Sept. 22, 2012 - Geneva Area?

LadyJ2949

Hi Ladies,

Is anyone else out there getting married this weekend in or around Geneva? I've heard that it's extremely hard to get hotels during that time because the local college is having their family weekend. I'm concerned because 100% of my guests will be traveling and they will all need a place to stay. Obviously, this could be a huge problem. One hotel said that once they open their phone lines the rooms at their hotel sell out in 8 minutes.

I've called a couple of the hotels and they all say the same thing: you can reserve blocks of 10 rooms and then once those are taken, they will put aside another 10, etc. So I guess my question is twofold: 1) is anyone else getting married that weekend (or has experience getting married in a similar situation) and has some advice on how to secure hotels? 2) How can I get around this 10 room block issue? I'd like to set aside much more to be safe and I know my guests will need/use them but none of the hotels said they would block off more than 10 at a time.

Thanks for your help!  

ChelseaB425

Have you called the Ramada? We haven't received the contract yet, but we were told they would set aside 10 rooms for guests coming in Friday and Saturday, and 20 for  those just staying Saturday night.

LadyJ2949

Yes, the FI called them. Are you getting married the weekend of the 22nd? I think it's different for other weekends but because of the competition for rooms, they'll reserve less. I'm not sure what to do because obviously we would need a lot of rooms and I would hate for people to try to book a room and have them all be sold out!

ChelseaB425

Yes, we're getting married earlier in September 2012. (My dad suggested we avoid the weeked of Hobart's Family Weekend - I would have NEVER thought about it being an issue.)

Can you send out Save the Dates soon and suggest that people book rooms ASAP?

emierose

My recommendation is to block off rooms at more than one place. Block at the Ramada, the Hampton, maybe at Bellhurst, Geneva on the Lake,  - and anywhere else that you've checked in to. This way you have several options, (in more than one price point), and can have 20-40 rooms in your blocks total. Many girls on my month board are doing this who are getting married on the holiday weekend.

vibolemily

We are getting married in Geneva and blocked rooms at a couple hotels like Emie suggested.  This was good because even on a normal weekend there are A LOT of weddings in Geneva so we ended up needing more than one hotel. 

The other suggestion I was going to make was perhaps encourage your guests to go together and rent a vacation home?  A lot of the vacation homes can sleep a lot of people.  One we looked at had 6 bedrooms and was like $600 per night.  If you have a group of couples who know each other that might be a good option for the weekend.
 

raes19

I work at the Geneva Area Chamber of Commerce, and I can tell you that anyone who waits until the last minute will not be able to find a hotel room. If you have a wedding website, I would stress on there that making reservations early is very important. People come into the office all the time asking me to help them find a hotel for the night, and most times I can't find anything within a 30 mile radius.

kks4471

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_central-new-york_sept-22-2012-geneva-area?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:621Discussion:7c783fc9-7a9e-4067-9d7e-b9c20945c8b5Post:afaf7ddd-e4dc-4d15-b53d-6041e52cae9b">Re: Sept. 22, 2012 - Geneva Area?</a>:
[QUOTE]I work at the Geneva Area Chamber of Commerce, and I can tell you that anyone who waits until the last minute will not be able to find a hotel room. If you have a wedding website, I would stress on there that making reservations early is very important. People come into the office all the time asking me to help them find a hotel for the night, and most times I can't find anything within a 30 mile radius.
Posted by raes19[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the tip! I'm going to add a sentence to my website stressing how important it is to book a room. I'm getting married on Father's day weekend, and know the hotels book up fast. Our 20 rooms at Ramada will go quickly with my OOT guests.

kevinandmonica2011

I definitely agree w/ Emie and Emily!!!  Block off several rooms at differnt hotels... AND encourage people to chip in together on vacation homes or cottage rentals.

We had two different groups of fmaily members go in together on cottage rentals and they turned our weddign weekend into one huge party!  It was awesome!!!  I think they had the best time out of anyone who came... and probably spent the least amount of $$$.  Definitely worth a shot!

ETA:  Also, send out your STD's waaaay earlier than all of the check lists and timelines suggest.  We sent our STDs out about 8-9 months in advance (magnets inckuded, so people wouldn't forget)... and we sent the invites out about 4 months early.  Our wedding was a holiday weekend (Memorial Day) and we were worried about the same thing... guests waiting til the last minute and not finidng a lace to stay.  Website reminders (BOOK YOUR ROOMS NOW!!!!) and word-of-mouth should do the trick.  After you've done all of that, if someone chooses to ignore and not book early... it's on them, really

LarissaB

As recommended above, I would definitely send out Save the Dates earlier than normal and let your guests know to book early on your website (but especially your families and close friends who it's easier to get this info spread word of mouth).  We just got married in Penn Yan a few weekends ago and once we set the date in Jan. we let all of our guests know (we just had immediate family and very close friends) to book ASAP because that town only has one hotel and with it being wine country and summer it books quickly.  It might not be the most convenient for all your guests but there are a lot of B&Bs in that area in addition to the hotels and they could stay in Penn Yan or some of the smaller towns if all of Geneva books up.

sbolger17

I'm not in the Geneva area, but this is my wedding weekend this year and I'm in the Ithaca area.  College town with not enough hotel capacity for the busy fall!  I started calling hotels in September the year before, but some didn't have their calendars up  yet and I had to do a bit in October as well.  So I sympathize.

I ended up finding 2 hotels that would give me decent room blocks (30 rooms at one, 20 at the other).  But I called about 10 hotels in total -- some refused flat out to do it and some did what you described above (10 rooms and then if there's activity, they'll give more).  The prices we got aren't terrific ($140 for a Best Western & $160 for a Hampton), but it was the best we could do.  We also mentioned on our website that there are a lot of nice B&B's around and pointed guests to a B&B website.  We stressed that everything needed to be booked early as hotel demand is very high here.

LadyJ2949

Thanks for all the tips, ladies. We are toying with the idea of picking two hotels about 20-25 minutes away, reserving rooms there, and then getting a couple busses to transport people back and forth. That way we won't have to be as nervous about the rooms getting booked as quick or people driving back after our reception. Do you think that would work? We will also send out the save the dates early but how early is too early? Is a year out too early with an issue like this? 

Also, I wasn't sure if we should block off rooms at a bunch of different hotels because if they aren't near eachother, the shuttle idea wouldn't work too well. I just wish we could find a couple hotels near eachother that would let me reserve more than 10 room blocks. We are inviting 200 people, all out of town, so I'm sure they will be booked!

ChelseaB425

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_central-new-york_sept-22-2012-geneva-area?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:621Discussion:7c783fc9-7a9e-4067-9d7e-b9c20945c8b5Post:4ee1c3ac-b8e7-4c7e-9a8b-d3f7e948ea9f">Re: Sept. 22, 2012 - Geneva Area?</a>:
[QUOTE] We will also send out the save the dates early but how early is too early? Is a year out too early with an issue like this? 
Posted by LadyJ2949[/QUOTE]

I'm sending out our Save the Dates in late October to beat the holiday mail rush, and I don't want to wait until after because so many people are coming from out of town. I think a year early is acceptable especially in your situation.

sbolger17

I sent mine out right after the New Year for a 9/24 wedding.  So about 8.5 months out.  If you go earlier than that, I would do it before the holiday season like Chelsea said.