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

[Kathie]

That's a tough one. Personally I think I would pay for it but it could be quite expensive. Good luck.

[Jenn6603]

we already had 9 guests staying off resort (they travel to PV every year) and the resort only allows 50% of the guests to be from off-resort (plus you have to pay extra for them to come for the wedding). We didn't want to chance that more than 50% of our guests would be off-resort so we told all guests that the resort had a policy regarding off-resort guests and we had already negotiated the maximum number of allowable guests... if we end up with less guests so be it... my mom's not happy with my decision (because its her husband's sons that want to stay off-resort) but too bad! (jeez that sounds a little harsh, lol)

 

I guess the way I look at it is that we did a lot of research to pick a resort and we also negotiated an excellent price - I did a ton of work so having guests just go do their own thing wasn't really an option for me...

 

Jenn

[hanna]

Thanks for the post. I didn't think about letting people know about this assuming everyone would stay at our resort. I just updated our website with this info!

[Celina]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jennifer Davis I have a similar issue as you. My fiance's father has a time share in Cancun is planning to stay there with his wife. I have no problem paying the $85 per person for them but now his Dad has invited all the aunts and uncles to stay there too. These are aunts and uncles that were not even going to be invited to the wedding!

We had the same thing happen to us. FMIL has a time share and invited her entire familly to stay with her and her husband. I understand having a timeshare and wanting to save money - BUT - DON"T BE INVITIN EVERYONE ELSE TO STAY WITH YOU!!!

Our hotel has a rule that 80% of the wedding guests MUST stay at the hotel. I posted on our website that we spent a lot of time researching the hotels to get everyone the best rate, the best ameneties and the hotel that had the best wedding package. (Because after all it is our wedding right?!!)

It got to the point where we told FMIL that she was eating into our 20% of guests who could stay elsewhere - so please don't invite anyone else! After the wedding yes - the night of the wedding - NO!! Anyhow, in the end we have 8 guests staying at a timeshare - fortunately - two of them are my aunts and they are paying for their own day passes (BLESS THEM!!) The other six we have to foot the bill for! Our resort charges $60 for half day and $100 for full day passes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenn6603 I guess the way I look at it is that we did a lot of research to pick a resort and we also negotiated an excellent price - I did a ton of work so having guests just go do their own thing wasn't really an option for me... Jenn

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!

You may want to keep an eye on rates and see if it is cheaper to book a room for a double or triple occupancy versus buying day passes. That's what we are doing and I'm even going to check with the hotel directly the day of the wedding to see if we can get a cheap room rate. Even if no one actually stays in the room - it may be cheaper to book a room for 3 or 4 guests instead of purchasing the day passes. With luck the hotel may just want to sell the room and will give us a good rate. Either way we'll have the money for the passes just in case.

[Jennifer Davis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoontobeMrsE We had the same thing happen to us. FMIL has a time share and invited her entire familly to stay with her and her husband. I understand having a timeshare and wanting to save money - BUT - DON"T BE INVITIN EVERYONE ELSE TO STAY WITH YOU!!! Our hotel has a rule that 80% of the wedding guests MUST stay at the hotel. I posted on our website that we spent a lot of time researching the hotels to get everyone the best rate, the best ameneties and the hotel that had the best wedding package. (Because after all it is our wedding right?!!) It got to the point where we told FMIL that she was eating into our 20% of guests who could stay elsewhere - so please don't invite anyone else! After the wedding yes - the night of the wedding - NO!! Anyhow, in the end we have 8 guests staying at a timeshare - fortunately - two of them are my aunts and they are paying for their own day passes (BLESS THEM!!) The other six we have to foot the bill for! Our resort charges $60 for half day and $100 for full day passes. MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! You may want to keep an eye on rates and see if it is cheaper to book a room for a double or triple occupancy versus buying day passes. That's what we are doing and I'm even going to check with the hotel directly the day of the wedding to see if we can get a cheap room rate. Even if no one actually stays in the room - it may be cheaper to book a room for 3 or 4 guests instead of purchasing the day passes. With luck the hotel may just want to sell the room and will give us a good rate. Either way we'll have the money for the passes just in case.

I told my fiance last night that he should tell his father that the aunts and uncles can come and we'll pay for their plates, but they will have to pay the guest passs fee. Surprisingly, he was fine with that. Before reading this thread I didn't realize it was acceptable to make people staying off the resort pay the fee to come to the wedding. After thinking about it, I determined why not....they're staying at the time share for free, the least they can do is cough up $85 to come onto the resort for the day.

It is cost prohibitive for me to get a room for the guests staying off-site but that is a really good idea!

[DelightfulDani]

I plan to identify in the welcome letter that if guest decide to stay off resort then there will be a day pass. The whole point of picking an AI and having an intimate ceremony for me is to have people together.

[saraece]

We are at a Riu and were only told after we booked that the 7 staying at the sister Riu would be charged $39 to attend the reception but my TA fought this and they waived the charge completely! And we picked the free wedding option! On another note we were also going to be charged $150 extra because our wedding is on a Sat., but my TA said "that will be my wedding present to you, I will pay that fee" How cool is that??

[BachataBride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bridget917 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?

I completely agree...and to put another spin on it...if you were having a wedding at home & arranged great hotel prices for out of town guests & they decided not to stay at this hotel then you would not pay the difference in rate, right? This is the same thing!
I don't see a problem with making them pay the day pass, but it should be brought to their attention up front before they book. If you are not comfortable asking them to pay the full amount, maybe you could split the cost with them...50/50.
I am staying at the RIU complex in Puerta Plata. We are booking the RIU Bachata, but if anyone books either of the other 2 hotels on the property then we will be charged $35 pp for the dinner - I will be making my guests aware of this.

Good luck!

[BachataBride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saraece We are at a Riu and were only told after we booked that the 7 staying at the sister Riu would be charged $39 to attend the reception but my TA fought this and they waived the charge completely! And we picked the free wedding option! On another note we were also going to be charged $150 extra because our wedding is on a Sat., but my TA said "that will be my wedding present to you, I will pay that fee" How cool is that??

Hey Sara...didn't get through the whole thread so I didn't realize you had already posted about the RIU's!! That is pretty awesome of your TA!!! I finally talked to mine last night & everything is cool now! Thank God!! lol

[ajanders21]

Just my 2 cents, but wow... I'm really suprised by almost everyone's response. We have 9 guests staying off property (out of 60) and there is NO way I would ever ask them to pay for a "guest pass". These people are paying 500 dollars per person to fly down, taking time off work, and are giving us a wedding gift to boot. I haven't even accounted for their hotel (on-or off property) expenses. Am I really going to get rude about 100 dollars when they might end up giving me more as a wedding gift?? Yes, it sucks to pay a guest fee in addition to their bar/food fees, but if they were close enough for you to invite them to your wedding, don't you feel that you should just suck it up and pay??

 

I was even generous enough to offer up alternative hotels at various price points in the area of our hotel (on our website and on the invitations) so that people weren't forced into paying our higher end hotel rate. I really can't imagine how this would affect our relationships if we did say that to them....

 

I say you should try to find a way to make it work without destroying your budget, your relationships, and your wedding day.