQuest, Sunwing and Air Canada... We're finding that Air Transat and Sunwing have the best rates out of Toronto/Montreal but Ottawa and Halifax rates are a lot higher.... We did look at booking the hotel and airfare separately however found it was a lot more expensive and we would need to arrange transportation from the airport to the hotel and back in Punta Cana. I think it all depends on which airline/when you book as to what the cheapest rates are... but it's extremely frustrating!!!! I'm finding the rates are changing daily...
 

Originally Posted by letluva5412 

We are going through a travel agent as well with our hotel contract rate.  IDK how it works but right now we have a 10 room block.  She also told us that airfare wasn't available until 10-11 months before departure which I thought was strange as well.  LOL

 

Those rates seem pretty good for a week.  I attended a destination wedding for a really close friend in Aruba and paid about $1350 w/tax. 

 

Which airline are you flying? Is there one that's cheaper than the other?  Right now I've just been searching with the latest dates and the airfare alone is still pretty steep.  I searched the end of March last night and r/t it was $560 on American Airlines.  My travel agent said that usually Jetblue has the cheapest.   
 

 

 

[Katiem2012]

Hi Laurelyn,

 

We're planning our wedding in Punta Cana in March 2012 as well, flying out of Nova Scotia and Ontario. We picked the week right after spring break as the rates are typically really high on the week of spring break. We're looking at about $1650pp for the week of March 21st from Ontario as well! I know our Travel Agent said that if we had gone a week earlier (right during the spring break) we'd be looking at about $2000/pp because of the demand that week. We're planning on locking in the rates now, and then keeping an eye out for the rates to get lower. Apparently some agents will match a lower rate... from what I've heard rates for March should be dropping by the end of Sept-October if the providers are having a hard time filling rooms... so that would be the best time to lock in and finalize a group rate... so we're having our deposits for the group rate be due at the end of September...

 

Which resort are you having your wedding at? Ours is going to be at the Grand Palladium
 

Originally Posted by Laurelyn 

I don't know if this thread is helping me or not....I'm starting to think that maybe I should wait until September for rates for my March 2012 wedding in Punta Cana.  The only issue being is its over Ontario spring break as two groomsmen are teachers.  The other issue I'm having is wether to book out of Vancouver or Seattle and then I have to think about the Ontario people who are wanting options out of Ottawa, Toronto, and Sryacus.    Right now my TA has group rates for us  at $1650pp but not the best flights as we wouldn't get in until 10:40pm and they are out of Seattle and Syracus but from what we are seeing if we go out of Canada we are looking at spending $2000pp.  Sometimes I wish I had a crystal ball that would tell me what to do.....  

 

[Laurelyn]

Just made a huge change and so happy that I did.  Were now going to Cuba instead with a 6 hr flight and got great rates direct from Vancouver for $1560pp with taxes staying at the new Riu.  Oh an even better part is we get to hold 30rooms for $600 and all of those rooms will be upgraded.  So happy that I waited!