Paying for accomodation at the reception

LandyAndy

Hmmm. Another OP who joins, makes their first post and then immediately logs out and doesn't log in again.


I wonder if this hotel is under a bridge somewhere?

cats2012

My friend did this - but she took the hit then recouped what she could. They gave people a good rate for the rooms and some people who needed to stay anyway did use them, but she had already baked it in so getting some back was just a bonus.

onlyroz

I think it's OK to ask guests to pay you directly if they wish to use a room, but it is absolutely not on to insist that they have a room - many would prefer to go home at the end of the night, or sort out their own accomodation. So if you're going to insist on having "exclusive use" of the hotel (and I can't for the life of me think why you would need this) then you'll have to pay for all the rooms yourself and hope that some of your guests want to stay in them.

TBagpuss

onlyroz wrote: »

I think it's OK to ask guests to pay you directly if they wish to use a room, but it is absolutely not on to insist that they have a room - many would prefer to go home at the end of the night, or sort out their own accomodation. So if you're going to insist on having "exclusive use" of the hotel (and I can't for the life of me think why you would need this) then you'll have to pay for all the rooms yourself and hope that some of your guests want to stay in them.

Yes, if you decide to book the rooms you need to make absolutely clear to guests that they are available, but make sure you do not put them under any pressure at all (including making sure you don't make any comments about the cost if people don;t book)

The issue as to what the rooms cost is a red herring. £75 will seem cheap to some, expensive to others. IT's not your call to make as to what your guests can afford, that's up to them.

pinkteapot

I'm not sure the OP ever intended to tell guests they had to pay £75 if they wanted to come, as some on here seem to be assuming.

I also think that if the OP doesn't book exclusive use, then the hotel will of course take direct bookings for guests. They're a hotel with rooms to sell. The guests are just people booking rooms!

OP - your options are to:

1. Book exclusive use. You pay the bill. When you send the invites, say something like "If you'd like to stay the night at the venue, rooms are £75 each. Please contact us if you'd like a room." Accept the fact that you may not sell them all and you may end up footing the bill. If guests can look on the hotel website and see that £75 is the normal price for a room, they won't mind doing it through you. As someone else said, you've got all the admin to deal with though.

2. Make do without exclusive use.

You said you wanted exclusive use, but in the worst case you'll only have a few guests want to stay over. It would be a bit of a ghost-town the next morning and it will have cost you a lot of money.

We didn't have exclusive use of our venue and it wasn't an issue at all. Some guests chose to stay at the venue and we saw a lot of them at breakfast which was lovely, and we had a more chilled out natter than we had the day before. With our invites I did give people info about various accommodation options nearby as cheaper options were available (Premier Inns etc) which several people opted for.

We did pay for my bridesmaids and hubby's best man to have rooms, because all were travelling some distance and would have had to stay over really.

FatVonD

I worked with someone who had the exact same dilemma, in the end they booked all the rooms and offered them to guests at Travelodge prices.

Personally I think if you can't afford it then you can't afford it and need to cut your coat according to your cloth rather than expecting your guests to subsidise your wedding.

Is there any way you could just book one floor of rooms at the hotel rather than all of them so you'd only be running into friends and family and any strangers would be on another floor?

sweetilemon

Most of my friends have done this tbh, I generally pay my accommodation for a wedding through the bride and groom. It is a given we will be staying overnight due to where we live so most friends have offered us accommodation where the wedding is. I've paid a lot more than £75 but treated it as a holiday and some lovely hotels. I would object to being told rather than asked if I'd like to stay and pay for the hotel. Most places my friends have got married and done this the place has been very remote with little other options so if it's central it might be hard to convince 50 singles/couples/families to stay in the hotel.

Is it a venue that needs to be exclusive? Hope it works out for you.

Generally I think it's fine to give the option and ask them to pay the money direct to you but not ok to demand each guest stays.

We paid for our bridesmaid and best man the night before and night of.

dirty_magic

I'd find somewhere else. This is just going to end up being extra hassle for you. Wedding planning should be fun, and if you're already worrying about whether you should ask it's not a good sign. There's going to be someone that's offended by this, even if some don't mind.

Personally I wouldn't mind if it was a close friend or relative, but I wouldn't be very impressed if they weren't that close. Bear in mind that guests already have to pay for travel, a wedding gift, something to wear and maybe an expensive hen/stag do too. Ultimately this is your big day, not theirs.

Lunar_Eclipse

I wouldn't even contemplate the exclusive use option. 50 rooms is loads to fill and there is no polite way of asking guests to pay to stay.

In reality, you need to be prepared to pay for the rooms, walk away or forget exclusive use. If you love it as much as you say you do, the latter is your best option (& will be fine!)

lazer

i don't see a problem with this as long as you are prepared to cover the cost of the vacant rooms.

I assume you are not insisiting people stay over, but giving them the option to book a room through you if they choose.

I think when we got married with 130 guests we used about 45 rooms, but my husband's family live over 100 mile away (and some of them 1000's of miles away) so we knew there would be a big uptake of rooms and had reserved 40 rooms in the hotel, in the end we needed to contact the hotel to see if we could get more rooms on our block booking.

A possible option is to ask the hotel if they could take £75 cash from guests checking out and then give the money to you?
(you would need to explain to guests that the hotel rooms are cash only - no cards accepted)