When To Start Booking?

[keezy]

We started booking about 10months before the wedding to lock in our group rate of $1530 pp, from Toronto to PC

[calgarybride2015]

We did ours 9 months in advance.

 

With Air Canada you get your quote for 30 days.

To hold the 30 seats/15 rooms you have to pay your deposit, which for us was $300 each (although guests are only $200 each).   That holds them for 90 days while your guests decide to come or not, after the 90 days they release the seats back to whoever.

 

If you wanted more spots at the get go, you could get people to pay with you (IE if you have 4 total pay with you - so 6) that leaves you still 30 seats on the plane, but you have 6 already taken care of.  Hope that made sense.

 

Then from your deposit deadline the guests get another 90 days to pay their whole fee or they lose the early booking bonus price.  Which after 90 days for us is still better than anything we can find listed.

 

My only issues I have ran into, which I hear is very common, is that airlines change their schedules. If you book in Spring for Winter, they are quoting a spring schedule but it may change. Ours did GRRR, but I think we have it all sorted out now, which in the end I think I like better anyways (leaving Saturday not Sunday).

 

We went over our 30 seats/15 rooms as we had alot more people book single than I imagined and Air Canada hasn't put up a fuss. Hope we have no problems at the resort!

 

 

Prices seem a bit higher right now than in the past, and I hear that's the dollar.  We are at the Grand Sirenis which is listed as a 5* for $1565 PP out of Calgary and $1465 PP out of Toronto.   When doing my searches the only price I could find under $1500, was $1250 at the Grand Palladium in Puerto Vallarta, but then again I didn't price every resort.

Edited July 27, 2014 by calgarybride2015

[cakerchris]

Hi everyone,

 

We're planning a September 2015 wedding, a lot of you have mentioned you have booked a year in advance to secure the rate quoted for 30-90 days.  I'm just wondering how far in advance you plan on sending your invites?  It seems as though you'd have to send them immediately after booking so your guests take advantage of the rate before it goes up.  Not sure of the proper etiquette here.  Please help this newbie

 

Thanks

[kmk2016]

Hi everyone,

 

We're planning a September 2015 wedding, a lot of you have mentioned you have booked a year in advance to secure the rate quoted for 30-90 days. I'm just wondering how far in advance you plan on sending your invites? It seems as though you'd have to send them immediately after booking so your guests take advantage of the rate before it goes up. Not sure of the proper etiquette here. Please help this newbie

 

Thanks

I had our guest list ready and worked to complete my DIY boarding pass invites so that I was good to go as soon as my contract started. when your TA gets your quote, as a general rule of thumb you will have 30 days to agree to the terms and accept the pricing. Once you do- you and your FI place your deposits which starts the countdown clock for your room block. We had our website rolling and the night we put our deposits down, we mailed out the invites. it took a bit of organization, but it has paid off. We are just over 30 days in on our 90 days contract and have had 47 people book! Our block was for 50 people so I will need to start another block well before our 90 days are up- restarting the clock.

 

We are 18 months (to the day) away from our wedding.

Edited July 29, 2014 by kmk2016

[cakerchris]

I had our guest list ready and worked to complete my DIY boarding pass invites so that I was good to go as soon as my contract started. when your TA gets your quote, as a general rule of thumb you will have 30 days to agree to the terms and accept the pricing. Once you do- you and your FI place your deposits which starts the countdown clock for your room block. We had our website rolling and the night we put our deposits down, we mailed out the invites. it took a bit of organization, but it has paid off. We are just over 30 days in on our 90 days contract and have had 47 people book! Our block was for 50 people so I will need to start another block well before our 90 days are up- restarting the clock.

 

We are 18 months (to the day) away from our wedding.

Thanks Kmk,

I didn't realize you could get extensions on blocking, I guess that's something we should talk to our TA about.  I guess I should start looking at invites to have them ready for when we book.  I was just afraid that giving people 30-90 days notice a year in advance some guests wouldn't necessarily know if they could make it thus most likely missing out on the rate.  Thanks for the advice and pointing me in the right direction, it's hard to know what comes first in this process. I may need a step by step guide lol

[kmk2016]

Thanks Kmk,

I didn't realize you could get extensions on blocking, I guess that's something we should talk to our TA about. I guess I should start looking at invites to have them ready for when we book. I was just afraid that giving people 30-90 days notice a year in advance some guests wouldn't necessarily know if they could make it thus most likely missing out on the rate. Thanks for the advice and pointing me in the right direction, it's hard to know what comes first in this process. I may need a step by step guide lol

We didn't have any type of extension... It's just the way contracts/package rates are set up. They present you with the rates and then they need to give you time to "accept their offer"... Which is typically 30 days. Once you accept and put down your deposit, then you have 90 days where they hold that pricing for all of your guests to book with your TA by placing their deposits.

 

This is for Canadian Packages though.

[cakerchris]

We didn't have any type of extension... It's just the way contracts/package rates are set up. They present you with the rates and then they need to give you time to "accept their offer"... Which is typically 30 days. Once you accept and put down your deposit, then you have 90 days where they hold that pricing for all of your guests to book with your TA by placing their deposits.

This is for Canadian Packages though.

Ok I see as long as I know to send out the invites immediately after booking is a step in the right direction. I am a Canadian bride. Thanks again I really appreciate your responses!

[calgarybride2015]

Hi everyone,

 

We're planning a September 2015 wedding, a lot of you have mentioned you have booked a year in advance to secure the rate quoted for 30-90 days.  I'm just wondering how far in advance you plan on sending your invites?  It seems as though you'd have to send them immediately after booking so your guests take advantage of the rate before it goes up.  Not sure of the proper etiquette here.  Please help this newbie

 

Thanks

 

Since we only booked in May for January, we sent out our invited ASAP!  If you did a save the date first, you can send your invites much later.  Your choice!

 

With respect to another thing you mentioned about people not knowing what they are doing that far in advance - it's the gamble!!  We were 9 months, so it wasn't too bad, but it's a hit and miss either way.  They could get insurance should something come up!

Edited July 30, 2014 by calgarybride2015

[projecttwayne2015]

Did you pick your resort yet? How is that going?

[Maggietron]

Waiting for fall 2015 rates to come out is driving me crazy!