Hotel Blocks and Shuttle Service

lauraminn

I have a question regarding some services the hotel can include for us if we block a room there. I was told by my venue that a particular hotel would provide free shuttle service from the hotel to the venue and back for guests who booked as part of our block. 

I contacted the hotel, and come to find out you can do a block for $89 a room without the shuttle, and it becomes $109 a room with the shuttle. (This also includes a complimentary room for my fi and myself).

Out of curiousity, I looked up the advertised rates for the hotel. The rates are from $88-104 a night. I contacted the hotel to see if they could lower the block rate a bit.

I guess I would feel bad having guests paying above advertised rate, even if it does include the shuttle service (btw, the shuttles are nice and new...look like stretch hummers, so at least there's that).

What do you guys think?

chilover27

Hey I think we might be using the same hotel since I just had the same convo with the sales manager yesterday. I thought the 109 price was a bit much even with the shuttle. Until I priced out a shuttle service that would cost us 300 or more. So basically I'm going with the 109 room rate for our guests lol hopefully it will not be a problem for most.

klustig

I think that's pretty reasonable in this area!

mrsR12

Our was similar, the shuttle is complimentary but the rate offered was in the middle of what's advertised online.  the lower online rate was non refundable and the higher rate was the one that they can cancel up 'til 24 hrs before.  

MrsMeganL2012

How many rooms do you think you'll book?  Take that number times $20 to use as your starting point for getting a separate shuttle service quote.  Unless you're having lots of rooms, you're probably better off with the hotel cost of the shuttle. 

BUT, if you were thinking of paying yourself for an outside shuttle service, why don't you see if the hotel will charge your guests the $89 and pay the $20 shuttle fee/room yourself?  We're doing this for our hotel with the breakfast.....they will just charge our credit card based on the number of guests booked for our room block.

Farynyk

My opinion is to go for it! Personally, I would rather pay a little bit more and not have to worry about driving. I feel like a lot of people will feel the same way.

lconoran

We were torn with the same decision. I don't particularly think the $109 is high for a hotel room in this area (same rate I believe as we were qouted) but we were thinking the same thing "is it cool to build the service WE want to provide into our GUESTS room cost?". Well we decided, Yes. Lol I think this is very common at least in our area and most of our friends won't think twice about it. However it never hurts to negotiate!

cutiepie12702

The rate for my block was $159, and I just received a wedding invite with a hotel block for $189 - so $109 is very cheap IMO.

LADY324

$109 is still really cheap I would just go with that it will save you the stress and cost of hiring an outside shuttle company.

lauraminn

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-jersey_hotel-blocks-and-shuttle-service?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:90Discussion:a2a41e6c-2cad-49b4-93bd-e43a60cb04bcPost:bfa68133-283e-4aaf-adc5-ba1129a9e770">Re: Hotel Blocks and Shuttle Service</a>:
[QUOTE]How many rooms do you think you'll book?  Take that number times $20 to use as your starting point for getting a separate shuttle service quote.  Unless you're having lots of rooms, you're probably better off with the hotel cost of the shuttle.  BUT, if you were thinking of paying yourself for an outside shuttle service, <strong>why don't you see if the hotel will charge your guests the $89 and pay the $20 shuttle fee/room yourself</strong>?  We're doing this for our hotel with the breakfast.....they will just charge our credit card based on the number of guests booked for our room block.
Posted by MrsMeganL2012[/QUOTE]

<div>ooo, this is a good idea and definitely something to think about. Thank you!</div>

lauraminn

Thanks everyone. I definitely feel better about the price and asking guests to subsidize the transportation. 

twin2gv1

I'm having my reception at the wilshire grand and next door they have there own boutique hotel. And We blocked 40 rooms with a price tag of 169. They would lower the price even though we blocked room for friday nite and sat nite. So def agree with everyone else at 109 is reasonable!!

Giaspo

The rate sounds good and I bet you could negotiate a bit too.  We were able to negotiate the day-after brunch for free into our rate.  One thing to note - you may want to ask how the shuttes work.  In our hotel, we had to share them with any other wedding that was there (luckily it was only us) and they couldn't guarantee they would run on schedule.  In the end it all worked out, but if your guests are paying extra it might be good to ensure they are reliable first.  GL! 

msalsich

PLEASE, PLEASE, tell me which hotel it was that was offering the free shuttle for a block of rooms. I have just started looking into this and need information ASAP. My wedding in November (we're a bit behind). We are getting married in Wayland and are looking at hotels ni Natick and Waltham.