Guests who want to stay at a different hotel

[skadow]

We are getting married in Riviera Maya at a very nice all inclusive resort. The price is very competitive. We have a few guests that are thinking about booking their stay at a different hotel and just coming over. I believe they are trying to use a timeshare. Unlike Cancun or other City Area’s you cannot simply walk to another hotel. The resorts are far apart. You would have to pay for a taxi and a day pass, every day you come over. A day pass alone can run about 65$

 

I really wanted everyone at one hotel so we could all hang out as a family. Plus the OOT bags, Nightly Dinners and the bonuses my fiancé and I get. If we book 75nights we get 7 free nights at the hotel plus unlimited wedding events.

 

I tried to very nicely mention this to this person, but I don’t think it was what they wanted to hear. Has anyone else had a similar situation you would like to share? And how you dealt with it?

 

I was kinda bummed when I heard this.

[CourtneyV]

There have actually been quite a few brides who have experienced this. You should try to search the topic and see what comes up.

[MDLady]

I have this problem except that none of us are in an AI so that takes care of the fees and bracelets and all that trouble. That's actually exactly why I did NOT want to stay at an AI after last year when the guards asked us to leave the resort where we came to visit family (try explaining that to a 5 year old who is crying because her favorite aunt is being kicked out).

 

For the wedding, we booked the rooms at a group rate but some people still found better deals or had timeshares or wanted an apartment. It would be much much easier if we were all in the same hotel, especially since we cannot use our cell phones there and I'm sure that hotels will charge a ton for phone calls. We will just have to find some way to figure it out. As long as the resorts are not too far from each other, it is manageable. The biggest problem that I foresee is communication since you can't just leave them a note at the front desk or under their door or stop by..

 

I will bring the OOT bags with me to the Welcome Dinner for those who are not staying in our hotel or get it to them individually. That will be a hassle.

 

For your situation, I'm sure they will cover the costs of going to your resort for the wedding day but every day before/after tends to add up, especially if it's more than 1 person. I would say that you shouldn't worry about that as the bride. It was their choice to stay somewhere else, not yours. So they can figure out how to work it out.

[KelZavs20]

Yep - I have the same situation!

I eventually worked it out with my WC on the day pass for the day of the wedding - but all the other days, my godmother and 9 of my closest cousins will be at another hotel. They chose to do this because it was a place they had been to before, and it is much cheaper. the bright side - i let them know there will be events - and they just asked that i let them know what/where/and when!

Everyone has their own vision for their vacation, eventhough they are going for our weddings.....it was hard to swallow and be flexible!

[Leigh17]

I had a guest tell me yesterday that she was going to stay off-site for our wedding instead of at the AI resort. She had already booked and paid at the AI resort, so I was counting her nights to get me to the 75 nights for unlimited free events, etc. Luckily I had a few nights to spare & I'm still over the limit by 2 nights. Hopefully no one else changes their mind. She switched to the Marriott where she could use points for free nights, which I understand, but then again she's coming all the way to Cancun from New York for my wedding & now I'm only going to get to see her on my wedding day when I won't really have time to spend quality time with her. Day passes for our resort are $86 & I'm going to pick up the cost for her & her husband to come to the resort on my wedding day, but I'm not going to spend that much for her to come to the dinner we're having on Thursday. It's a shame that she's coming all that way & I only get to see her for a short time, but that's how she's decided she wants to do it so I'm not going to try to convince her otherwise. Palace resorts have a limit on how many non-Palace guests can come to your wedding, so not too many of your guests can stay off-site. You can use the resort's policy to help convince your guests to stay on-site.

[PrincssScorpion7]

One couple is not going to stay at the hotel. I found out we are going to have to pay $75 per person for them to come to our wedding.

[JENISE]

I too am frustrated about this. Above all because I wanted everyone traveling such far distances to be able to hang out on the beach and do things together. Now, it looks like I will only be seeing about 10 of my guest at the wedding only. I made it very clear to everyone though, that if they WEREN'T staying at the resort, that THEY themselves would have to pay the $80 wedding pass. I figured this was ok since most of them were getting a cheaper rate at other hotels and even with the pass that they'd need to pay for person, it still ended up saving them money. My family understood this and they have all decided to pay the $80 pass themselves. Don't know if it's the "right" thing to do but I can't see myself spending $800 of wedding passes when I gave everyone enough time to book early and get a great deal!

Frustrating though that we can't spend more time together

[carolina24]

it sucks if you don't get the perks for the amount of nights you're booking, but like someone posted earlier, people have different ideas of vacation time. Yes they are coming down for your wedding, but also using this time as vacation time. I'm sure the guests aren't worried about the perks you get as a bride if they book at the resort. If the wedding was at home, they would only be there for that day or so, kwim?

 

bottom line, I don't think that you should worry about paying the day passes for guests that choose to stay at a different resort or the transportation costs, just make sure the guests are made aware of these fees and how much they can cost, this might make them change their mind. good luck!!

[sweetluna]

yeah, some of my guests wanted to do the same thing and I basically said, Do what you want, it's your vacation, you know the date/time of the wedding. I don't get the "perks" which would be nice, but they are spending a lot of money to come to the wedding so I'm letting them do their own thing. In the end, they are all staying at the resort but they said they appreciated me giving them the choice. (I wasn't about to pay for their day pass if they did stay outside the resort!!)

[jk1101]

I ended up having one guest stay at another resort with her family. she took a taxi 45 minutes to come to my wedding - I paid for her guest pass, which was $70 - she met me and my friends in my parents room while I was getting ready and I had her OOT sg for her there. then she went back to her resort to spend the week with her family. It worked out better for her and her family but she still went out of her way to come to the wedding.

 

what you will find is that, all of these people are coming to your wedding, but they are also going on their own vacation. The majority of our guests spent a LOT of time with us - ate 2/3 meals a day with us for the time they were there and hung out at the pool, beach, lounge, whatever with us, but there were a few people that did not. they were on vacation and they wanted to see the sites and do their own thing. They spent a lot of money to be with us - could I be mad that they weren't with us the whole time?

 

in the end, they will be there for the wedding - which is supposed to be the important thing.

 

and really, they don't care what YOU get if they do what you want - it shouldn't be about that.