Secrets Capri - process for blocking off rooms for guests

[jlt38723]

Hi, I'm new to the site. Wedding in Playa del carmen this Fall!!

 

I think I've narrowed down the location for our fall 2013 destination wedding to Secrets Capri. I've been working directly with the hotel's wedding coordinator for the last 3 weeks through email. She recently quoted me a decent pp per night rate for rooms. In order to block off the rooms, we need to sign the contract and pay the first night for each room. 

 

Here is the issue, we have not sent out our invitations because we haven't secured a date/location. I have an estimate of how many guests will attend/how many rooms we may need. I'm worried that if I pay for these rooms, I may have less guests attend and loose the money. Or, even worse, since our wedding is in the Fall, what if there is a tropical storm or hurricane that prevents everyone from going.

 

I guess I have to wait to see the final contract language to figure out all the "what-ifs". But what I want to know - is this normal procedure for blocking off rooms? Would I not have to block off rooms/secure the date this way if I was working with a travel agent? 

[AllieH]

It's possible that you'd still need to put down some sort of deposit either per person or per room even when working with a travel agent. 

 

For us, it was a $50pp deposit. 

 

We weren't in a position to pay that for our guests, especially when (like you) we had no idea who or how many would actually go. We set a booking timeframe and had everyone who wanted to go put down their own deposit (non-refundable). Our travel agent handled all of that for us. We had a few people who cancelled and weren't able to get their deposits back. We also had a few people book last minute (and our TA was able to squeak them in at our group rate).

 

The contract that was signed was between the supplier (AmEx travel) and our TA - it included a specified # of rooms, and then a corridor where we could cancel w/out penalty, and after that, cancellations would have a penalty. Rather than get into the "first 3 people to cancel would get their deposit back" mess, we made all deposits non-refundable. 

 

The biggest advantage of the TA was being able to understand what terms in the contract were "normal", have her handle all of the bookings (and cancellations), and have her negotiate with the supplier & resort on our behalf. It was much, MUCH easier than if I had tried to deal with all of that on my own. 

 

Plus, many times the TA's can get add-ons because of the volume of groups they book with the various resorts. 

 

It's a tough decision to guess how many rooms, and how many deposits to put down. Good luck!! 

 

[Jessica4LUXE]

Hi! Allie is right - in order to secure a contracted room block, some kind of deposit always needs to be placed. We work with our brides to determine the right number of rooms to secure. You don't have to secure for all the guests as you would never know who is coming and who is not. You probably have a pretty good idea in mind as to how many "for sures" you have and then can move from there!!

 

Happy Planning!!

[lunalite11]

 I too chose Secrets Capri for my wedding in April 2014!!!!!!!  I am using a TA and it is soooooooooooo much easier!  We just guessed our "for sure's" and had to put down a $100 deposit for each room (we did 25).  Good thing with a TA, is that even if we have more or less guests we can drop or add rooms without a fee.

 

Please let me know any questions and or details of your wedding as I haven't found many posts with 2013/2014 Secrets Capri Brides!  Congrats!