Weddingbee boards

hey everyone!

so I'm getting married on the westside (private residence) in August and I've been looking in the Santa Monica/Venice/MDR area for a place to put my out of town guests for the weekend of. I'd like the area to be somewhat walkable and near the beach - not near say, the airport or in the bowels of West LA. 

Santa Monica in August was really too expensive, but I found two hotels in Marina Del Rey that I do like - the group rates offered are $169 and $199, respectively.  The $169 is for a Best Western that yeah, looks like a Best Western on the outside, but has rooms that are actually quite cute and renovated on the inside (and actually are much nicer/cleaner than the $200+ rooms at the Marriott down the street.) The $199 is for a more upscale boutique hotel in the area that is quite nice.

I'm a little worried that my out of town guests will balk a little at these prices (even though most of them are from expensive east coast cities that aren't any cheaper). What do you guys think about the above prices for a hotel block?  Totally expected for westside LA in the summer?  Or too much?  I'd love some feedback from other westside brides...

Thanks!

there definitely *are* some cheaper hotels in the area, but they aren't up to the caliber of hotel that we'd recommend to our guests.  we wanted to find something both nice and under $200 - a tall order in this town, especially near the water :)

I would love for guests to stay in Santa Monica, but for August, I can't find anything cheaper than $240 or so for a group rate, and nothing much cheaper for a regular rate at a decent hotel in SM in August either.  I'm not comfortable asking people to pay over $200.

@chixor99:  I'm getting married in LA and we have a block at Hilton Checkers in downtown for $129 at the end of May.  We literally went back and forth with them for several days to negotiate down to that rate (they initially gave us $179/night, normally it's $229/night).  We ended up taking up about a third to a half of their rooms.  It also depends on how many rooms you want in your hotel block.  Most hotels will ask you to fulfill 80% of your block.  We initially had 40 and they actually had to add to it, last count we are up to 50-something rooms.  

I know downtown is different from Santa Monica, but I still say if I were you I would keep negotiating.  You can get it under $150 if you negotiate aggressively.  Good luck!