Group booking stress

[star18]

Hey,

 

Our wedding isn't until Feb 2012 but I had a travel agent look into prices just to see right now. Well the quotes are crazy high in my opinion. We are getting married at Dreams PV and our quote from Air Canada for a basic room was $1935 per person, that is with the early booking bonus price. Without the early booking bonus price it is about $2500 per person for a basic room for 1 week. This is so expensive, I am really hoping that once the prices come online for February that they will be cheaper than this. I have been to Mexico 4 times and I have never paid this much. OMG, kinda freakin out a little.

 

I am starting to think that "Group Booking" is NOT the way to go.

[JBean]

Yep, that's what I was told too.
 

Originally Posted by proti007 

Unfortunately all of the TA's I've spoken with (and there have been several) have told me that they cannot beat Expedia's rates, as the group booking quotes they are getting are coming directly from the package carrier (Westjet Vacations, Air Canada Vacations, etc). Hence pointless to make a group booking (in Canada, anyway). For booking your own individual trip, I would definitely use a TA!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tammy Host 

 you do know that most TA's can match expedia rates and sometimes even beat them...

 

[Avens]

I think it really much depend on the resort! That or I just got in at the right time.  Our Air Canada Package is at least $300 cheaper than what expedia has listed right now (mind you I can't get the exact same date with Expedia yet since it's so far out, but looking at the same period this year (I looked at January starting in October up until our wedding week) and now looking at the package price for next fall, our group rate has been cheaper all along. 

 

However we secured our group rate in October 2010, and we're not going until Jan 2012, so maybe the trick is plan early!
 

Originally Posted by star18 

Hey,

 

Our wedding isn't until Feb 2012 but I had a travel agent look into prices just to see right now. Well the quotes are crazy high in my opinion. We are getting married at Dreams PV and our quote from Air Canada for a basic room was $1935 per person, that is with the early booking bonus price. Without the early booking bonus price it is about $2500 per person for a basic room for 1 week. This is so expensive, I am really hoping that once the prices come online for February that they will be cheaper than this. I have been to Mexico 4 times and I have never paid this much. OMG, kinda freakin out a little.

 

I am starting to think that "Group Booking" is NOT the way to go.

[Hanna20]

I went through the same thing when we first started looking at rates.... It was crazy expensive and I was really worried! My travel agent told me to just wait until about 6 months before the wedding and then look into group rates. If your guests are going to book on their own anyway there is no harm in checking out what the group rate would be. So that is exactly what we did and got a GREAT deal with Air Canada vacations. Our group package is $400 less per person than the current posted price..... and a little tip about the so called early booking bonus.... even though they keep saying that it is only till a certain date they always extend it.... multiple times!! Even though we have now booked (our wedding is in April) I still look at the prices all the time and it keeps re-affirming that we got the best deal. Just my two cents!!
 

Originally Posted by star18 

Hey,

 

Our wedding isn't until Feb 2012 but I had a travel agent look into prices just to see right now. Well the quotes are crazy high in my opinion. We are getting married at Dreams PV and our quote from Air Canada for a basic room was $1935 per person, that is with the early booking bonus price. Without the early booking bonus price it is about $2500 per person for a basic room for 1 week. This is so expensive, I am really hoping that once the prices come online for February that they will be cheaper than this. I have been to Mexico 4 times and I have never paid this much. OMG, kinda freakin out a little.

 

I am starting to think that "Group Booking" is NOT the way to go.

[star18]

Thanks That makes me feel better. I figure they are out to lunch with these prices because if you look them up for now for any month they are not even close to this price. Guess I will just have to wait and see what happens when the prices come out online.

