- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
Don't necessarily assume your friend knows about this. I know that hotels will sometimes discount rates but not tell brides the discounts are available, hoping to get more money from guests. Can you approach your friend's husband or one of the bridal party members, maybe, and then let them bring it up to your friend?
I wouldn't assume anything - I would just bring it up nicely to your friend that you found out there are cheaper rooms at the the hotel and thought she would want to know, etc! It just may not have occurred to her to check around/negotiate.
Room blocks are rarely cheaper than the internet rates. It was nice enough of the bride to ensure that rooms were available, she is not responsible for the hotel's price gouging policies. The room block I secured for my guests was $179 MORE than the internet price - and I DID negotiate hard. You are not obligated in any way to stay in the block. Just book the cheaper room and don't mention it to the bride. Their contract is already signed so at this point there's nothing she could do anyway.
Don't mention it to her. Book the cheaper room for yourself and let it go. Other budget conscious guests will do the same. You don't know if it's the hotel or the bride who is gouging you here, and honestly, I wouldn't want to find out!
I second marigold.
From my experience, blocks (room or flights) may be cheaper or the same rate but I have not heard that it is more expensive. The main purpose of a block is to make sure lodging is available for a certain number of ppl, nothing more.
Another alternative is to share a room with other wedding guest(s). that should save some $.
I would bring it up nicely (and cautiously) with her, mostly because I think if you don't tell her, you're going to be stuck in a sticky situation: you'll feel like you've hidden something from her, and if she finds out, she'll feel like you hid something from her. Probably not the best situation for bride/bridesmaid bliss on the weekend of the wedding.
There shouldn't be a problem switching some of the higher-priced rooms for the more affordable ones within her block. Then, you (and other budget-conscious guests) get to save some money, and she'd still get her free bridal room!
I would book the cheaper room, it isn't your responsibility to pay more for a room in order to get her a free room.
Well she's your best friend, right? Do you think she would deliberately do something like this? I mean, i know some women can get crazy but if you think this sounds totally out of character for her then I would mention it. I would definitely want to know if I was in her position.
Good Luck!
I work for a hotel and I have to say that the room block rate is usually a bit better than the normal rates, and the guests are often booked into nicer rooms, but with the economy tanking many hotels have had to slash their rates to fill rooms. If a bride contracted the group rate months out, there was no way for her or the hotel to know how bad things might get. My hotel has been handling it by guaranteeing upgraded rooms and discounting things like parking charges, but it is still not an ideal situation because the family may still feel gouged and it makes people think negatively about the property.
I would tell the bride to see if she can negotiate some perks for her guests if she is unable to bring the rate down.
Since you say your friend is super stressed, I wouldn't bring it up to her. She may have reserved the block for guest convenience (to make sure the hotel doesn't fill up and that family members can get nice rooms) rather than trying to make sure everyone gets the lowest price.
When we looked at hotel rooms, we ended up deciding not to reserve a hotel block at all, because (for the hotel that had by far the most reasonable rates overall) we'd have to guarantee a percentage of rooms and even the discounted rate would be more expensive than the online special rate for our guests. But we are having a small wedding in an area with a lot of nearby hotels, so we figured there wasn't much chance of the hotel filling up.
I don't know if you should jump to the conclusion that your friend doesn't care about saving people money -- she may have figured that people will shop around for a good rate if they care about it, and that the block is just for people who are looking for the quickest, most convenient room option. We tried to give people a lot of information on our website & invitation insert about shopping for the best room price online, but I think a lot of people in my family just went for the most convenient option anyway.
We had a lot of crazy issues with our room block - at first guests could only book rooms with one king bed (no two-double bed rooms were available), then it was the opposite, no kings available, then no one could book suites, then the hotel started a sale where rooms were $99 a night (at least $50 less than we had negotiated with them). If guests hadn't mentioned it, I might have never known, and everyone would have had to sleep in a king bed room.
However, how close is it to the wedding, or the cutoff date for room booking (typically a month before the wedding)? I had so many people contact my mom after the deadline (posted in the save the date, the invitation, and on the wedding web site) saying they couldn't get a room. I was so tired of it and so mad that people hadn't just done it earlier I let them fend for themselves.
I'd go ahead and book the cheaper room.
