Question: What percentage of your guests stayed at your wedding resort location?

[robin439]

I apologize if this isn't in the right location, but I really couldn't find one that fit. For those of you that planned a resort DW (or are far enough along in planning to respond), I am curious to know what percentage of your guests stayed at the location you got married at? Also, if they had the choice to opt in or out of an all inclusive package, what percentage of your guests chose AI (if applicable)? Lastly, if anyone of you strongly suggested (or required) your guests to stay at your resort, would be curious to hear the language you used on your invites and/ or wedding website. 

 

I'm in the midst of picking a venue in Cabo, and there are some locations that have pricing that varies significantly depending on how many guests choose to stay at their location (in some locations, our costs could more double if many of our guests decide to stay elsewhere). It makes me nervous that so much of the cost depends on what my guests do, so am wondering how how may of yours stayed at your location if you directed them to? 

 

One of my friends had a DW just over a year ago, and she said only half her guests stayed at her resort...so wondering how common that is. 

 

Hearing some other opinions on this may help me narrow down our options. 

 

Thanks so much for your thoughts and opinions!  

[AllieH]

hi there! welcome to BDW, and congrats on your engagement!

 

We had 30 of our 34 guests stay onsite at our resort. The other 4 chose to use their timeshares and stayed off property - they ended up only coming to our resort on our wedding day itself, as it would have been an $80 or $90 daypass to come any other time.

 

Two of our guests were able to use their timeshare to book our resort - so that worked out well for them to be there. However, they weren't included in our room block.

 

Here's the language we used on our wedding website to encourage our guests to book within our room block:

Please note that it's important for you to book your accomodations through to ensure your room is included in our room block. Not only does this guarantee you get the negotiated rates above, it will help us plan the events that will surround our wedding. 

 

I also included a couple of FAQs on our website around booking the resort/room block:

6. I can get a cheaper rate on the resort elsewhere. Is it ok for me to book it separately? Please let know if you find a lower price. She can work with the resort to see if they can match it (and thus benefit the entire group!). 

 

10. What if we decide to stay elsewhere? You will need to purchase a day pass to EDR to attend the wedding. The approximate cost of a day pass is $90 per person. 

 

(I wasn't sure if the guests would have to pay for a day pass or not during the planning process, and just never quite found the time to update this on the website... )

 

Even with all of that, we were sweating the final number of double occupancy rooms we had in the block (that counted towards our incentives/packages) at final payment time. Our travel agent was very helpful and creative to get us the minimum number we needed to qualify for the incentives. We moved some guests around a little in the bookings - from a triple and a single to two doubles for instance.

 

Anyway - hope that helps you. Good luck with all of your planning!!

[terrihugg]

Most of our guests seem to be staying at a different resort, (I'm not too happy about that because it makes it harder for us to plan stuff.) Plus , we had to be an extra $30 per person for these people to get on the resort for the wedding ceremony. 

[kard613]

We worded our information card in our invites similarly to what Allie did. We said that all hotel reservations must be booked through our TA and that if guests choose to stay at a different resort then they may not be able to participate in planned activities with the bride and groom throughout the wedding week and then hotel will also charge you between $80/100 to attend the wedding ceremony. So far we have 26 people booked all at our hotel. Our invitations went out about a week ago and we anticipate about 20-30 more people booking. Hopefully they will all stay at our resort just to make things easier in the end but we decided that paying extra for guests choosing to stay elsewhere was not something we could pay and wanted that to be clear when invites went out. I did think it could be a little tacky to include the info with the invites but knew it was the best way to get the info out there too. Congrats and Happy Planning!

[robin439]

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and the verbiage that you used on your websites/ invites.  We  plan to let guests know that they would be responsible for paying for their day pass if they stay elsewhere as well, but we will also have to pay an extra cost for them at the reception at some of the resorts, so we are trying to cost out realistic & worst case scenarios as we make our final decision. 

 

Allie H- I really like your FAQ that directs them back to your TA if they find a cheaper price somewhere else, as I'll bet that could save some people from dropping out of your room block. 

 

Thanks again for sharing! 

[tiffanysblue]

I was just wondering the same! In my particular case I did not wanted my guests to have to pay for the day pass so my budget was planned for all of my guests to stay outside of our resort. So as they start confirming the budget starts lowering and I can spend it in other last minute details for the wedding and stay within budget.

 

Good luck with the planning!

[mscheryl10]

Thanks for giving an example of the wording as I would want my guest to stay at the resort I chose instead of another resort as well. If they are staying at another resort, I would make it clear that they are responsible for the daypass expense.

[michellewvunj]

Who should pay for day pass? Guest or us?

[catgirl]

We have a few people who want to stay at a different place.  We told them that they were responsible for obtaining their own day pass for the wedding. 

[RNtoBe]

100% of our guests will be at the our resort. When we sent out the save the dates we let everyone know that 80% of the guests attending the wedding have to stay at our resort.