Fiesta Americana - planning help needed!

Thanks for everyone's thoughts on this! I did ask for an amended contract or to recieve a quote for F&B. I was put in touch with the event services manager, but she never did give me any prices, which was very disappointing. They then told me on Friday that someone else wanted my date and I had to make my deposit by Monday - still without ever giving me any F&B prices.

I decided that if they are this difficult now it is not going to get any easier. So, I declined and am now working on plan B...

fogdog, I'm sorry that Plan A didn't work out as you hoped...but you gotta stick with your gut instinct!

 

I'm trying to negotiate now about whether FA is going to honor the Orbitz & Travelocity rates that I found...

 

Best of luck to you in the Plan B planning! Keep us all posted on how it goes!

I am also trying to negotiate with the FA about cheaper rates I found on the Internet. So far, they matched the Master Suites rates at $500, but that was easy for them because there are no Master Suites available for the Saturday of our wedding weekend, so it's a moot point. Hopefully, they will match the rate of $189 that I found for the Deluxe rooms. That's $50 less than the rate they qouted in my contract.

Please PM me and let me know how your negotiation goes. Good luck!

The wedding went off beautifully at the Imperial Suite and my photographer has pictures on her blog under Armilee and Seth at http://www.michelleturner.com/blog/. I will post a more in-depth review soon, for anyone who has questions, please feel free to message me!

 

Maria Armilee

Great pictures.. Congrats on your wedding.

Wow - congrats! It looks incredible! Your photographer did a great job!

Hi Everyone!!! I am also getting married at the Imperial Suite 5/28/08. After reading all the posts, there seems to be some mixed procedures down there depending on who you work with...I have been confused from day one as to who does what at the FA. I was first put into contact w/ Susanna Arroniz. Then when she found out I wasn't going to book rooms (we aren't staying there) she told me I needed to talk to the Groups and Catering dept and she put me in contact w/ Sonia Jimenez. I have been working w/ her for the past few weeks and believe me...I ask a TON of questions! :0

 

She has been great so far. What I have found...is that as Tammy mentioned, they are slow at responding (I'm impatient) but when she does she answers all my questions. They are all very to the point too. Sonia has given me all the menus and bar info and all the pricing. She told me that if I wanted to book the Imperial Suite that I needed to talk to Franco Zuniga in reservations. So I have been working w/ him too. We finally picked the date this week and I emailed Franco and told him and asked what we needed to do to book it! He said to just give him a credit card and he would be able to reserve the date. He said they wouldn't charge the card at all until we checked in next year!! (I don't know if this is normal?) He gave me a confirmation # and everything.

 

Then I emailed Sonia back (I have only been using email) and told her that we were a go and I need to find out what the process was for food and beverage and set up, etc... and if I need to set up a contract and deposit. She just told me that we could talk about it whenever I was ready and once we figure out what I want then we will write up the contact (again..I don't know if this is normal)??

 

So bottom line, if that one lady there is trying to get you to sign contracts and put deposits down...then I would say talk to Sonia and Franco for reservations (I can give you their emails).

 

Michelle

Interesting...thanks for the follow up! I actually couldn't deal with them and all the messiness, so decided on plan B...Nov. 17th at the Sheraton! We are going to do the ceremony on the beach and reception in the D'Cortez restaurant, so should be able to have a relatively private reception which I wanted. And they have been very upfront (though somewhat inflexible) on all the costs involved. I am also using a WC who advised in favor of the Sheraton and has worked with them before, so feel good about the decision. Now need to get STD's out...less than 6 months to go!

I can only tell you what I did to get the Imperial Suite-you had to have a 2 night minimum there, so I had to put a deposit down, meaning I had to pay one full night in advance ($1875). I did have to sign a contract also, which had the room block, estimate on how many guests, etc. This was all 11 months prior to the wedding. I wound up not using the room block because rooms on travelocity were cheaper, so I released the block 2 months prior to wedding. That was the last time I did paperwork with them till we settled the bill the day after the wedding for the food/beverage. Hope this helps some.