In my situation, I know that there is a cheaper rate online - but it is a non-refundable rate. The rate the hotel offered us includes breakfast, while the non-refundable rate does not. I did negotiate with the hotel, and I am getting a free suite - but I get the suite regardless of how many rooms are booked. I've told some guests about the cheaper rate, and those that go online will find out about it.... but if they book that way they won't be part of my room block and may not be accounted for when I give my OOT bags. (I know who some of them are, so they will get OOT bags no matter what).
I would tell the bride that you didn't book in her name because you found a better deal online... this way she can let the hotel know you are part of the party... just in case she is doing an OOT bag.
Is your friend's fiance super stressed? Maybe you could just give him a heads up that he might want to give the hotel a call. I wouldn't bring it up with the bride or make a big deal of it.
I think you should mention it to your friend just to ensure that nothing is going on that she is unaware of. Like ES123, we had several issues with the room block, and had our guests not informed me, I never would have been able to remediate the issues. Just do it carefully and be as sensitive as possible...Good luck!
My experience is that while blocked room rates are usually there for conveneince--I can ALWAYS get a cheaper rate online through travelocity. Also, we both now get a military discount which is substantial.
Just casually mention it to her. I bet she has no idea and it'd be quick to fix with a phone call. Just let her knwo there's an online rate out there better than her block rate. I'd personally be grateful.
I just found out that guests can book our hotel fro cheaper than our room rate is BUT they are getting a less desired room. So if you want to save some money and the room is not of question, go ahead. Personally if it was close to my wedding and people were telling me that the room rate was less than $50 cheaper, I wouldn't even touch it.
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| MissBoPeep | 52 |
| hisgoosiegirl | 38 |
| Mrs.KMM | 36 |
| ndreighton | 36 |
| beargoose | 34 |
| akp0702 | 34 |
| BetterSherm | 31 |
| Beckster329 | 28 |
| Gemstone | 27 |
| KatNYC2011 | 25 |
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| stardustintheeyes | 17 |
| PookyShoes | 8 |
| hisgoosiegirl | 7 |
| Beckster329 | 7 |
| BetterSherm | 7 |
| fivemonthsnotice | 7 |
| MissBoPeep | 6 |
| Irish Terrier | 6 |
| CaliHoya | 6 |
| beargoose | 5 |
Beekeeper
Hi Bees!
So my best friend, like me, has decided to have her reception at a hotel. On her wedding website under "Guest Information" The only thing written is the name of the hotel and a phone number, no website, group code, or special rate mentioned. I've never stayed at this particular hotel, so I assumed they just didn't have an online booking system.
When I called to make my reservation, the nice reservation lady told me that my friend's group rate is $149/night for a King bedroom with a separate sitting area. I asked if there were any other options with a smaller bed and no sitting area and she said no.
Since I am a bridesmaid in this wedding as well as several others coming up soon AND trying to save for MY wedding and a down payment on a house (yeah, right..) I couldn't get it out of my mind that there were no smaller rooms at this hotel and went online this morning to check. Sure enough, there is a King Bedroom (with no sitting room) available the night of her wedding for $119.
I didn't want to bother my friend about it (she is SUPER stressed right now), so I called back the reservation lady to get some more info. I explained the situation to her and asked if there was a mistake with her group rate or with the online system. I mean - wedding blocks are usually CHEAPER than the usual rate, right?? She couldn't really answer me, but she did tell me that the bride gets a free room that night if all the rooms in her block are booked..
So.. it's now clear how different my friend and I are - she did not negotiate the available rooms or the room rate. They just blocked off the nicer rooms for her guests to make more money (since everyone will be staying at the hotel) and just told her to use the phone number so guests wouldn't find out. The reservation lady told me to call her back if I book the cheaper room online and she will cancel my reservation. BUT that would take away from my friend getting her "free" bridal suite the night of her wedding.
My question is (most importantly)
1) Should I tell my friend about the situation? We haven't spoken about how she blocked the rooms so I don't know her side of the story yet. I really don't want to cause her any more stress if she already knows about it.
Less Important, but still valid:
2) Am I incorrect in assuming that normally the blocked rooms are LESS expensive than non-blocked rooms? I have been to countless weddings and have always paid a cheaper rate for the blocked rooms, so this is totally new to me.
Thank you!! :)