Destinationweddings.com Planners

[Tiffanya21]

DW.com has been absolutely AWEFUL! Before she would even suggest resorts/hotels to us, we had to watch their hour long video that she claimed would be very helpful. It turns out their video was a sales pitch trying to get us to get married at this certain resort that was way out of our price range! Ugh. She wasn't too pushy when we talked. 2 weeks of corresponding, and she just stops cold turkey one day. I was a little concerned at first. I tried to email her, call her work, and cell phone, and I even tried to text her. Days later, I get a text saying "Sorry, you've got the wrong number." I said, "Is this not Vivian Ross from DestinationWeddings.com?" They replied, "Nope, sorry." I was shocked to think she changed her phone number! What the heck. I was about to put the deposit down. Good thing I didn't. I don't want her getting any of the credit for my wedding, or my guests! Grrr. DO NOT USE THEM!!! More of a hassle. I feel like I have just been kicked back to square one when I was SO close to booking!

[farlem311]

I agree!!!  They were terrible with handling our wedding.  It took them a long time to respond to our questions.  We were able to do everything ourselves.  They are a rip off.

[laurar4444]

 

 

Originally Posted by JYD1 

 

I am using destination weddings.com myself and just out of curiousity - it is common to pay a large deposit to hold a group rate? I'm looking at $4k and that's just for 20 rooms!!! I'm a little overwhelmed and a little frustrated bc my TA fromt here never once mentioned about being charged a deposit to hold a certain number of rooms for that rate.

 

Any Advice?

I am also using destinationweddings.com right now.  I am only 2 weeks into this whole planning process but I have come across this.  My specialist told me that in order to secure a group rate everyone had to pay a $100 deposit within 30 days.  This is probably where the $4k is coming from.  We opted not to do the group rate because our wedding is still a year and a half away and we did not want to be responsible for the deposit for our guests.  See if you can not do a group rate or try to get your guests to pay their own deposit is all the advice I can give you.  Without the group rate different guests may pay different amounts but at least you aren't burdened with paying that deposit yourself.

 

[Tiffanya21]

I just was informed of the group rate policy. I am opting not to do the agreement as well because I don't want to be responsible for all those deposits if my guests don't reserve their rooms in time and put their own deposit down. Just for clarification, it is $100 per person, not per room.

 

Heres an update to my rant above:

 

I contacted the manager (on the home page when you sign into DW.com). She contacted me 2 days later. She was very nice and very helpful. She apologized over and over again. I was so upset I suggested she check in on this site and see how their company is being rated by brides. She transferred my account to another TA. Meanwhile, Vivian finally decided to shoot me an email stating something to the effect that she was worried about ME! hah! She said to email her and let her know if I was still getting married or not. So I wrote her an email back and told her exactly how I felt, while still being professional. I told her I contacted the manager, and that I no longer wanted to work with her. Moments later, she called me and left me a voicemail saying she is confused at what I am talking about. At the same exact time as her phone call, I recieved 5 emails from her one after the other! They were in response to all the emails I wrote her the prior week when she wasnt responding. She was trying to doop me into thinking my email was messed up! I thought it was way too suspicious to be a mis-communication! I let the manager know what happened without throwing in my speculation, although I do believe she was trying to recover from her big mistake. Anyways, the new TA has been semi helpful, although still not very responsive. She made some suggestions and informed me of things. She was way more detailed than Vivian and provided lots of need to know information for Jamaica. She was pretty good once I got her on the phone. Email is not her thing. At least I know that after only a day of working with her. So far, not too bad. I am still bitter about the whole situation though, so I would probably not recommend them.

[Kimberli1211]

I am using destinationweddings.com and so far am pretty happy. I liked the info that they would send me on each different resort. I have Ed Bruns as a wedding specialist and he gets back to me within a couple hours to no more than a day. He has been great. I have figured out that I need to ask the right questions and I will get what I need. The only thing about them is that you don't get access to any great deals out there on the internet, you just get slightly better than what the resort website specifies. I am not worried about this though, because I feel that Ed will provide good service to my guests and help them with anything they need. I think with this company, it really depends on who you get as a consultant!!!!

