Hotel Help

guswoman

Apparently WWE Wrestlemania is in town the weekend of our wedding, for which we have already made half of our deposits. We haven't been able to find a decent hotel under $400 to host our out of town guests (which is 90% of them). I was hoping someone had some ideas as to what other options might be available? Smaller hotels, B&Bs, any insider scoop? Anything? Please? I'm afraid no one will be able to afford the $579 Montleone and will just not come, then I will have paid a ridiculous amount of money for 12 family members who would have been just as happy doing this in a backyard somewhere. And, while I love Metairie as much as the next louisianian, I doubt that people will want to fly 2000+ miles to vacation in Metairie, LA. If there is no hope, please let me down gently. I'm quite fragile right now. Thanks.

kbsmom1

Contact the Convention Bureau and put out for bid for a room block....how about uptown????

guswoman

Yeah, uptown would be ideal. I submitted a request thru the CB, a rep called me today asking if my date was flexible...No real help there. Do you know of any uptown spots other than what's on the major travel sites? Thanks for replying by the way

ampenick

Try a hotel along St. Charles Ave.  There is a Best Western Plus, Hampton Inn, Quality Inn- Maison St. Charles, and Clarion Inn Grand Boutique that I know of right off the top of my head.  If you are going with somewhere more upscale, i.e. Hotel Monteleone, Le Pavilion, etc, then yeah, I would expect that to be a lot more.

louisianablue

Are all of the hotels in the CBD booked?  I was able to get good rates at the Wyndham and Hilton when I got married.

guswoman

Wyndham request pending. All area Hiltons, Hamptons, and Holiday Inns booked. Quality Inn is looking like our only hope. Still rooms available around $300... Was just hoping for a lower price on a Quality inn. Just my luck I guess. Thanks guys.

alm1016

The lowest price we could get on any hotel block was at Country Inn & Suites on Magazine AND the guy that we worked with was extremely friendly/helpful. (Johnathan I think his name was) Not sure if that is too far from your wedding though?

guswoman

Country Inn booked. Clarion and Quaity- only a few rooms left, not enough to block. Nothing in the city. The convention bureau won't even return my calls or emails, I'm such a lost cause I guess.

Is it just me, or is this a nightmare? Do I cancel and try to get my deposits back? How can I expect anyone to travel across the country and not have a place to stay? They just won't come.

alm1016

Ugh, I'm sorry you have to deal with all this.  Hotel blocks were a nightmare for us too.  I literally called every place around our venue in the French Quarter (not major hotels since they were all booked) and finally found a few places. 100% of us are out of town, so literally every one of the 96 guests, including us, needed a place to stay.   In the end, some people booked those small blocks we were able to secure, but others used hotel points for other places, rented houses/apartments, bed and breakfasts, etc.  People will find a way to go!   If you are really concerned, maybe talk to your vendors and explain your issues and talk about potentially moving the date?  If they are good business people, they will understand and want to keep your business.

kgautrea

Homewood Suites on Poydras

 

GeauxTigerLily129

Where is your venue? 

That sucks about the WWE weekend...who would have ever thought it would cause that much problems in the city?

Could you extend your search out to Metairie or Slidell for hotels, and just arrange a bus to transport everyone?  

guswoman

Thanks for all the sympathy and suggestions  I can't believe WWE is such a big deal either. I'm still in shock that this is actually causing so much trouble. It feels like someone is playing a big joke on me.

The hotel chains I have called don't have any availability for blocking rooms in the entire New Orleans area. Including Metairie and Kenner. If it was just the blocking, I wouldn't be so concerned. But there is almost nothing available if I just try to book myself a single room that weekend.

Our reception will let us change the date for $500. Might be worth it. 

Thanks again. 

ZeroOrchestra

Try Hotel St Marie and Prince Conti. They don't show up in Priceline, Hotwire etc searches.

How many guests will be coming? There are tons of great deals on vrbo.com and if there are any large groups they could even rent whole houses out for the weekend.

MachenMatch

Hi! I'm so sorry to hear about your trouble. I am actually a travel agent in New Orleans, and am a member of the CVB. I work with a lot of brides for setting up group hotel blocks. For some reason, Wrestlemania weekend is crazy popular for weddings. I guess brides like the sound of the 4-4-14 date. Unfortunately, I have seen dozens of requests come through the CVB for group hotel blocks for that date. Sadly, as you know most or maybe all hotels in the city are completely sold out for group blocks. There are still some hotels that can be booked on an individual basis -- and I would encourage your guests to do so immediately. For example the Omni Royal Orleans has rooms for $233 per night, Best Western PLUS FQ $249, Hotel Indigo $289. Good luck!

As a side note, Wrestlemania isn't the only unforeseen event that has such a huge impact on availability in prices and availability. Some doctor conferences, jewelry shows, and other large conventions are causing random weekend sell-outs throughout the year. And it's too bad that brides learn of this AFTER they have made non-refundable deposits for the weddings.

guswoman

Thanks again for everyone's help.

 

We ended up moving our date (for the $500 rebooking fee). We figure it's a small price to pay to ensure all of our family and friends can attend.

As it turns out, almost everyone said that the new date works better, so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. Although we will miss the April weather, no one comes to New Orleans for the weather, right?

 

In addition, I immediately reserved blocks of rooms at 2 hotels. Lesson learned.

alm1016

I'm glad you were able to make the change--congrats and best wishes that the rest of the planning is less stressful!!