photography at azul?

hey everyone,

i've just gotten an email back from azul saying that they don't allow any outside vendors. i thought they were charging a fee to bring in a photographer but now that's not the case apparently. has anyone heard anything else about this?

I haven't, but I also have a 'fight it' mentality. Azul Beach is a strong candidate for us, and if they were to tell us no outside vendors allowed, I'd probably call the manager of reservations and tell him that he just lost the option for half of his resort to be filled by our wedding party. My understanding is that the wedding department is treated almost like a separate business unit from the hotel/reservations side. So I doubt that the reservations manager would be very happy to hear he'd lost such an easy opportunity to fill rooms.

 

Also, was it the hotel wedding planner who said no outside vendors? Because if I understand some of the other threads on here correctly- the Karisma hotel chain uses a specific travel vendor to book things (Lomas) and my impression is that they are the ones behind the additional charges/policies about outside vendors.

Screw that....call them up and tell them "no outside vendors.....no wedding there for you".

 

If they still want to act like assholes about it and you still want to have your wedding there, just invite a photographer to be a guest at your wedding.

is this new? i thought this is one of the venues matt and sol liked because they didnt do that? pm one of them and see what their experience has been. they let you know and be happy to help you out im sure.

Senior Jason, my hero )

I just heard from Matt. He was arranging a meeting with Karisma and it seems like this will get worked out. We vendors here in the Riviera Maya are working to meet with all the resorts to reach an agreement. We all think that surprises like this are bad for everyone. Hopefully this will stop being an issue. It's especially crappy when it comes up after you've chosen the resort and started planning. The good news is that almost all the wedding planners within the resort want the best for their couples, it's usually someone in management that throws the monkey wrench in. Azul beach is a really great location and I know the wedding coordinator there is adamant about allowing outside vendors for her weddings.

Wow, yes, this is now becoming a big time thing with the politics of Karisma Hotels.

NEWS... I have been contacted by the director of wedding services of Karisma... This is BIG time folks. Karisma is a franchise, and like any franchise, they make recommendations to their hotels as to the best policies to represent their best interests as a company.

Problem is, each Karisma hotel (6 different hotels) is owned by different owners, so the political red tape is a mile thick in this case... Amazingly difficult. So far, EDR and EDR seaside were the hard core players, demanding the fee. Azul and the local coordinator, Carolina were unaware of this fee (amazing as that can be) and willing to allow any outside vendor.... until recently.

BUT, there is a catch. And it boils down to you talking to your travel agencies. These hotels care MUCHO about the relationships with their travel agencies... Basically, they bring them big dollars and listen to every beckon and call they are preaching. Travel agencies and coordinators have BIG PULL.

We are currently working on negotiations to allow us to photograph on their grounds, forgoing the fee, on the compromise that it is mutually beneficial for world class published photographers to work on their property. Karisma sees the benefit in this, but it is currently a problem convincing the owners of each hotel of this benefit... so for now, it is a inner political war... ONE THAT WE ARE WINNING....

How do we keep winning this war You must tell your travel agent to make demands. Its their way or the friggen highway. Trust me folks, I am doing all I can with this, and absolutely amazed that I am speaking to the owners of the Karisma hotel franchise... I'm not speaking to the owners of the hotels... I've finally made it higher than them!!!! However, it takes your participation in this war to make the final difference.

Moral of this story, Talk to your travel agent. These hotel owners ARE CONCERNED about filling beds, and that is ALL they care about. We have shot at azul 10+ times, and never paid a fee.

Specifically, we work with http://www.luxe-events.com/ out of Canada, who is a BIG TIME BED FILLER for these resorts owned by Karisma Franchise. Their policy is: our photographer or NO deal.

Am I making a point...

Your Travel Agent's Angle: our photographer or NO deal, no beds filled

Each hotel's reaction: WAIT, please fill beds

bottom line.

More from my efforts coming soon...

good luck,
mateo

Yep, i was contacted by the director of wedding services of Karisma, who told me that one of the OWNERS of Karisma will be calling me, to discuss the "no outside photographer policy", as they want a change.... convincing the owners of this political campaign is another story...

We really love shooting at some of their hotels, however they are making it difficult. Our marketing and PR efforts to publish our stuff is out of this world and this is our angle to this company.

Yes, I really love the Azul wedding coordinator, Carolina. However, as of recently, one of our potential clients has recently had her and her travel agent's messages intercepted by Carolina's bosses, Fabio. He is saying that the no outside vendor policy stands... jeeze, what is going on here?

more news soon!
mateo