Venue vs Hotel Stay

madisonbh

I am trying to plan a Vegas wedding and I want it to be beautiful. I have been looking at different venues and I really love Aria and Caesar's Palace but I can't afford to stay at those places. My hotel price range is more in the Treasure Island ball park. What are your thoughts on this? Is is tacky to stay at one hotel and get married in another?! Pros and Cons? 

hmgiffor

Nope it's not haha...We are staying at Flamingo and getting married at Platinum. Most of our guests are also staying at the Flamingo since we will be having a pool "party" there on Friday. 

madisonbh

That was also my other thinking is that I did not want to make my guests have to pay for an expensive hotel since we will more than likely all be staying together. This whole destination wedding thing is becoming more complicated for me than I anticipated! :-) Thanks for the feedback. 

hashtaggroomzilla

stay at Monte Carlo, walk to Aria via direct access.  Also, CP has various towers that range in price from $ to $$$$

hmgiffor

I booked rooms at Flamingo (cheaper option), Caesar's and Platinum. It gave my guest an option of something more expensive, non-gaming and reasonably priced. 

madisonbh

I've never really looked into Monte Carlo but it looks really nice and the price isn't bad at all. Thanks for the suggestions. 

americankorean

Monte Carlo has a really nice hotel on the top floor for super reasonable prices!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2013/05/28/las-vegas-best-kept-hotel-secret-and-best-hotel-value/

madisonbh

I was looking at Hotel 32 on their website last night. Very interesting concept. 

[Deleted User]

Hotel32 is AWSOME

We Loft is cheaper than penthouse suite - they also have a concierge room for guest which is complimentary for staying guest - views are like wow.

EAR123

I see no issue, and guests can always choose to stay at the venue hotel or another, but recommend choosing a venue hotel and base hotel for room block very close together. The proximity of so many hotel options and price points is a huge advantage in Vegas.

We loved the chapels and restaurant space for a reception at Wynn and Bellagio, but the guest rooms are higher than we know some guests would be comfortable with. We wound up finding a good middle ground at Mandalay Bay - nice venue space and on property there are different price points (regular room tower, suite tower etc) for rooms. The Four Seasons is attached for those preferring a fancier option and Luxor and Excalibur are also adjacent for lower price points. Options are good!

loveontheplayground

We are getting married at The Linq but are staying at the Westgate Las Vegas.

I did open up a room block for those that didn't want the hassle of finding a spot but most will be staying wherever they like.

jenni5672

How does the room block work? If you don't use all the rooms are you stuck with them? And how do you do this at hotels you are not staying at?

tcnoble

jenni5672 said:

How does the room block work? If you don't use all the rooms are you stuck with them? And how do you do this at hotels you are not staying at?

This will vary by each hotel. Some hotels require a guarantee and you will end up eating the cost of un-booked rooms.

Some brides on here will have more insight in to how to go about blocking the rooms.

[Deleted User]

We are staying and getting married at Caesars but I'm not requiring my guests to stay there because of the price. With most packages at Caesars you get at least 1 night included. So that may help you out! Also, there is a 20% off sale right now (ending soon)

KikiMira

When we got our Aria room block, we got amazing rates - $135/night... Once we signed up with them they locked in our prices until 30 days before the wedding. 2 months after we locked it in a Mayweather fight was announced to be held on our wedding night at MGM. The regular rate to stay at Aria skyrocketed up too $370 on the Saturday night. We saved a ton of money because we had the room block. 

I am going to check out this Hotel 32... I have never heard of it before!

hmgiffor

I believe at the Caesar's properties you have to have a minium of 5 rooms to get the room rate. I was really excited when I called the other day to check on the block (I needed to add more rooms) and two of our nights went WAY down and she adjusted all the current and future reservations. Wednesday night went from $117 to $35 and Thursday from $57 to $35.

[Deleted User]

Hmgiffor, yep yep! Flamingo is one of the Caesars Properties. We saved a LOT on a 9 day stay at Caesars because of the sale. Did you call the reservation hotline to block? How does it work? I hadn't looked at Flamingo for my guests (not sure of the location) but you got a great price!

hmgiffor

I just called the Total Rewards number and they assigned me a "VIP" person. She is the one who has been coordinating our room blocks, cabanas, connects me with club contacts and restaurants. 

Flamingo is right across the street from Caesars. 

xoeden

For those of you who have booked room blocks, have you had any luck releasing the rooms without having to pay for them?

vegasgroom

xoeden said:

For those of you who have booked room blocks, have you had any luck releasing the rooms without having to pay for them?

In most cases you don't have to do anything; they expire at 30 days out.  Most Vegas resorts don't work like hotels elsewhere that require you to pay for the block up front or if it goes unused.  I've never heard of any strip resorts working in that manner for example.

madisonbh

What does the room block actually do for you? Are the rooms close together or does it just give you a certain number of rooms that your guests can stay in? What if you booked several rooms through a third party site like Southwestvacations.com? 

tcnoble

madisonbh said:

What does the room block actually do for you? Are the rooms close together or does it just give you a certain number of rooms that your guests can stay in? What if you booked several rooms through a third party site like Southwestvacations.com? 

Usually the room block is discounted - and it also "reserves" those rooms so your guests can book them... as opposed to a hotel completely selling out for that weekend and your guests can't get rooms. 

madisonbh

Thanks for the info!

vegasgroom

A room block is also rarely ever the cheapest price available; its real purpose is to ensure that people who sit around and don't book until the last minute, i.e. 31 days before your wedding, can still get a room at the agreed upon rate.  Most of our guests used coupon codes from smartervegas and paid far less than our room block rate; we had 125 in attendance and I think only about 8 used the room block when I asked the group bookings person about it.

xoeden

Glad to see you can release the block (thanks @vegasgroom). I think I was looking at either Artisan or Rumour and both of those had mandatory blocks, ick! 

Personally, I think we might skip the blocks all together, given as that airfare + hotel packages tend to be so much cheaper in the first place (especially when you're split between Canada and the US).