BE AWARE: An instant BUDGET BLOWER....any ideas?

BeautifulBridetoBe · 08-05-2008, 01:22 PM

Hey ladies:

Just a quick question:

Are any of you dealing with paying for day passes for guests that are not staying at your chosen all-inclusive hotel?

My FI and are finding that although we have picked a hotel, some of our guests are thinking of chosing to stay at other hotels. We believe that this is well within their right..it is their vacation and they are paying, so they should be able to stay wherever they want to....

The problem is that we have to purchase a day pass $100 per person for them to attend our wedding if they are not staying at the same resort. It is a factor that can be quite costly and a factor that we did not consider.

How are you handling this, or does anyone have any ideas?

This could really BLOW our budget....

DanielleNDerek · 08-05-2008, 01:26 PM

We let our guests know that they could stay at an outside hotel but the hotel charges a day pass fee. Turns out all of our guests are staying at our resort so it wasn't a problem.

BeautifulBridetoBe · 08-05-2008, 01:33 PM

I hear you...it's just that we feel awkward asking them to pay a large sum to come to our wedding (in comparison to what it would cost them if our wedding was at home) and then to charge them $100 for a day pass on top of it! They are our guests...and if this was an at-home wedding, we would be hosting them for our reception. It's like charging them for their own dinner, which should be provided by us, as hosts. Is there any etiquette around this?

DanielleNDerek · 08-05-2008, 01:37 PM

I know some resorts will lesson the per person dinner charge for the people you pay day passes for. Maybe you can talk to your resort about that. Because an all inclusive resort's day pass is for food and drinks, they would be double charging you. KWIM?

Becksy · 08-05-2008, 01:42 PM

I have one friend that is waiting until the last minute to book her trip. She said that if our hotel was booked she would just stay at another close by. I told her that if she stays off resort, there is a day pass fee she and her husband will have to pay to join us at our wedding.

I was a little put off by this when she told me

... I took the time to reseach the different resorts in the area, the prices and travel agents and choose the best ones. If my friend doesn't want to book her trip this way... fine, but she will be responsible for all aditional costs. I'm not going to spend more money on the guests from another resort than the ones I will be spending my entire week with.

EricaG · 08-05-2008, 01:54 PM

My FBIL, his FI and his kids are supposed to be coming but have yet to book. I have been riding his back a bit about booking since he is supposed to be in the wedding party too, but the one day I told them that if they wait to book and they can't get into our resort, then there is a $50 day pass for each day that they want to come to our resort, including the day of the wedding. That would end up being another $250 if they all come each day they came to our resort. They weren't really excited about that, but I chose a resort for our wedding and I felt that the prices were reasonable and we told everyone to start saving last Oct for our wedding this Nov. To me, that is plenty of time to decide and save $. I have said right from the beginning that I was not paying for any day passes if anyone wants to stay at another resort. That is their choice, but it will be at their cost too.

bridget917 · 08-05-2008, 02:00 PM

We debated about what do do, but fortunately we didn't have anyone decide to stay off the resort. But I look at it this way--when you invite people to your wedding/reception, you're inviting them to a specific event and a specific place. If someone decides they don't like where you're having your reception at home or that it's too far for them to travel you don't pay for them to go somewhere else...why should this be any different?

LisaG · 08-05-2008, 02:01 PM

I wouldn't feel bad about asking them to pay the day pass fee.
You picked the hotel where "your" wedding is taking place. If they choose to not stay at the place where the wedding will be, then they will need to pay for a day pass.
It's just like having your wedding/reception local and you tell them the reception is at one resturant and they go to another. They would have to pay for their own dinner. You're not going to say, oh it's ok that you don't want to go to the resturant everyone else is going too.....please let me pay for your dinner to where ever you choose.
I just think that you told them where it's going to be. If they stayed at the hotel you choose, they would not have to pay. That is something they will have to take into consideration when booking their trip.

Davematthews16 · 08-05-2008, 03:06 PM

We just told the guests where we are staying and everyone booked at that hotel. We are paying a day-pass for the outside photographer, but other than that we had no problem. If you are offering a perfectly good hotel, and your guests choose to stay elsewhere, I would just nicely tell them there is a day pass fee. I know it can be a touchy subject, but I agree with you on how it could rack up fast!

jpitts78 · 08-05-2008, 03:24 PM

We are going to pay for the wedding day pass for those staying at the other hotels. But we will be only having a small wedding so it won't hurt as much I guess.

We are staying the the Iberostar Grand, if the guests stay at the other Iberostar hotels it's 75 for the wedding pass.

I don't expect everyone to stay at the Grand due to the price to stay there.