Group rates not very group appealing?

[heather007]

Okay, so I'm hoping to book at the Barcelo Colonial. However, after getting my group rates back, they aren't super!!!!

Why is the individual discount rate almost better than that of the group rate? I thought that group rates were suppose to be better.

 

Ahhhh!!!! Wigging out here man....

 

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[LCBride2007]

group rates are usually more because they're holding rooms for you and taking rooms out of their inventory. if you don't get a group rate/block of rooms your gusts run the risk of not being able to book, nor do you get the benefits of any perks that come with the block of rooms.

[heather007]

Really? Wow, I had no idea. I have never gone anywhere before, except for Quebec, and my fiance- who has gone to wedding in Mexico is absolutely no help.

 

I'm so frustrated. I just need to be told everything is going to be okay....

 

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[Yvette]

we had the same situation with our resort, the group rate wasn't worth it so we decided every man for themselves. no biggie.

[LCBride2007]

well, i didn't know that before planning a DW either! but i didn't do the group rate or block of rooms ... Dreams PV was running a promotion at the time of my wedding, so I got enough people to book with that promo. rate, and they saved $$. i didn't get teh perks (like a room upgrade or anything) but oh well!

[Dez921714]

Everything will be ok! Our group rate is super hight too! I told people if they can find a better rate, book it that way...

[heather007]

So then another question. If everyone books on the group rate, all the majority of the rooms close to each other? Obviously not the junior suites and deluxe rooms though.

 

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[SunBride]

It works a little differently for people leaving from Canada than the US (most of the brides here) because in Canada everything is sold by tour operators in packages. Your travel agent is going to go to a tour operator (i.e. Air Canada Vacations, Transat Holidays, Sunquest) for a package (flight + hotel) quote. So there is no "room block". From my understanding most americans book flights and hotels seperately, so they deal with the hotel (through a travel agent) to get quotes.

 

If you are booking way in advance (like a year) the group rates should be better, however if you are booking 6 months or less in advance, it's possible that the tour operators are already offering discounts such as early booking bonuses or "last minute deals" which means that you can find a cheaper price than giong with a group quote (not always the case, but I know it was for me, although some people get great group rates, depends on the timing). Shop around, talk to a few different agents (try either Shine Travel or Megan Crouse, bothvery popular with Canadian brides) and also try looking up the price yourself on a website like itravel2000.com and see what is the best rate you can find.

[Lorilou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yvette we had the same situation with our resort, the group rate wasn't worth it so we decided every man for themselves. no biggie.

we did the same thing. I hated saying to my guests, "you have to pay $X to stay at this hotel and if they searched the same resort on their own they'd pay less then $X." I didn't feel right about it so, they had to fend for themselves and everyone coped just fine. Most are staying with us and others are not but at least I didn't have to feel stink about it.

[MelissaH]

We had everyone book their own thing too - much cheaper than a group rate and it was better because people on smaller budgets booked over at the Maya Beach and Caribe sides, and then people with bigger budgets booked at the Tropical and Colonial...it worked out really well for us (but we're all pretty easy going and it didn't matter to us that we weren't all staying together).

 

The only thing we did was give out our TA info in case they wanted to book through her.