Sheraton Hacienda del Mar room minimum policy.

PCash · January 9, 2011

Hello to all...

This is my first post and I need some help from all of you!

I am planning my destination wedding for next January, 2012. I have been working with Viviana from the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar for months now. We are so excited about having our wedding there and she is very helpful. However, we are worried about one thing...the room minimum policy. In order to have our wedding on Friday or Saturday we have to contract to at least 10 rooms for at least 2 nights. Doesn't sound that hard right?

We didn't think so at first either....but here is the problem...

While the room rates she is offering are good, people MUST book through the hotels reservation line in order for it to count towards our minimum. So if people book AT THIS HOTEL but through any other website it does not count. And the main issue is that a lot of our guests (we think) will want to book hotel and airfare combos, which makes it about $400 cheaper. Who in their right mind would book a more expensive option?

So while we know we will have many more than 10 rooms booked at this hotel, we are not sure how many people will book the exact way they are asking in order for it to count towards our minimum....

So I guess my question is, if any of you had your wedding here int he past, how did you deal with this policy? Any advice would be MUCH appreciated. We are just trying to figure out how to go about this, without getting stuck paying for all 10 rooms!

Thanks so much!

Confused Cabo Bride

MissLesLev · January 9, 2011

I am getting married at Cabo De Sol which is next door to the Sheraton on May 29, 2011. We contracted to have our guests stay at the Sheraton. the Sheraton gave us such a great rate on rooms that I know it won't be a problem to meet to room minimum. I was concerned at first but we have already met it and it is still far away. I had to contract to book alot more rooms as well since my wedding is next door to the hotel. Just make sure to put on your save the dates and wedding website that the best rates are available if you book directly through the hotel using your room block. The room rate we got is amazing compared to the rates offered on line. Just make sure to negotiate the rooms rate down as much as possible. We went back and forth a few times. How big of a wedding are you having? Ours is alot more than we initially thought so that also helped with meeting the minimum amount of rooms. Good luck!

PCash · January 10, 2011

Is that the golf course? I never even thought of that!

Do you mind sharing what they quoted you for the rooms? If not I totally understand. We started out at $210 per night (not including tax) for the garden view rooms and I was able to get them down to $160...but I'm still worried. It is a good deal, but overall it is still a lot smarter for people to book their airfare and hotel as a package deal. Thats what we are worried about. Maybe I should try again and see if she will go down any more? You said you went back a forth a few times?

We are expecting our wedding to be somewhere between 45-55 guests, a lot of which we are sure will stay at the Sheraton, but not sure if they will book through the reservation line. Its so expensive for people to get to our wedding already we just don't want people to spend any more money than they have to! Thanks for the response, every little bit of info helps!

MissLesLev · January 10, 2011

Yes- that is the golf course. We are getting married on the beach at the golf course and then moving for the reception/dinner to the golf club house area. You are having your wedding at a high time of year, next January, so if your got $160.00 a night, I think that is great. Ours in in May and we got 140 a night for garden, 160 ocean view, 180 ocean front...which I think is a very good deal as well. I don't think you will have a problem booking 10 rooms if you are expecting 45-55 guests. Think if you book a room, and both of yalls parents book rooms that is already 3 and then you only need 7 more. Trust me, I feel horrible with the costs of flights getting to cabo right now. Some guests are spending 600 a flight, that is why I felt it was very important to get the best rates. I was concerned alot of people would find better deals on hotels.com or other websites or use their starwood points, which wouldn't count towards the room block, but so far the room block is the best rate by far and only a few of our guests are using points. Talk to others, but I do think you got a great rate for that time of year! Are you using a wedding planner or just going through the hotel?

tmp2be · January 11, 2011

I'm in the same boat don't feel bad. Our wedding is at the end of April and we too are worried about people staying elsewhere or trying to book on discount travel sites to save some $$$. I really don't know that there is a way around not paying for the empty rooms. Although, I guess paying for 3-5 rooms for 2 nights is still cheaper than paying there ceremony and reception site fee which I was told was $1500.00 for each. Good luck. You should be fine with that many people going.

MandM2011 · July 2, 2011

PCash,

I am having my wedding at the Sheration in November and have also been working with Viviana. We got stuck with having to block out 30 rooms becasue we are having the music until midnight. That was a whole other story! I'm super stressed about filling the rooms because , like you, some of our guests are booking packages through other sites and it does not count through our room block. I email Jose Pineda who is in charge of the weddings there and asked if there is any way to have those rooms count towards our block and as I expected, the answer was basically no.

They gave us garden vie for $140, ocean view $160 and ocean front $180. The rates are really low so depending on how much they get thier flights for, it's not that much cheaper. One other thing to keep in mind, the rates given are for 2 people per room. They charge extra for more than 2 people. I just found that out as people are booking rooms and will be sending Viviana an email to dispute than. For example, the $180 room went to $225 with 3 people in it and that was not in our contract!