Hotels and guest transportation

saisongbird

So I know I'm doing this insanely early (thank you, Mom,) but I have two questions. 1) How far away from your venue do you feel it is acceptable to book a hotel (travel time). 15 mins? 25 mins? More? What do you think/what are you doing? 2) Whose responsibility is it to get the OOT guests to the venue? The guests themselves (they will need a car to get to any hotel we book), or should we be providing transportation from the hotel? (I know what I think on this one but I want to see what you guys think so I can have the appropriate discussion with the moms.)

stina11

I was debating on this all myself. As for the hotel I was planning on a location near my fathers house. Most of my OOT are my fathers family. Its also basically in between the ceremony locationa and the reception location. For who is responsible about getting them to the venue I was going to look into prices and make a desicion from there. I know if I was to get the hotel near my venue it helps make a deal with a service but I feel that they would be more comfortable located by my father.

jordanamn

I'm struggling with this too, but I think we are going to provide transportation for the OOT guests from the hotel to the venue.  It's about 15 min away. 

alithebride

we blocked rooms at 2 hotels near the venue. one was maybe 10 mins, one was maybe 15. the closer one provided a free shuttle for guests. the 2nd did not.

jilliibabii

This has been a dilemma for me as well. Our ceremony will be held at a church in Queens, near to where we all live (FI, FILs, Parents, etc.) while the reception will be held in Mineola, about 1/2 hour away without traffic. We have opted to book hotels near to where the ceremony is simply because OOT guests have not traveled all this way to not attend the ceremony and many will be in the week before the wedding and do not want to be stuck in Mineola with no car. That being said, we have decided to provide a coach bus to shuttle OOT guests to the ceremony and then from there to the reception. Is your ceremony and reception in the same place? If so, I'd probably opt for a hotel closer to your venue which might even provide shuttle transportation between your venue and hotel. HTH!

jordanamn

what shuttle are you using?  what kind of quote did you get for something like that?

jilliibabii

I'm *hoping* to get a 52 passenger coach bus. I've heard Academy is really good pricing- less than $1k for 10 hours. I figured it'd be good to have the bus on call, too, in case some of the older guests don't want to stay the entire night and decide to leave early. The bus can take them and then come back at the end of the night for the guests.

LynnScott1

I blocked 2 hotels. One provides shuttle service and a better price for rooms and the other doesn't . I have FLA friends for OOTers so I told them the deal already. I'm thinking they will all (it's a grp of friends) will stay at the shuttle hotel.... I gave the other hotel as an option b/c it's a little nicer, but there's no shuttle:(

bluj786

does the place that u are having it give u any ideas of hotles that they are associated with? im having it the riveria in masapequa and they told me that if i use the hilton in farmingdale that they give a discount on the rooms and hey also supply a free shuttle for hat night..

nickymel

We booked a hotel about 5 miles from our venue.  If we book 15 rooms we get the shuttle for free.  If not everyone is on their own.  How much more can I possibly do for other people.  I myself have been to several weddings where I stayed at the hotel and drove my own car, or taken a taxi.  I personally feel that if your mom wants it then give her the option of paying for it.  I did that to with my future inlaws and suddenly it is no longer a problem because they don't want to shell out the money.

LynnScott1

nickymel, my deal's the same with the shuttle and the 15 rooms and i feel the same way you do..... i'm getting married at giorgio's and they gave me the 2 hotels that will provide shuttle to them. one was already booked! i was in shock b/c i checked it out back in july. luckily the other hotel with the shuttle was available!!

lvrboxer

LynnScott- do you mind if I ask you what hotel you booked because Im in that area and the 2 places I called would not do shuttle service. Thanks

nickymel

lvrboxer ~ I am getting married in the same area too ~ the East Wind.  We booked a block of rooms with the Holiday Inn Express in Riverhead.  Nice people.  They are family owened and also own the Best Western in Riverhead.

LynnScott1

Hey nickymel - You got to the holiday inn before me!! J/k that's the one that was booked for my weekend. they had sunday available, but not sat. I can't have people switch hotels for 1 night:( I booked the best western in riverhead w/shuttle. the other was the hilton garden inn - really nice, but no shuttle. I'm such a reviews person and wasn't too happy with some of the reviews online about the best western - mostly that it was noisy:( the holiday inn had all good things though! when i called and spoke to the holiday inn/best western about what i read online they told me the best western will all be redone next year by june and be called something else....that's good news!

moonbeam0612

We had that dilema was well...our church is at 3 and reception at 6:30, so we decided people can come to the church than go back to hotel and freshen up, we are providing shuttle service from hotel to recep and than back to hotel at end of night.We got vans through our limo company at a much lower price than the hotel and van places qouted...def worth asking  your limo company about this.I am using Sal's LimosAnd we foot the bill on this...I think and friends agreed my OOT guests would prefer free transportation than over the top gift bags!Our hotel is about 20 mins away, but there are no hotels that nice and close to Great River...so it was about the closet and nicest!

lm3898

I'm in a similar predicament.  I'm getting married in Montauk-reception is about a 5 min. drive from the church and then almost everyone is staying at hotels 5-15 min. from the reception.  Just about all of our guests are staying over-night and we know many of them are going to plan to drink heavily.  Therefore, we are working on either a. have a bus pick everyone up at the reception site-take them to the church-back to reception site-back to 2 hotels at the end of the night OR b. Have the bus pick everyone up at their hotels, then bring them to the church, then back to reception, then back to hotels.Both options are a bit expensive.  We would need the bus about 10 hours 2:30-12:30.  However, it's worth it to not have to risk DWI's etc!

brighteyesdf

We are also looking for a hotel that offers transportation. There are 3 hotels that are only 5-10 minutes away. Although people could drive, we have a big drinking crowd and want to make sure they are safe. The shuttle service the hotel provides allows 10 people per trip. Does this seem a little crazy that everyone would have to wait for the shuttle to go back and forth?