Any tips for haggling down corkage costs?

emlou2009

As the title suggests really - we are going for the Holiday Inn package, but have been quoted either £16.95 per bottle of house red or white :eek: or £10 corkage per bottle! £10!! I was emailed the quote so havent responded as yet, but we do want as much booze as we can possibly afford so we really do need to haggle it down if we can. I am worried that if I dont haggle it down properly first time we're stuck

boliston

Bring your own corkscrew?

mmikailian

What £10 corkage what a rip off? I was going to ask them this question myself! I am having a holiday inn package too thats really dear unless its for a bottle of Vodka LOL

mrcow

Buy screwtops and get your FIL to smuggle them in.

shellsuit

I'd just respond and ask them if there is anything they can do about those figures ~ they can only say No, so go for it x

ETA : It's not just the price for opening the wine, it's the use of their glasses and them keeping them chilled for you etc...

Actually, be cheeky and ask if they can bring that charge down if you won't be having corked bottles x

boliston

shellsuit wrote: »

....

ETA : It's not just the price for opening the wine, it's the use of their glasses and them keeping them chilled for you etc...

This is certainly an argument at least for lower corkage on red wines as they don't require chilling.

frannyann

Wine has a massive mark up in the hotel world, the 'corkage' mearly represents the profit they would lose per bottle (if not charged) on bringing your own. A £16.95 bottle of wine will have cost no more than about £6 from the wholesalers (if that!!) This is what to bear in mind when haggling the corkage cost, they need to see that other areas will 'up' their profits. Explaining that a large number of evening guest are coming and will be spending in the hotel bar for example (worked for us!!) What may work better is to discuss the bulk buying of the wine from the venue itself for a healthy discount, aim for £11 per bottle or £6 corkage as a starting point!

Dizzie77

When I used to work in a hotel (way way back in the day) our sparking wine for toasts was bought by the hotel at £1.55 a bottle, it was sold on at £12.95 a bottle....!
There is MUCH money to be made on the alcohol at weddings...!!

Gleeful

Our corkage is £5 per bottle. I have no argument with that. We're taking in 15 bottles of champagne (very MSE as 3 were engagement prezzies and the other 12 are the Sainsburys Charles Lafitte offer) so the corkage of £75 I think is reasonable compared to buying their champagne. We'll probably also take some wine for during the meal. After that, our guests are on their own lol.

Jilly5

Ours is £8 a bottle corkage and i thought that was horrendous!! I'm thinking of smuggling in some of the red lol!! The other thing i was wondering is how do you know that all the bottles are put out for your guests? What if some are left over and are 'lost' and you are paying £8 or £10 or whatever for nothing and losing your wine!! How can i ask the venue to prove to me we have drunk it?? Ask for the corks or screw tops?? How bad does that sound!!

I'd definately email back and ask for a reduction - they can only say no but you don't know till you ask.

J x

emlou2009

Thank you everyone for your replies!

I think their prices in general really are quite dear for what they are, I also asked what they would charge if we were to put some bottles of beer behind the bar and she said £3.75 per bottle for that, even!! My local Somerfield has got 6 Budweisers for £6 at the moment, so they must cost under £1 per bottle for trade to buy in - shocking! She wanted me to add on a starter or dessert for each person at £5.75 as well which we wont be taking her up on, I am going to assume that there will be no charge for eating our own wedding cake (where is rolleyes when you need it!)

I do "get" that they need to make a profit either way and do understand why they do corkage, but I keep wanting to shake her and shout "its only the bl00dy holiday inn, who on earth do you think you are with these prices??) :rotfl:

I think I will go along with what frannyann said (the queen of the haggle, after all ) and explain that I know how corkage works with the need for profit, and say that we are looking to hire a minibus to get some men over from OH's home town and that they are all beer and cider drinkers anyway, so they are going to make a profit there! I like the idea of trying to haggle down the cost of their own wine as well, it would be less hassle to get it directly from them after all. And I'll definitely be asking if its cheaper to have screw tops :rotfl:
Do you think I should be emailing or asking this face to face? On one hand, if its emailed, I've got it in writing, but face to face she cant think about the reply, IYSWIM?