group booking or not?

[DEH83]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chantelle I would use the group rate for the same reasons already mentioned, but we are getting married in May and our TA said it might be good to hold off until Oct to book because the rates should go down. I'm not sure if I can do this because I feel like I will be a ball of nerves until than but we'll see. She also said that you can never get a group rate and an early booking bonus together I have no clue what to believe anymore

Hi Shanti, that's not true. I suppose it might depend on the tour operator, but we got both the early booking bonus and group rate offered to us by our TA. Our early booking bonus was a very minimal "bonus" however. So we decided to go with the group rate only, so people still had 45 days prior to the vacation instead of paying 4 months in full in advance.

[DEH83]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chantelle I would use the group rate for the same reasons already mentioned, but we are getting married in May and our TA said it might be good to hold off until Oct to book because the rates should go down. I'm not sure if I can do this because I feel like I will be a ball of nerves until than but we'll see. She also said that you can never get a group rate and an early booking bonus together I have no clue what to believe anymore

Hi Chantelle,

That's not true. I suppose it might depend on the tour operator, but we got both the early booking bonus and group rate offered to us by our TA. Our early booking bonus was a very minimal "bonus" however. So we decided to go with the group rate only, so people still had 45 days prior to the vacation instead of paying 4 months in full in advance.

[Vallarta_2009]

Hey DEH83, I'm also an ottawa bride and have been debating the group booking and TA thing. How did you like your TA? And who did you book with for your flights? Can you PM the name of your TA?

 

Sorry for the 20 questions. It's so confusing trying to get the flights organized!

[RCBlondie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chantelle I would use the group rate for the same reasons already mentioned, but we are getting married in May and our TA said it might be good to hold off until Oct to book because the rates should go down. I'm not sure if I can do this because I feel like I will be a ball of nerves until than but we'll see. She also said that you can never get a group rate and an early booking bonus together I have no clue what to believe anymore

Those are my sentiments as well. I thought the price would decrease a little closer out but then you just never know! Wonder if the early booking and group booking is for certain carriers and not others?

[sunnyee]

We are going to do a group booking. Most of you already covered the advantages of this....my MOH is also my TA. We have had several group quotes but the rates are still too high given that we are still 7 months away. So she has advised that we wait a while longer and get re-quoted. I am feeling some anxiety over this but I trust her completely.

[alkoch]

I guess I am the odd one out, we are not doing a group booking because we could get the price cheaper by not doing it, we are loosing out on the buy 10 get one free special but I think it will work out better, Now all the guests can just put down a down payment of $200 a person and that includes insurance so we get the lowest price from the day of the deposit until the day we leave. The hotel is going to reserve some rooms together for us and they are also giving us some group rates. Also we are doing the deposit with a charter so the names can be changed and so can the dates so if someone has to change their date or the dates they can be there it is no problem. Also the guests can book whenever they want.

[RCBlondie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunnyee We are going to do a group booking. Most of you already covered the advantages of this....my MOH is also my TA. We have had several group quotes but the rates are still too high given that we are still 7 months away. So she has advised that we wait a while longer and get re-quoted. I am feeling some anxiety over this but I trust her completely.

So your MOH (who is doubling as your TA), says to wait until how long before? We are still 10 months out and the resort has not actually even opened yet. If I do a search for pricing for Nov (when it opens) and then again for Feb prices, the Feb prices are a few hundred less. Does your TA give you an idea of how far out to book?

[hockeymom97]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alkoch I guess I am the odd one out, we are not doing a group booking because we could get the price cheaper by not doing it, we are loosing out on the buy 10 get one free special but I think it will work out better, Now all the guests can just put down a down payment of $200 a person and that includes insurance so we get the lowest price from the day of the deposit until the day we leave. The hotel is going to reserve some rooms together for us and they are also giving us some group rates. Also we are doing the deposit with a charter so the names can be changed and so can the dates so if someone has to change their date or the dates they can be there it is no problem. Also the guests can book whenever they want.

Even after all the research I've done, I still don't think I understand all the differences of a group booking . What I was told by our TA is that I have to put a 10% deposit down on the 10 rooms, which comes out to about $1800. We lock in the best current rate, and my guests can book when they want, and after the 10 rooms are booked and my guests have made their deposits ($400 per couple I believe), then the deposit I put down will be moved over to my booking. If we don't fill all 10 rooms then I lose my deposit.

But this is different from what I see other brides saying. So either 1) I'm dense and just not understanding everything; 2) my TA is making stuff up; or 3) group bookings can vary from resort to resort and from TA to TA? I'm leaning towards option 3 but who knows, lol.

[RCBlondie]

I am not sure Hockeymom97 (aka Heather), but I highly doubt you are dense! I am finding all this confusing too. However, I do think the terms of the group booking may depend on the tour operator that your TA is getting their quote(s) from.

[ashey063009]

Group booking terms and conditions totally depend on the tour operator. Each company makes their own restrictions / expectations (like booking deadlines, numbers, and discount)

 

We booked as a group (all three times, lol) It saved us about 15%. Some ppl have saved up to 25%, though. So I think it would be worth checking out. It is a little bit of a hassle b/c the deadlines mean ppl need to be coordinated quickly, or that you need to fork over deposit cash for the whole gang.... but still worth looking into.