Soooooooooooo frustrated with prices!!! :(

[lesee]

I'd try to go with the travel agent. We found the best deal was through our travel agent - the price online or through the resort itself was much more expensive. 

Originally Posted by britb618 

The other day my bridesmaid called me and told me she got a better rate through her travel agent than I got from the Hotel under the wedding contract. Needless to say I was livid. I am still in negotiations with the hotel but I told them I am having almost 60 people if not more travelling there and it seems absurd to me that they can't match what a travel agent can quote! I mean shouldn't the hotel be able to give you the lowest deal? Getting married at the Hard Rock in Punta Cana. 

 

[britb618]

Thanks Lesee, the only problem is the Hotel gives you unlimited functions if you book through them directly and meet a certain quota..So I am forced to go through them if I want the freebies...

[aahq45]

I feel everyone's pain....we were quoted $500 for airfare because that's what the prices were last year in 2010 and now they're around $900-1000 a person.  It's ridiculous.  I just want to book everything and be done, but it's sooooo much $$.  I just feel guilty all the time thinking about my friends and family spending that much.  :(   Has anyone's TA's suggested waiting on aifare to go down?  Or just hotel rates?  Not sure what to do....

[lesee]

DANG!
 

Originally Posted by britb618 

Thanks Lesee, the only problem is the Hotel gives you unlimited functions if you book through them directly and meet a certain quota..So I am forced to go through them if I want the freebies...

 

[britb618]

Thanks Lesee I agree. O aahq45, that is awful! I really dont see prices going down unfortunately...i would probably book now...unfortunately...ugh I fell your pain, we bought a house in 2008 before the real estate crash so we paid like double what we woulda paid like five months later...not a wedding but still understand...its all a risk, i'd say book when you feel comfortable ugh I hate how much weddings cost!

 

[daizyduke]

how far in advance did the price start to drop?

Originally Posted by Hanna20 

Hi there!

We just got married 3 weeks ago in the Mayan Riviera Mexico and we went through the same thing when we first started getting quotes. It was about $1900/person and we thought that was way too high. Basically what I did was check the prices myself online every few days to see if there was a drop... Then when the posted prices were about $1700/person I asked my travel agent to request a group rate for us. At that point the group rate came back at about $1600/person so only $100 less than the posted price. Still wasn't quite where we wanted to be with the price.... So I kept checking every few days and eventually the posted price went down to $1585 and once again I asked my travel agent to obtain a new group quote. This time the group quote came back at $1460/person and that included all fees/taxes. That is exactly where we wanted to be price wise so we jumped on the rate and it ended up being that the prices never went any lower than that. I should mention that we got that rate in October for our April wedding so basically 6 months in advance. I wouldn't worry about trying to get your trip booked so early because guranteed prices WILL go down it's just a matter of when.
 

 

 

[Rosieanne]

I booked at the Bahia Principe Esmeralda for Feb 2012 with a TA.  She quoted a group rate of $1881 pp, and I have already been told by some ppl that they wont be attending due to the cost...but the TA assures me that there should be a one time price reduction.  I don't really want to count on it though!! Then get this, children stay free....but not in the month of FEB!!!  It doesn't mention that until you go to book!

[royalbride610]

Well here's my two cents...

 

When you book directly from the resort, the prices are ridiculously high.  I believe a travel agent is the best way to go IF they are with a company willing to price match!  When my TA gave me my first price quote, I thought it was quite expensive, but it was still less than what the resort offered.  So I checked travelocity and expedia for prices and it was about $600 less than my original quote.  So I told my TA, and she did a price match and it ended up being about $900 less with a non-stop flight.

 

So even if you have a TA, look up quotes on your own on those websites, so that they will price match.  If they refuse, then you shouldn't book with them because it seems that they're more interested in making money than helping you.

 

Another thing is, are you sure that your guests will be staying for a whole week?  They may only want to stay 4 or 5 days so it might be cheaper for them.

 

You definitely don't want your guests to wait to late though, thinking that the prices will go down.  8 months before my wedding, prices were dead cheap!  2 months later, they'd doubled!  So try to find out whats an average price for the time of year your going...  And make sure you tell your guests to purchase travel insurance! You never know what can happen and if they find out later that it's to expensive, they can get all their money back, minus the insurance cost.

[aahq45]

Royalbride610,

That's great to know about the price match!!  I found that booking flight/travel was cheaper on expedia.com, but didn't think about asking my travel agent to match the price since she had just quoted us hotel stay!  I'm definitely going to see if she can do something or else I'll tell some of the guests to just book with expedia!! Thanks!!

[Hanna20]

I would say prices started dropping about 8 months prior to our date.... the best price was at 6 months prior and then from there it went up again and didn't drop until about a week before. We had 4 people book the week before we left as the prices were so good at the time. But the other thing to consider is that our resort actually SOLD OUT for the week that we were going so some of our guests had to book at one of the sister resorts instead.
 

Originally Posted by daizyduke 

how far in advance did the price start to drop?