Is It Normal For Group Pricing To Be More?

AliciaW · July 20, 2016

I have been working with a travel agent through sell off vacations to find the best resort for ours and our guests budgets. We had finally decided on one that we loved, the price was right ($1550 per adult, $990 for a child over 2, with taxes included) and the wedding package has what we're looking for. I asked the travel agent to find out about group rates from westjet which is the airline this deal was through. She messaged me back saying the group rate is $1775 per adult, $1300 for child over 2 plus taxes) then if you get 15 rooms you get one free flight/hotel. Is this normal? For some reason I was under the impression that if you booked as a group it might be a bit cheaper. Why would my guests want to pay $200 more then they could? And I wouldn't expect them to when they are already paying to come to my wedding.

I'm feeling flustered because of this and wondering if this is the norm or should I be inquiring with a different travel agent? Sorry for the rant!

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LeanneP · July 20, 2016

I have been working with a travel agent through sell off vacations to find the best resort for ours and our guests budgets. We had finally decided on one that we loved, the price was right ($1550 per adult, $990 for a child over 2, with taxes included) and the wedding package has what we're looking for. I asked the travel agent to find out about group rates from westjet which is the airline this deal was through. She messaged me back saying the group rate is $1775 per adult, $1300 for child over 2 plus taxes) then if you get 15 rooms you get one free flight/hotel. Is this normal? For some reason I was under the impression that if you booked as a group it might be a bit cheaper. Why would my guests want to pay $200 more then they could? And I wouldn't expect them to when they are already paying to come to my wedding.

I'm feeling flustered because of this and wondering if this is the norm or should I be inquiring with a different travel agent? Sorry for the rant!

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Where are you from Alicia? When I first secured my group rate (in Ontario, Canada), I was surprised it wasn't better than those posted on selloffvacations.com. It also didn't seem to measure up to the rates a friend of mine was getting for her DW at a different resort.

However, the taxes were halved so a lot of the savings weren't seen in the base rate. It also included a one-time rate adjustment and other perks (future travel voucher, additional baggage, excursion credit, plane upgrades, etc.). A few weeks after securing our group rate I stumbled upon a huge (and short-lived!) price drop online and managed to lock in the savings for our group. The standard rate has once again gone up creating a huge gap in our favour! Sometime, the flight times effect the rate and if you are booking early, those might not yet be known. Also, double check the room categories and trip durations. It's easy to mistake a 5 day trip price for a 7 day. Perhaps the first time you looked, there was some sort of seat sale on that had short-term discounted prices. Just a few ideas.....

Good luck! You're obviously like me and want to get your guests the best deal possible!

Where and when are you getting married?

AliciaW · July 21, 2016

Where are you from Alicia? When I first secured my group rate (in Ontario, Canada), I was surprised it wasn't better than those posted on selloffvacations.com. It also didn't seem to measure up to the rates a friend of mine was getting for her DW at a different resort.

However, the taxes were halved so a lot of the savings weren't seen in the base rate. It also included a one-time rate adjustment and other perks (future travel voucher, additional baggage, excursion credit, plane upgrades, etc.). A few weeks after securing our group rate I stumbled upon a huge (and short-lived!) price drop online and managed to lock in the savings for our group. The standard rate has once again gone up creating a huge gap in our favour! Sometime, the flight times effect the rate and if you are booking early, those might not yet be known. Also, double check the room categories and trip durations. It's easy to mistake a 5 day trip price for a 7 day. Perhaps the first time you looked, there was some sort of seat sale on that had short-term discounted prices. Just a few ideas.....

Good luck! You're obviously like me and want to get your guests the best deal possible!

Where and when are you getting married?

Thank you for the reply!

I asked my travel agent about it and she messaged west jet for me. I guess west jet averages out the prices. The prices they have on the website are short lived and they only sell a few of them. But literally the flights and days are all the exact same. There is no real special perks that come with it, there's no one time price adjustment. What really gets me is that the price for my 4 year old daughter went from $990 to almost $1400 plus tax!! And their "book 15 rooms and get the 16th free" doesn't include kids tickets. Like I'm paying almost as much for my kid so why shouldn't it be included? I'm thinking I might try to go with a different air line and see if they have a better group booking package.

We are getting married April 2017. We really want to go with Sandos Caracol Eco Resort but we also thought it was cheaper so I guess we will see now.

I just want to secure something so we can start planning

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LeanneP · July 21, 2016

Thank you for the reply!

I asked my travel agent about it and she messaged west jet for me. I guess west jet averages out the prices. The prices they have on the website are short lived and they only sell a few of them. But literally the flights and days are all the exact same. There is no real special perks that come with it, there's no one time price adjustment. What really gets me is that the price for my 4 year old daughter went from $990 to almost $1400 plus tax!! And their "book 15 rooms and get the 16th free" doesn't include kids tickets. Like I'm paying almost as much for my kid so why shouldn't it be included? I'm thinking I might try to go with a different air line and see if they have a better group booking package.

We are getting married April 2017. We really want to go with Sandos Caracol Eco Resort but we also thought it was cheaper so I guess we will see now.

I just want to secure something so we can start planning

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If you're from Canada you can try Sunwing or Transat. Good luck! Hopefully your dream venue ends up in the price range you were hoping for.

AliciaW · July 21, 2016

If you're from Canada you can try Sunwing or Transat. Good luck! Hopefully your dream venue ends up in the price range you were hoping for.

Thank you!

I think we might just go with westjet after all. Looked into transat and it was slightly cheaper but our guests would have to pay by the end of August.

I guess it was just a shock when you don't really know what to expect for group vacations. I feel happier knowing that this is probably our best option

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