When To Book All Inclusive Group Travel Packages From Canada

[csho]

@@kcole123 Yes it is coming up soo soon! We leave in 3 weeks! I cannot wait! The year flew by but the last two weeks have been dragging by a bit! But my sister gets here with my niece next week and then we are spending Easter with them at my parents house and then it will only be like a week and a half so I know that it really is going to fly by!

[tygrrlily]

So happy to have found this thread! I didn't even see the Canadian sub group at the very bottom of the forum til just now haha.

 

It does seem like Canadian booking is different from the US!

 

We're from Toronto, and we're currently trying to lock in our wedding date and our group booking for Dec 2014. Our problem is that we chose a small hotel (Beach palace) and Transit holidays/Sunwing, etc. don't have a lot of inventory! So it's been back and forth for over a week now. We don't want to reserve our date until we're sure we can have the wedding there. Very frustrating, and like many of you, I'm getting hounded by my family and some friends because December 2014 is pretty close, and they're seeing good rates on Expedia!

 

Are any of you running into that problem of guests wanting to book with a site like Expedia? It looks like the Expedia prices are a couple hundred cheaper than what we will be able to offer them. We obviously want them to book with us because we want to achieve room perks and not have to pay extra for the actual wedding, but not sure how we're going to do that.

[kmk2016]

So happy to have found this thread! I didn't even see the Canadian sub group at the very bottom of the forum til just now haha.

 

It does seem like Canadian booking is different from the US!

 

We're from Toronto, and we're currently trying to lock in our wedding date and our group booking for Dec 2014. Our problem is that we chose a small hotel (Beach palace) and Transit holidays/Sunwing, etc. don't have a lot of inventory! So it's been back and forth for over a week now. We don't want to reserve our date until we're sure we can have the wedding there. Very frustrating, and like many of you, I'm getting hounded by my family and some friends because December 2014 is pretty close, and they're seeing good rates on Expedia!

 

Are any of you running into that problem of guests wanting to book with a site like Expedia? It looks like the Expedia prices are a couple hundred cheaper than what we will be able to offer them. We obviously want them to book with us because we want to achieve room perks and not have to pay extra for the actual wedding, but not sure how we're going to do that.

I would suggest talking to a Canadian TA who works with these resorts regularly ASAP to negotiate a rate for you and your guests... plus they often can get your a few extra perks!!

 

My TA has been fabulous and specializes in destination weddings... I totally recommend her (She works with brides from coast to coast). Her name is Laurielee (Laurielee.ca)

[tygrrlily]

I would suggest talking to a Canadian TA who works with these resorts regularly ASAP to negotiate a rate for you and your guests... plus they often can get your a few extra perks!!

 

My TA has been fabulous and specializes in destination weddings... I totally recommend her (She works with brides from coast to coast). Her name is Laurielee (Laurielee.ca)

 

I actually am using a local TA - I am using destination weddings . com that I found online and they matched me with a local TA. Our TA has been helpful at giving me info and answering questions, but the actual booking process has been a bit frustrating because I'd like to get this thing locked in already and feel like we've been going back and forth for a while now about this. I'm not sure if this is just the way it is, or if it has to do with the TA. I'm going to give mine a couple more days because she has been good at getting me info, but I'm definitely going to take the names of the agents you Calgary girls have worked with.

Edited April 10, 2014 by tygrrlily

[kmk2016]

Yeah- sounds like for whatever reason, your TA is not willing to lock you into a contract yet! Which is really in her best interest, since it will direct ALL your guests to her agency (She makes the commission from the resort/tour operator), and ultimately means more business for her! It also allows your guests to put down a small deposit and then pay if off over the coming months before your big day. If she waits too much longer, some may book with their own agency (or online) if you already told them date/location as soon as they think they find a great rate... and this will hurt any credits/bonuses you will receive for bringing the wedding (and all your guests) to the resort!

[kcole123]

I agree with kmk2016 you have to get this sorted because it's only a few months away. Try communicating with a couple of travel agents today and keep your there too on the back burner. Then whoever gets back faster with the best rate wins. That 's pretty much what I did. Some TA's didn't even get back to me and it was frustrating trying to narrow someone down.

[tygrrlily]

Thank you girls. I'm going to see how she replies today, then move on, i think. I've recorded the name of the TAs you've suggested

 

Apparently the issue is inventory at the hotel because we chose a smaller one with under 300 rooms. I'm really hoping we don't have to decide on another hotel again because that took us a while to go through!

[kcole123]

@@tygrrlily what hotel are you going with?

[tygrrlily]

@@tygrrlily what hotel are you going with?

 

Beach Palace in Cancun

[tygrrlily]

@@kcole123 - I just sent an email to your travel agent! I'm hoping she can help us. I am pretty frustrated with the TA we have now

 

Are any of the rest of you doing different length stays? We inquired about 5 nights and 7 nights for our guests, and apparently that's the difficult issue. The bulk of our group is staying 5 nights, but some people would like to stay for 7. Reading through these forums, it seems like a lot of people have people staying for different lengths. Not sure if this is more of an American thing?