How & what to negotiate with hotel?

DreamingOfABoat

Hi all,

We are currently planning for our wedding and no doubt like most others surprised at how expensive everything is...
Given that we are in recession & money is tight here - I would like to try & get the best possible price without impacting on quality.
We have visited a number of hotels & narrowed it down to 2 or 3 hotels. All have different positives & dates available. Generally speaking all 3 are close enough on price on starter / main course (as we selected types of hotels to visit given our respective budget). The corkerage was different ranging from 8 to 13 for wine - but we will prob go for house wine ranging from 18 to 28.

Given this very brief details - can anyone give me some tips on HOW to negotiate with hotels? Or even WHAT to negotiate on??

Are there some things to look at first, which will help me identify what to do?

I know, I'm useless at all this and feel totally out of my depth. So any help & advice you can offer would be most grateful.

pc00379

DreamingOfABoat, I found when looking at this that there were 3 main costs for the reception: food; wine; evening snacks.
The house wine for our wedding was expensive so we went with buying it ourselves & then paying for Corkerage. We got advice from a friend on what would be a good wine.
Re. negotiating - that really is a personal thing. Since you have 3 hotels it is up to you whether you want to try & 'play one hotel off the other' but you don't want to bring it down to cattle mart talk either... You have to be happy with the location.
We got a discount on drinks on entering the hotel as well as the evening snacks - and we were happy with that.

Best of luck

DreamingOfABoat

On the negotiation thats interesting.
I wonder what people think about best way of saying things:
Should I say something like: "We are really interested & would love to have reception with you (Hotel A) but its too expensive..." and then see what they respond with?
Or should I say something like "In Hotel B, we are getting X, Y & Z and given the times we are in, are leaning to going with them.." and then see what they say??

What do you think?

black123

We got engaged two weeks ago and went looking at hotels for the first time today. Saw three hotels. Im not a big at pushing for bargins but heres what worked for us:
1. We told them we always had a bit of a gripe about corkage and that it was something only invented in the boom and they simple said thats fine we'll do it for free.
2. When looking at different sample menus we asked could it be possible to have an extra that was not included e.g. free seat covers, included. They simple said yes.
3. When looking at a sample menu we'd go 'god we didnt plan to spend that much' they offered everything from a free round of drinks to a free helicopter ride.
4. For bridal gifts e.g. a free anniversary dinner, we asked could we get a reduced rate for guests instead they said no problem.

Basically they'll give you anything you want they even told us that the ball is now in the customers court, everything is up for negotiation. All you have to do is ask its as simple as that. And if there is a an extra that needs to be paid for just ask for it to be part of the package and you'll more than likely get it.

Happy hotel shopping!

WesternNight

If at all possible, don't mention that it's a wedding. Just say it's a party. Get the quotations and then hold them to that when you tell them (if you have to) that it's a wedding...because I've heard so many stories about hotels hiking up the price if they know it's a wedding.

clint_silver

WesternNight wrote: »

If at all possible, don't mention that it's a wedding. Just say it's a party. Get the quotations and then hold them to that when you tell them (if you have to) that it's a wedding...because I've heard so many stories about hotels hiking up the price if they know it's a wedding.

This just doesnt work on so many levels so dont bother trying. Someone, somewhere, once, may have got finger food cheaper.

To the OP, it depends on the hotel on what theyll bargain on, some hotels are flexible, others arent, depends on the date as well. If its a monday in october Id imagine they'd helicopter 200 guests in, if its a saturday in august in a popular hotel, they know could book it out ten times over so their flexibility isnt so....flexible.

You can either negotiate on an entire price or individual items. Id advise to get a total price from your selected hotels, then go to the them and say youve narrowed it down to the 2-3 so now its coming down to price can you do anything or if youve picked one tell them youd love to have it there but youre restricted on price, come down 10-15% on total price and youll do it. May be easier then asking them to knock off 2euro a seat cover.
.

pc00379

Yeah, I think 'clint silver' has it right..
Visit the hotels & then ask for prices.. Tell them that you have narrowed it down to 3 and you want to compare like with like. Then you have a starting place. After that I would go with what 'clint silver' suggested... you'd like to go with them but knock % off.. Only thing then is, what is the appropriate % to ask for? Would you go for 25% in these times??

cyning

Ok so straight off my OH is a chef where we are getting married but judging by what he says and all the hotels I looked at etc:

They put on the price of the corkage to take it off..... get a decent hotel that's trying to fill dates and MOST will take off corkage. Don't go with the house wine it will work out more expensive.

Don't get married during June-Aug 20% dearer on average (for us it was a difference of €15 a head between first week of Sep and last week of Aug) Also (and i know most guests hate it but if they want to be there they will be) Thursday will be up to 20% cheaper too.

For €40 a head we get drinks reception (mulled wine or punch and a piano player) 4 course meal and finger food but our friends are paying €50 for the same thing (as I said himself is a chef there). Their advertised price for that is €60

Do tell them it is a wedding: for a start most will cop it and secondly for the likes of the finger food it should be thrown in for free!!! (Every hotel we talked to don't charge extra for this) Plus who wants to irritate the hotel they are having their wedding in???

kizzabel

i reckon we will tell the hotel its a wedding as just by doing a bit of web browsing most seem to offer extras for their wedding packages (numbers dependant)

haggle haggle haggle.

tell them you have a budget. if they want the custom they'll work hard.

useurename

it all depends on the hotel you are going to choose.if they have nothing booked they will do anything to get you and your guests in the door.everything is negotiable so dont be afraid to have a good natured haggle