booking through Resort

[Jen & Josh]

Just wondering.....have any of you just booked through the resort? I hear if you take out the middle man (TA) you can save $$.

 

Any ideas?

[freckle]

I don't know for sure. But I was thinking of just booking thru the hotel as well.

[crazyinlove24]

I booked through the resort but I dont think it saved us any money.

[Maegan606]

I haven't heard that. I jsut went to visit a TA this weekend, and honestly--I'm really looking fwd to her taking care of booking everyone. It will def save us MANY headaches and stress! I also went home after and looked up prices, and they were about the same(without the group discount that they will be giving us once they get the price quote)I was also told that, being that the TA's deal with those hotels exclusively, that the hotels will give them more "free" things. Who knows, I guess we will find out! =)

[Jenn]

I think it depends on the type of resort you are looking at. If you are looking at a large place and have a lot of people going, I think a TA is invaluable. The TA's work with these places all the time and have lots of connections and freebies. It also takes you out of the picture when it comes to hounding your guests to book/make deposits/etc - which is a huge weight off your mind!

 

However, if you are looking at a small boutique resort, and a small guestlist, you may do better negotiating yourself. We took over our resort with our 20 person wedding, and got a 10-15% discount for everyone that was not advertised. I don't think that my resort even works with TA's, so it wasn't an option. We worked out a bunch of special deals for activities and our wedding elements as well.

[DallasAshli]

All of our guests booked themselves - so we didn't use a TA. When I did contact a TA for prices, she gave me the exact same price I found on Travelocity, Orbitz or Expedia.

 

Some of our guests booked through the resort - it seemed like some days they were cheaper and other days they were more exensive. I couldn't find a pattern or anything