[merrylee]

I am using them as well, and I loved the thought of them, I am not sure that my planner is the right planner for me.  She is super responsive, but I believe that English is her second language and that my questions may not always make a lot of sense.  What I will say that they will try to match rates or refund your $50.00 deposit.  Now since I am planning so far in advance I am having issues pulling the trigger, but I will keep researching rates and everything.  I am going to do the group rate at a minimum of 10 rooms and hope that they all get reserved so the group rate can be booked for all my guests.

 

I am sticking with them as I want one point of contact and someone who can negotiate with the hotel on my behalf

[Espejo2be]

Hello,
My name is Sarah. My FI and I got engaged in June and were planning a Newfoundland wedding but decided seeing our families were from opposit ends of the country that we'd meet somewhere in the middle... we're getting married at the Gran Bahia Principe Jamaica - Runaway Bay on August 8th, 2011!!

Welcome everyone, happy planning!!!

[BubBride]

I am having a WONDERFUL experience so far with DW.com. I have been in touch with them for over a year now. Our TA's are Midge & Bob Kramer and they have been so responsive that they were actually the one constantly checking in with me if my response was delayed (which was quite often due to my crazy schedule). We responded mostly be email and occasionally left phone messages when timing was imperative. Initially it did seem that they were directing us to specific resorts as well that were not really to my liking. I changed my mind MULTIPLE times of the actual location (Jamaica, Mexico, Cruise, Cayman Island, then finally Carribean) and even right before I was about to send my credit card authorization for Dreams Punta Cana, I changed it to Majestic Elegance. She initially was trying to change my mind because of a bad experience she had with working with that resort. But she said she would help me with whatever resort I choose. I reserched Majestic ELegance on my own and like the reviews, so I told her that was where I wanted to move forward. They continue to be very helpful. I direct all my guests to contact them directly through our website with DW.com. I sent out my own save the dates and invitations and explicitly told my guests to contact my TA. The website is very user friendly and has allowed my guests to request quotes and even make their $100 deposits for our group agreement. Definitely do not do the group agreement too early as you may have trouble getting your guests to make their deposits within the 30 days. We misunderstood the agreement and thought the group rate would not be available past the 30 days. So since we did not want to get charged the deposits (we reserved 10 rooms), we emailed, called, texted, fb messaged all of our guests everyday to make those deposits. Well, our deposits are due by midnight tonight and we have already exceeded 10 rooms, so we will not be charged...whew! Many of my guests had lots of questions and different scenarios and our TAs have responded to ALL of them very timely. One of my guests even found the rate was less on another website and emailed them. Bob adjusted their rate the difference! I think it really does make a difference what consultant you get, I'm grateful our have been wonderful. With such a large group to organize, Bob & Midge have saved me the hassel of helping my guests with their travel arragements, something I definitely don't have time to do (more time for wedding details!). Good luck all!

[laurar4444]

I am using destinationweddings.com and have been pleased so far.    My wedding specialist is Christine Kennedy and she has been awesome.  There have been about 2 misunderstandings but she always corrects them promptly.  She always responds to our emails within 24 hours and even let us know beforehand that she was going to be out of the office for a few days.  Christine was patient with us while we waited to put down our deposit for our room, and has already started helping our guests.  I still have a year and a half till my actual wedding day so there is still a ton of planning left to do but so far I am very pleased with them.

[mariav]

I am working with them now, and my wedding is a week away.  My TA has been quite helpful, but then again, she has also upset a couple of my guests by being rude and inflexible. 

 

FYI - they did get us a "discounted rate" but today I got a call from my TA saying that they need to - GET THIS - change our hotel to another one because our hotel is oversold. 

 

Did I mention that my wedding is NEXT WEEKEND???

 

Did I also mention that this impacts over 50 rooms/105 guests??? 

 

If I could go back - I would say stay away...