Palace Resorts- Wedding Factory?

[katrina305]

I am now considering having my wedding at a Palace Resort (maybe Cancun), instead of a Riu. I just feel like you get more for your money, and it is cheaper for my guests. I am wokring with someone from Destination Weddings, and she said that she does not reccomend Palaces becasue brides don't feel like they get the attention they deserve, and it is rushed. I actually have been having a great experience with them because they answer emails very quickly and are even available to talk. It took me a month to even get a quote from the Riu for a group rate, and foreget about returning emails about wedding questions, or calling to talk to someone! Can any Palace Brides let me know if it is a wedding factory?

 

Thanks!

[Woodsylou]

the palace head office in Miami is very quick to reply, you WC on site isn't. i've waited 3 months for an email reply. and they tell you not to expect contact until 2 months before the wedding day. so that's not that great. but if you're quite laid back about it then it's great!

[katrina305]

Woodsylou, did you get the free reception and nights free with so many people booking at the Moon palace? That seems like a really great incentive to me. I'm going to Mexico in March to check out some resorts. I don't care if there are a few weddings the same days as mine, as long as its not very rushed.

[FutureMsMoulton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by katrina305 Woodsylou, did you get the free reception and nights free with so many people booking at the Moon palace? That seems like a really great incentive to me. I'm going to Mexico in March to check out some resorts. I don't care if there are a few weddings the same days as mine, as long as its not very rushed.

You will want to work with a Travel Agent and have them write a contract stating that they will honor your nights. Because we used 3 different ways to have people book they are refusing to honor the free nights or free cocktail hour (we have 40 ppl booked at the hotel). I will be able to give you more info in a week or two. I can tell you that contact with my wedding coordinator has been like having teeth pulled... it takes forever to hear back from her and sometimes it isn't what i even wanted to know.

[NaM]

I got married at a Palace Resort in November and can't say enough good things about them! It was honestly such a smooth experience, we had absolutely no problems...and our TA even commented on how helpful and attentive they were to her. In fact, after our wedding, her son is now getting married at a Palace resort in October.

Between the price, the perks, the attention and the customer service...I would hands down 100% percent recommend them. Of course not everyone's wedding experience will be the same but mine was smooth sailing and I owe that in large part to the group in Miami and staff at Aventura Spa Palace for putting it together.

[katrina305]

FutureMsMoulton

 

How did your guests book? I thought they can only book directly through the hotel in order to get the free reception.

[KimmyD]

I am getting married at Sun Palace and I am very excited. I love the resort. I am nervous about the WC, but since I have seen many posts about how slow they are I wll try to relax. Any advice would be cherished!!!!

[julieswedding]

"the palace head office in Miami is very quick to reply, you WC on site isn't. i've waited 3 months for an email reply. and they tell you not to expect contact until 2 months before the wedding day. so that's not that great. but if you're quite laid back about it then it's great!"

 

That was not our experience at all! I feel exactly the same way as NaM does. It could not have been a better experience! My daughter was married at Aventura Spa Palace on May 20, 2010 and it was beyond amazing!! We contacted Miami in May 2009 about having a wedding there. They answered the next day and we were assigned a WC and one month later we were assingned a WC (Yazmin) at Aventura Spa. We were surprised to actually get our resort WC 11 months before the wedding. We emailed and talked about all of the plans for 11 months before the wedding. Yazmin was fantastic and made sure we had the package we wanted and all of the little extras and special requests we threw at her. She always answered within 24 hours and was always happy and accomodating.

We used the resort for my daughters hair and makeup and we used the resort photographer (David Pena) and also the resort videographer. They were all fantastic! Her hair was just amazing!! Here are a few of her photos, I put on shutterfly:

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/re...1AZNGbNm5Zs3LA

They are so beautiful, but even better when you seem them large!

 

 

 

Katrina305 - We are VIP members and booked all of the guests through our membership. We had enough room nights to get a free function (we did the 1 hour cocktail and hors d'ourves) and free room nights (which were reimburshed to us in a check from Palace Resorts about 3 weeks after the wedding). I know you said you have an uncle who is a member, have him book the wedding for you and also the rooms. When he books the rooms have him tell the representative that he is booking a group of rooms for a wedding and when he calls to book each room he should try to speak with the same rep, if possible, if not make sure he tells the other reps. that it is a room for a wedding group booking. After he books the room for a guest, the guest can go onto the member site and pay for it themselve.

 

Also, know that as a member your uncle will be able to get 20% off of the cost of a wedding package immediately. Make sure he mentions this to the Miami WC when she draws up the contract.

 

One more thing, your uncle can use 2 of the guest bookings as referrals He has to tell Miami this when he books them), if at least one of the guests in the room is 35 yrs old. If he books 2 rooms like this, he will get a free week to use for himself. He can find out more about this on the member site.

 

Any other questions, just message me.

Good luck.

[julieswedding]

Also, know that you can use the 1500 vacation dollars they give you (their new promotion) toward the wedding costs.

[echraide]

I've heard that Moon Palace is most definitely a wedding factory, especially in the high season. Some of the smaller palace resorts don't have this issue because they aren't churning out dozens of weddings at a time. They definitely have it down to a science, but as long as you aren't offended by the impersonal nature of this, then its fine. I love the amenities and perks of the Palace resorts, so I'm just looking toward one of the smaller ones like Playacar Palace or Beach Palace.