negotiating group rates - share your prices for DREAMS

[myst224]

hi, i'm new here.  hello everyone   so one of my biggest concerns of planning a destination wedding is to make sure the group room rates are as low as possible to make it as affordable as possible for my guests.

 

was just wondering if you ladies would be willing to share how much you got the rate down to per person or couple/night for the Dreams resort?  please indicate what month you had/going to have your wedding. 

 

i'm planning on Feb/March which is peak season and they quoted $235/person/night.  Is this close to what you ladies have been quoted?  Can we negotitate with the resort on these rates for our guests?

[mindylcarter]

WE are going 10-1-10 thru 10-8-10, so it is off-season.  We actually just re-negotiated our group package today, which was the final day for payment.  We were originally getting the 'book 5 rooms get the 6th room free' promo - but, after we had a couple cancellations, we were frantic and disappointed we were going to have to pay the regular price, which was about $1800 per couple.  However, we checked Dreams website today, and they were running a 'super saver' rate on garden rooms, and kids under 12 free, at a rate of $200 per room. This does not include transfers, but even after adding that in, the rate was considerably cheaper than what we originally agreed to.  I understand that they need to book those rooms long in advance, and that the price drops the closer you get to the actual travel date.  But, we were able to get our group rate changed to the super saver rate, with no extra charges - My travel agent had a TERRIBLE time with Apple...they were the worst.  They wait until the very last day to get us prices, don't respond to phone calls and emails for several days, I just can't say enough bad things. HOwever, due to their terrible customer service, we were able to get our package changed without any fees - originally, they told our travel agent it would be a $45 fee to change rooms, and $100 fee for something else, etc. But, after she reminded them how much trouble we have had since day one, they agreed to do it without any additional fees.  So, we are getting our rooms for just under $1500 per couple.  We are so happy...we had worried ourselves sick about trying to fill our 'free' room so we could divide the discount among our group, but this saved us all that worry and the price was just as good, maybe even a little better.