Deals ffrom hotels

Angel2009

We are hoping to get married July 2011 and went to see a hotel this eveing in county galway. It went great,we really like the hotel and got what we thought was quite a good offer. However,after talking to a few people I am beginning to doubt myself! We can get a four course meal,with half a bottle of wine and finger food for the afters for as many guests as we wish for 46 euro per person. Now,that means that if we are having 150 people we pay 6,900 to the hotel and this will feed 150 guests for the reception and as many guests as we like for the night part (band/disco!). The reason I'm posting this is I am wondering does this seem to be a good deal or are there other hotels out there doing better?

Pherekydes

Angel2009 wrote: »

We are hoping to get married July 2011 and went to see a hotel this eveing in county galway. It went great,we really like the hotel and got what we thought was quite a good offer. However,after talking to a few people I am beginning to doubt myself! We can get a four course meal,with half a bottle of wine and finger food for the afters for as many guests as we wish for 46 euro per person. Now,that means that if we are having 150 people we pay 6,900 to the hotel and this will feed 150 guests for the reception and as many guests as we like for the night part (band/disco!). The reason I'm posting this is I am wondering does this seem to be a good deal or are there other hotels out there doing better?

Just had a reception in the Ardboyne in Navan. It was 36 for the meal and 7 for the finger food. Wine was not included in this. They have lowered their prices for 2010 to 34.75 pppm. I'm sure you could do better. Just shop around. You still have time on your side!

Clueless09

hi ya it would depend really on what hotel you are booking at that price... For €46 a head i am getting 4 courses with a choice of main, two glasses of wine per person, free afters food for 100 people(half the number of guests we have), they are also throwing in wine reception, bar extension, three free rooms for the night and other bits and pieces, Basically any price we questioned, they were more than willing to negotiate on. PM me if you want more details, we visited 3 city hotels before we booked and feel we got the best deal out of the hotel that we could possibly get!

mikemac

You have plenty of time OP

And wow, from when I worked in hotels a few years back, the deals are getting better and better. Especially if you book a mid-week wedding.
A few years back you woudn't get that deal for €46 a head

Visit everywhere you want and make the staff sell the place to you. Once you have a shortlist you can bargain them down. And there is certainly always room to bargain

clint_silver

Can I suggest people investigate what they are getting for finger food. If hotels are charging 7 per head, this will invariably be cocktail sausages and sandwiches. If youve 150 people thats nearly 1000e. The sandwiches will more then likely have been sitting in the fridge since that morning and half of them will be returned as inedible. The sausages could be used as rawl plugs theyre that rubbery after being cooked hours before and reheated.

Ask the hotel what will the finger food be, how the sandwiches are prepared, what quality sausages, cos if youre paying the guts of a grand, demand to know where your money is going.

As posted frequently before, I play at weddings and see it regularly, Ive seen trays of sausages and sandwiches returned and being dumped in the bin cos theyre inedible. And its always in the same places (always reluctant to name but pm me for advice on that). such a waste of food and money. Other places provide absolute quality finger food for what I know is the same price the other bad places charge. Bride and groom are usually just happy that the food is coming out they dont notice, guest usually dont complain to the bride and groom and its 1000e just gone.

Most 4-5 * places have good afters food, highlights over the last year being the heritage golf club with their personally served freshly cooked mini portion fish and chips and special mention to the K Club with their freshly cooked rashers on batch bread sandwiches. There is no way that they cost more then 7e a head. Why do hotels think rubbery sausages and stale sandwiches will suffice?

BC

When you are looking at packages make sure you compare hotels based on the same packages. E.g you might see a hotel offering a menu for 30 and another offering one for 50 where one is giving chicken as the main and the other fillet steak! Big difference, make sure you're comparing like with like. Also their might be other things thrown in - some hotels include chair covers, others don't. Some include the centrepieces on the tables, others don't. Same with bar extensions, table plans etc etc. We had a particular idea on the food we wanted and while a lot of hotels were doing really good deals, when we compared like with like right down to the finer details there was actually very little difference in prices accross the board (Dublin).

Curious Geroge

Angel2009 wrote: »

We are hoping to get married July 2011 and went to see a hotel this eveing in county galway. It went great,we really like the hotel and got what we thought was quite a good offer. However,after talking to a few people I am beginning to doubt myself! We can get a four course meal,with half a bottle of wine and finger food for the afters for as many guests as we wish for 46 euro per person. Now,that means that if we are having 150 people we pay 6,900 to the hotel and this will feed 150 guests for the reception and as many guests as we like for the night part (band/disco!). The reason I'm posting this is I am wondering does this seem to be a good deal or are there other hotels out there doing better?

Any chance you could PM me the hotel details. We are €50pp without wine (+corkage) in Galway. Deposit paid but hoping there can be more knocked off.

Anyone know whats the best approach to reducing the cost after initial booking depoist is paid ?

Angel2009

Hi all,
Just to say thanks for all the replies, I just want to ask one more thing, the hotel are looking for €1500 deposit. Is this the norm?

Angel2009

Hi all,
Just to say thanks for all the replies, I just want to ask one more thing, the hotel are looking for €1500 deposit. Is this the norm?

clint_silver

Angel2009 wrote: »

Hi all,
Just to say thanks for all the replies, I just want to ask one more thing, the hotel are looking for €1500 deposit. Is this the norm?

The quantity of the deposit depends on the hotel but anything around 20% is the norm. If you really dont have it right now, try and agree a lower figure with promise of the rest at an agreed date. Up to the hotel to agree to this though.

Nearly all vendors will ask for a deposit btw. Same applies of 10-20% or a set figure. This will usually be non-refundable except in special circumstances.

Hotels and Vendors at weddings can usually only work that one night for you (a florist might be able to do several weddings but a photographer and DJ can only do yours) so there has to be some protection built in to protect earnings if theyre holding that date for you.

Angel2009

Ok, but I have been told to beware of hotels asking for too big a deposit. This in my opinion is a very large deposit, this is just under 25% of the total bill.

clint_silver

Angel2009 wrote: »

Ok, but I have been told to beware of hotels asking for too big a deposit. This in my opinion is a very large deposit, this is just under 25% of the total bill.

hotels need cash flow at the moment. Theyll ask for what they can get away with, while they have to protect their income, you have to protect yourself from the hotel if it were unable to cater for your wedding for any reason.

Personally, 25% seems just a little bit too much but its not like that much really. I mean if it were the norm of 20% there'd only be 3-4 hundred in the difference while maybe sounding a lot to some which isnt much in the scheme of what youre going to be spending overall.
Go back and say you can only and are only willing to give 10% or 15% max in line with what other vendors are charging. See what they say. Most hard and fast rules of booking vendors for weddings are gone out the window in the last year. They can only say no.

Clueless09

thats a lot-our bill should be over 10k we gave them €750. This is what they asked for.

Toots

Our hotel looked for a €1000 deposit from us, which will work out at around 12.5% of our total cost. Personally I think 25% is a huge deposit to be putting down, I'd definitely see if they'll negotiate on this.