Cabo Surf Hotel - what kind of deals did you negotiate?

[diana2008]

Hi everyone -

 

I'm a newbie, just getting started with my planning process. All of your posts have been so helpful, thank you already!!

 

We are getting ready to book a date next summer at Cabo Surf Hotel. Armando has sent me the food/beverage pricing, but before we finalize things, I was wondering what kind of deals other Cabo Surf brides have been able to negotiate? We'll have 60 - 100 guests, so we're planning on renting the whole hotel and having spillover at other hotels.

 

Were any of you able to get your own room comp'ed? Or a couple free nights for a site visit? Are there any other freebies I should be trying to negotiate?

 

Our budget is tight (like everyone's, I'm sure!) so I just want to make sure I'm getting the most I can in all these areas.

 

Thank you!!

Diana

[michelle08]

welcome!!! I am not getting married where you are so I can't help you with that but I thought I would say hi and welcome you!!

[NABUMBAH]

Hi,

 

We were not able to negotiate any special deals as far as hotel stay, but we did pretty well on our F&B in my op.

 

 

We paid the following (taken from an email)

 

Quote:

Hors'derves……………………………….…$16 (exchange the chicken wings/quesadilla for cold shrimp/cheese board)   Fish Ceviche   Guacamole, chips, salsa   Sopes   Taquitos   Cold Shrimp   Cheese Board       Dinner………..…………………………….…$66   Caesar or Spinch salad or Tortilla soup   Combo Filet/Lobster       Chairs/Chair Covers………………………..$7       Domestic Bar (3 ½ hours)…………………$40       Wine- we know a winemaker in Napa Valley and would like to bring in a few bottles of our own wine; would this be possible?       Cake- we are very particular about our cake; would it be possible to bring in our own cake?       If you allow us to bring in our own wine/cake we are at a total price of $129/person for adults. Would it be possible to do the above mentioned wedding for $115/person? We would be extremely pleased to have everything we want for a price of $115/person. We estimate that our guests will be booking at least half of the hotel, if it is available, so you will surely make your money back in lodging.

We had 135 guests. The hotel let us bring our own wine which saved us a lot of $ since the wine from the hotel is quite pricey. We got a deal from a winery in Sonoma and paid $6/bottle for Chardonnay and $8/bottle for Merlot. The wine was very, very good. I think we also ended up spending around $500 on our dessert spread that we did in lieu of cake. The bar was open all night - through dinner and everything. At the end of the night there was about $800 in charges from guests that ordered premium alcohol (we paid for domestic bar) but the hotel messed up on some small stuff, so they wrote off this charge. Oh, and we paid $10 pp for kids' meals.

 

Looking back, I would have tried to negotiate a little more on the entree price. We offered fish and vegetarian which were clearly both cheaper choices than the surf & turf, but we didn't add those choices until the last minute.

 

Oh, and they ended up renting white folding chairs instead of chair covers because our group was so large. I actually preferred the folding chairs, but just thought I would mention it in case you have your heart set on chair covers.

 

HTH! Christa and Janet were also Cabo Surf brides so they can probably help you out too. But since my party was larger (as yours is expected to be) I thought I would let you know.

[diana2008]

This helps SO much, thank you!! We are calling him in a few days so now that I know there's room to bargain, we can figure out a plan.

 

One more question... did you get into all of the F&B details and negotiation when you first booked it, or afterwards? I'm guessing we should work all that out before we send the deposit, but just want to make sure. Thanks!

[deleted]

hey Diana,

 

We had 55 people and we ended up getting the mexican buffet and 4 hours open bar and apps for about....$96 (?) per person (I think it was like 40 + 42 + 14 or something like that. Plus wine and cake. We didn't bargain too much, but definitely a little bit. No break on the room prices at all, sadly. (These were 2006 prices, by the way.)

 

The more people you have, the more I would negotiate, and I would also negotiate everything and have it in writing before signing a contract. And keep records in writing (via email) of every single thing you agree too.

 

I think Armando is great, but he handles a lot of weddings and you just want a paper trail, ya know?

 

The Cabo Surf is such a great little hotel and the food is delicious. You will love it!

[NABUMBAH]

I totally agree with Janet. Try to get everything nailed down before actually sending in your deposit. They are much more likely to negotiate for your business if they know that you can take your party elsewhere.

 

I also used the cash discount on our total bill which helped a lot. I think it was 5-6% extra off of the total price.

 

HTH!

[acacia]

Hi! I just booked Cabo Surf for May 10th weekend. we havent figured out our menu at all becasue we are going to go down in september and taste etc. But we booked the whole hotel. they had us put a 6k deposit but armando told us it will apply to our total F&B bill in the end. So crazy to pay that money upfront, but I think it will be totally worth it. Janet's wedding pictures defintely made me think I made the right choice.

 

I can let you know how the tasting goes when we go!

[A10CalGal]

We got married at Cabo Surf, but only had a small party of approx 20. I was not able to negotiate much with such a small group. We did however have the site fee waived (I guess it applies if a min of 10 rooms aren't booked -we only had 3 booked). Also, I would say Armando was generous with us in terms of letting the bar run late and also not charging us for our wine (we ended up not having 4 of our guest show up, so I think it was a wash in terms of the meals not served). Anyway, I feel like we got a great deal for a beautiful wedding with great service. FYI, our deposit was $4k...and in the begining I balked at it...but when I went to pay our final bill & had a $800 credit to apply to our rooms & other charges I was a happy camper

[deleted]

Congrats, acacia! You will love it. Let us know how your site visit goes after you come back.

[BRIDEZILLA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by acacia Hi! I just booked Cabo Surf for May 10th weekend. we havent figured out our menu at all becasue we are going to go down in september and taste etc. But we booked the whole hotel. they had us put a 6k deposit but armando told us it will apply to our total F&B bill in the end. So crazy to pay that money upfront, but I think it will be totally worth it. Janet's wedding pictures defintely made me think I made the right choice. I can let you know how the tasting goes when we go!

Congrats Acacia!

I am an October, 2007 Cabo Surf bride. I am just starting to figure out our food, beverage and room situtation. I will keep you posted!

~Amber