Shuttle Bus Service

[Deleted User]

Hi.  We are hiring a shuttle bus for our guests (and ourselves) to go to & from the hotel.  The hotel is only 5 mins away from our reception hall.  The deal we got is for a 14 passenger luxury van for 1 1/2 hours before & 1 1/2 hours after the reception.  Now you would think with the places only being a 5 min drive that they would be able to make a ton of trips back & forth right...???  Well the limo company is saying they usually only get 3 trips before & 3 after because of all the waiting around for the guests to get in the shuttle.
I know of 13 rooms that will be booked for sure - which is 25 ppl.
We have the potential of 22 rooms which would be 45 ppl.
Has anyone had any experience dealing with shuttle buses?  Have you gave people a scheduled time to get on the shuttle so that everyone isn't waiting until the last shuttle out?
I am starting to think that we should change our shuttle to the larger bus which I believe is a 24 passenger.  But then I say, well what if only 25 ppl stay overnight, then the large bus is a waste of money.
Your thoughts, ideas, opinions please.....

julbgordo

Some guests may also opt to take their car ... even though it's only a 5 min. drive.  If you are doing welcome bags, you can include a note that let's guests know about the shuttle and let them know that the first shuttle will leave promptly at ________.

chelseamb11

Yeah just be sure to let them know the timing.  If they're all ready to go, that bus can truly leave.  ANd just instruct the bus to not sit any more than 5 minutes at each stop.  That means you can sitll get several rounds in.

sjhansen28

I went to a wedding last summer where the shuttle bus did something like this. The bus left every half an hour, so people could plan when they wanted to leave. It was kind of nice to know when the bus would be there and when our last chance to take it was.

HarperBargo

We went to a wedding in October that used a shuttle bus. In the welcome bags they told everyone when to get on the bus. The bus made 2 trips before and after the wedding/reception. It went fairly well but there were a few issues: The hotel had 2 different enterances both the bus driver and guests were unclear on where to go to be picked up. At the end of the night the reception space kicked us out so we all had to wait outside (a little chilly).

I know the bus only came at the end of the reception so you had to stay for the whole thing (not a problem for us but I know some of the guests wanted to get back).