Hotels

Chocominty

So, I'm trying to research hotels for reservation blocks, and my reception venue sent me a list they recommend, but I have very little idea what I'm doing. I know most hotels don't have 'honeymoon suites' per se, but I was hoping to get a hotel for the guests and have our room in the same hotel, preferably a honeymoon suite. Do you guys know of any reasonable hotels that have honeymoon suites? Maybe other advice?

Also, I read up on the reservation blocks, some site said it's expected that you negotiate with the hotel. Is that right? Geesh that makes me nervous. Anytime I have to negotiate, I end up seeming like a b!itch because I'm so nervous! Any tips?

Thanks everyone!

emarston1

To answer your first question, a honeymoon suite is just a fancy name for a suite.  Occasionally the hotel will include something extra such as champaigne and strawberries or rose petals but the room is just a suite.  You can call around to find out what types of rooms they have (standard, deluxe, suites, etc.) and find out the difference between them.  Then book the one you would most want to spend your wedding night in. 

Keep in mind though (and many of the married ladies will tell you), you will be exhausted when you get back to your hotel room.  So you may want to adjust your expectations for your Wedding Night because most likely you will want to come back and crash.  You may not need/want all the extras because they may go to waste.

As far as room blocks are concerned, there really are two different types.  The first of which (which I would steer you away from) would be where you personally have to guarantee the amount of rooms that will be booked.  With your own credit card.  You would then be responsible for any unused rooms.  As you can see this is less than ideal because if you guests don't fill the block, you still have to pay for the rooms.

The second type is the rooms are guaranteed until a certain date (my particular one is a month before the wedding).  If there are any unused rooms, they go back to the general "pool" of rooms and can be sold to anyone - wedding guest or not.  But you would not be responsible for any unused rooms.

As with all wedding vendors, they have done this numerous times.  Get rate quotes from a few different hotels and go with the ones that you like best.  It is also advisable to have a couple hotels for different price ranges (although not necessary.)

Hope that helps

corinne2010

It helps to know what area you're looking in so we can give you suggestions in that area. My reception was in Plymouth and we had a block of rooms in Livonia at the Courtyard Mariott. There were some things that went wrong, but overall the quality of the rooms were nice. I wanted a suite because all the girls would be getting ready in it on the day of the wedding. The suite was nothing fancy. Just a bit bigger and there was a separate sitting room. I think if you're looking for a honeymoon suite, I would say to not even bother with it. If you think about it, you'll spend maybe 6-8 hours in the room total sleeping. The only thing really important is the bed. You won't see hardly any of the rest of the room, IMO. So save your money and spend it on something else. Get a regular room and wait for the honeymoon to splurge on a fancy room.

To answer your question about negotiating, I don't know that I did any. The hotel usually has a set price and a set number of rooms that have to be booked. In our case, the rooms were $79/night and we had to book 15 rooms in order to get the free shuttle to and from the reception hall. We ended up booking about 20-30 rooms so we didn't have any problems, but just make sure that if you are looking to get a shuttle and you don't end up booking the required amount of rooms, the hotel doesn't make you financially responsible for the other rooms that were not booked. That can really add up and if the hotel requires you to have 15 rooms booked and you only have 10, you may end up having to pay for those extra 5 rooms if you want the shuttle.

ETA: I should also mention that you might want to start calling around now for hotels since your wedding is on a holiday weekend. Plus the prices usually jump during certain times of the year, and that might be one of them.

Chocominty

Thanks ladies! We are getting married in St. Clair Shores, and we looked at the Residence Inn Marriott in Warren, and probably should have looked at the Courtyard Marriott, too, but we didn't have time.

I totally get what you're saying about the honeymoon suite thing. Point taken! I guess I was thinking (and probably should have said this before) was to get a nice-looking room to get ready in the morning of the wedding, then use it that night to snooze in. Problem is, hotel rooms, even the suites, kinda look icky. Any advice on that? What are you ladies doing?

kkbrown7023

I negotiated getting a free restaurant breakfast included for my guests, along with the shuttle service.  For myself, I negotiated hotel points (Im really big on getting points).  For each room my guests book (and use)  I will get credited marriott rewards points, and they can add up pretty quickly!!  I have my marriott points converted into delta skymiles, and Im about 2K away from having 2 free flights (which I plan to use for honeymoon!!).  Price ended up being $72.00 per night.

wetz4975

I'm getting married in Saint Clair Shores also. I am currently looking for hotel rooms around that area and I'm alittle worried about going to far from the Shores because I don't want the out of town guest to have to drive to far.  I was looking into the Best Western Georgian Inn at 13 and Gratiot.
Where are you getting married at?