Originally Posted by Hanna20 

I went through the same thing when we first started looking at rates.... It was crazy expensive and I was really worried! My travel agent told me to just wait until about 6 months before the wedding and then look into group rates. If your guests are going to book on their own anyway there is no harm in checking out what the group rate would be. So that is exactly what we did and got a GREAT deal with Air Canada vacations. Our group package is $400 less per person than the current posted price..... and a little tip about the so called early booking bonus.... even though they keep saying that it is only till a certain date they always extend it.... multiple times!! Even though we have now booked (our wedding is in April) I still look at the prices all the time and it keeps re-affirming that we got the best deal. Just my two cents!!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by star18 

Hey,

 

Our wedding isn't until Feb 2012 but I had a travel agent look into prices just to see right now. Well the quotes are crazy high in my opinion. We are getting married at Dreams PV and our quote from Air Canada for a basic room was $1935 per person, that is with the early booking bonus price. Without the early booking bonus price it is about $2500 per person for a basic room for 1 week. This is so expensive, I am really hoping that once the prices come online for February that they will be cheaper than this. I have been to Mexico 4 times and I have never paid this much. OMG, kinda freakin out a little.

 

I am starting to think that "Group Booking" is NOT the way to go.

 

[Avens]

 With Air Canada Vacations, don't you also get the price adjustment ( at least once) if the price goes down? 

 

Also, the people who had to pay in full immediatly, that's crazy! Our date is the end of October (for January).  That seems more reasonable.

[Hanna20]

Yes we would have received a one-time price adjustment if the price would have gone down prior to the final payment being due. We got our group rate in November and the final payment deadline is Feb 7th (our wedding is April 6th). We also get some other perks too.... for every 25 people who book with the group you get one free (you can either use the free trip for one person or you can split it among all the guests and they would get an extra discount). The bride & groom also get upgraded to Business class for free if you have at least 20 people book and the entire group gets free seat selection on the flight.
 

Originally Posted by Avens 

 With Air Canada Vacations, don't you also get the price adjustment ( at least once) if the price goes down? 

 

Also, the people who had to pay in full immediatly, that's crazy! Our date is the end of October (for January).  That seems more reasonable.

[JBean]

Air Canada seems to have a lot more perks and better prices than Westjet. 

[fchica]

We have guests coming from both Canada and USA for our upcoming wedding in Punta Cana.  I'm having difficulty finding a travel agent that works with both Canadians and Americans - any brides out there who have been in a similar situation??  Has anyone worked with two agents together?  Would really appreciate any advice!

[Avens]

 

Originally Posted by Hanna20 

Yes we would have received a one-time price adjustment if the price would have gone down prior to the final payment being due. We got our group rate in November and the final payment deadline is Feb 7th (our wedding is April 6th). We also get some other perks too.... for every 25 people who book with the group you get one free (you can either use the free trip for one person or you can split it among all the guests and they would get an extra discount). The bride & groom also get upgraded to Business class for free if you have at least 20 people book and the entire group gets free seat selection on the flight.
 

 

 

Ah I think I was thinking your wedding date was later on in the year or in 2012 as well . Thats why I was wondering how soon you had to pay in full.  That makes more sense now!

 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBean 

Air Canada seems to have a lot more perks and better prices than Westjet. 

Westjet structures their group bookings differently.  You dont' get to hold them for more than like 10 days.  I think their prices can be a bit lower, but everyone needs to be willing and able to put down their deposit/pay right then or its lost.  Your TA should be able to explain the difference.  Mine did!

 

 

Originally Posted by fchica 

We have guests coming from both Canada and USA for our upcoming wedding in Punta Cana.  I'm having difficulty finding a travel agent that works with both Canadians and Americans - any brides out there who have been in a similar situation??  Has anyone worked with two agents together?  Would really appreciate any advice!

I had a similar problem.  In the end I think my US people are just going to book separately through a local T.A.  It seemed like they got much better prices going that route.  We looked at getting a land only rate at the resort so they could still be a part of our "group", and they could fly there themselves, and it ended up being about $500 more than our package. We only had two couples coming from the U.S, so it wasn't a big deal.  If you had a larger number, it might be trickier.