Haggling

abff

To what extent is it possible to haggle with wedding hotels over their costs? We have a wedding coming up and some of the figures are quite scary.

We've contacted a number of hotels and some of them seem to be a lot more flexible and open than others. But have people found hotels to be open to discussion in relation to things like basic cost per head, charges for extras, cost of wine, etc.?

I know to some extent we can control (or even eliminate) some costs by not going for some of the weird and wonderful things that became popular/prevalent during the Celtic tiger years, but there are some things that must be provided (like a decent meal, wine, etc.) and we would just like to know to what extent it might be possible to control these costs as well, without shortchanging our guests.

jellybear

I found and have heard from others hotels tend to add more to the package instead of lowering the price eg. They'll throw in a couple of rooms etc. Our venue took off the supplement for the beef and also the dessert which was nice and have included lots of little extras that they usually charge for- lace tablecloth and canapés.

Best of luck with your search

abff

Thanks. That's exactly the kind of advice we're looking for.

Were you happy with your wedding venue? Please send me a pm if you were, or post it here if you prefer.

We're still in the early stages of searching and any advice on venue, bands, photographers, etc. would be more than welcome.

jellybear

We're getting married this summer in Moyvalley in Kildare and honestly we've had nothing but amazing support and advice from our co-ordinator. She's fantastic and nothing is too much trouble

We went on a good few recommendations from friends for suppliers and to be honest I found the band the hardest to decide on!!

Once you make a decision though just stick with it and don't second guess yourself

Atomic Pineapple

We totally ****ed up by not haggling, you'll always be able to get a bit of a discount or some extras thrown in, if you are getting wine from outside the venue they will always be able to haggle the price of corkage down.

clint_silver

Atomic Pineapple wrote: »

We totally ****ed up by not haggling, you'll always be able to get a bit of a discount or some extras thrown in, if you are getting wine from outside the venue they will always be able to haggle the price of corkage down.

Ive found over the years that theres 2 types of vendor, the one that will give you their best price and theres no wiggle room there, and then the ones that will give you the higher price in the hope that you wont haggle.
If you don't, they get above the market price, if you do, they have their margins built in already whether thats a lowered price or an extra service.

The law of "if you dont ask you dont get" really applies here but even if you dont get, it doesnt mean youre not getting value anyway. A vendor may have priced themselves at the low end already which was to even get the business.
In the hotels case, its only through viewing many other hotels and seeing comparable prices will you know if you're getting value.

If you haven't haggled already though, theres no harm in going back with a story that you're over budget, is there any way you can be accommodated.

mcgiggles

We narrowed our search down to 2 hotels, the one we had our hearts really set on, kept going on about how they were SO in demand and had the attitude "well if you don't want to pay that, we will find someone else who will".. They didn't include evening buffet, to have their own wine was expensive, to bring in our own wine the corkage was expensive, we asked about swapping bits of the package for other options, like taking out something we didn't want and maybe get a room or 2 extra and they wouldn't budge at all. It was a pretty crap experience really.. Then we went to the second hotel, who were number 2 on our list after that first one, and we asked about the prices and they said because its christmas they couldn't move on the package prices but they could work with us on other things we liked, for instance they had 2 packages we were contemplating, one package had choice of one starter/soup/choice of 2 mains /dessert & no wine included and the second had 2 starters/soup/2 mains/dessert and wine included, but because they wouldnt budge on the price they told us if we wanted to go for the first option they would throw in the second starter option.. they were giving us 3 rooms (ours & 2 parents rooms) and we asked about getting some for bridal party and they threw in more rooms for us and gave us the rest at a discounted rate... oh and MAJOR win they have no corkage fee! They said to us themselves - well we have people there already serving, its not going to cost extra for them to pour wine also! Which is totally true I think corkage charge is pretty silly.. They are also going to put loads of decorations up for us, and decorate the candelabras for us.. they are SUPER!! She absolutely sold the place to us and made them number 1 on our list! We left on a high! Any hotel that doesn't leave you feeling like that doesn't deserve your custom IMO
So basically - as someone said above - if you don't ask you don't get.. you may not get anywhere on price but you may get extras thrown in, or if theres extras with the package that you  don't want or won't use then ask for something instead - an extra selection on the course, an extra room for the bridal party  any request you ask I'm sure they've been asked before so just go for it
Sorry for long post haha! Where are you based?

Atomic Pineapple

clint_silver wrote: »

Ive found over the years that theres 2 types of vendor, the one that will give you their best price and theres no wiggle room there, and then the ones that will give you the higher price in the hope that you wont haggle.
If you don't, they get above the market price, if you do, they have their margins built in already whether thats a lowered price or an extra service.

The law of "if you dont ask you dont get" really applies here but even if you dont get, it doesnt mean youre not getting value anyway. A vendor may have priced themselves at the low end already which was to even get the business.
In the hotels case, its only through viewing many other hotels and seeing comparable prices will you know if you're getting value.

If you haven't haggled already though, theres no harm in going back with a story that you're over budget, is there any way you can be accommodated.

This is very true, we are actually very happy with the price which is probably why haggling slipped our mind at the time, the only thing that has annoyed us about not haggling is the corkage itself, its a bit excessive and limits what we can get externally from the venue but we do plan on going back and asking if it can be reduced.

c6ysaphjvqw41k

This post has been deleted.

missmatty

My OH is a great haggler. I took my dad to get his wedding suit at the weekend and only for OH was getting his at the other end of the country at the same time I know he would have got us quite a bit off the price. I'm just too embarrassed to haggle.

Our hotel also added in some extras and allowed us to switch around a few options on our package so we are happy with it, the package price was already quite good. Haven't done the food tasting yet so more haggling shall be done I'd say.

stargazer 68

When we met with our coordinator my OH did the haggling - she included a ton of stuff - welcome reception with prosecco and extra finger food, upgrade on the evening food etc. Contract signed and deposit paid. Then she left and a new person took over - happened to be the owners daughter - we met with her to go over some details and pay some more money.

The look on her face when she saw what the other girl had thrown in was priceless. There was no way we would have got half of what we did with her!