There are so many things to consider when trying to decide on a location and hotel for your destination wedding.

In an effort to reduce your stress, and make your decision making easier, we would like to de-mystify the lingo, help you understand the different options available to you, and to help you in your decision making process.

Let’s Start With Some Common Acronyms:
AI = All Inclusive (All meals, drinks and usually non-motorized water sports are included in the rate plan)
EP = European Plan (Only your room is included in the rate)
MAP = Modified American Plan (Usually breakfast and dinner are included in your rate plan)
AO = Adults Only (Most hotels and resorts consider 18 and over as adults, although some start at 16)

Before we delve into hotel information, let’s think about a destination for your perfect wedding away.

Bora Bora? Italy? Hawaii? Australia? Mexico? So many choices!!!

In order to best help you to decide where your destination wedding could be, think about who you want to invite, what friends and family you would like to share your wedding with. So, if Bora Bora seems as if it would be your destination of choice, does that align with who you want to share your wedding day with? If you live in North America, the time and cost to travel to Bora Bora will most likely greatly reduce your guest list. We recommend that you try to balance your desires and ‘must haves’ to attend your wedding, in order to try and achieve the perfect combination of distance, cost, and destination. But, at the end of the day, it is your wedding, and both of you need to make it your day. Now that this is out of the way, let’s look at hotels, and the best way to make sure that you understand all of the booking options available to you, how they work, and the best way to approach these choices.

There are 3-ways to reserve rooms for your wedding:

Everyone books on their own with no rooms reserved in advance
Pro’s:
1. Honestly, there are none!
Con’s:
1. There may be no rooms available as the hotel will be sold out as nothing was reserved in advance.
2. You have no control and no knowledge of who has booked and who hasn’t.

Flexible Group  (this is commonly known by many different names) If you use a Destination Wedding Travel Professional, they can usually arrange for a ‘flex’ group for your wedding. This essentially means that everyone that reserves their room with your agent will be part of your wedding group at the hotel.
Pro’s:
1. Your guests will have someone to help with their room reservations to attend your wedding.
2. You won’t have to be involved with this process which can become a much bigger responsibility than you want to take on.
3. All of your guests will become part of your wedding party for hotel purposes.
4. Your DW Travel Professional can oftentimes get you great perks based on the number of room nights booked for your wedding. Some resorts even offer free events such as cocktail receptions, free rooms for the bride and groom, and more, based on the number of room nights.
5. Your agent will always be able to tell you who has booked rooms and who has not.
Cons:
1. No rooms are reserved so there is no guarantee that there will be rooms left at your hotel when your guests book.
2. Room rates will be different for everyone as rates change often based on availability

Group Agreement (A contract is negotiated on your behalf that reserves your needed rooms in advance)
Pro’s:
1. Your Destination Wedding Travel Specialist will negotiate the best contract that includes reserved rooms, perks based on room nights, and the least amount of up front deposit needed.
2. Your DW Travel Specialist will manage the room block and be able to make sure that rooms are added or reduced based on the needs of your group.
3. Your DW Travel Specialist will stay on top of timelines to make sure that if contracted rooms are not used, they are reduced to comply with the terms of the contract, and to avoid fees and penalties.
4. All of your guests will pay the same rate, no matter when they book. Oftentimes rates are increased the closer to the event date, so late reserving guests will pay the same rate as guests that booked months earlier (we recommend that room block agreements are put into place 1-year before the event).
5. Usually perks such as free rooms, free events, etc are much better when negotiated with a rooms agreement.
Con’s:
1. If you use a DW Travel Specialist, there usually are no con’s.
2. If you don’t use a DW Travel Specialist, you will need to be the contact between the hotel, your guests, and yourself.

What are the advantages in using a Destination Wedding Travel Specialist?

1. An experienced Destination Wedding Travel Specialist travels to all of the popular, as well as off the beaten track hotels to do site-inspections. That specialist will know from personal experiences (both from their personal visit and past clients) the best hotels to recommend, based on your likes, dislikes, and dream perfect wedding away. They also will be your independent eyes and ears to negotiate the best arrangements for your wedding.
2. DW Travel Specialists usually work with several different wholesalers that only work with agents. These wholesalers are able to offer competitive rates and agreements on behalf of hotels and resorts because the majority of rooms sold at resorts / hotels are sold by these wholesalers.
3. Most agreements with hotels have important timelines that must be honored to avoid financial penalties. These timelines are a normal part of doing business for them, and are managed for you.
4. An experienced DW Travel Specialist that has been doing Destination Weddings for 10-years or more, tend to know the important people at the hotels and resorts, and oftentimes have good working relationships with these people. Having this experienced person in your corner, if something needs immediate attention during your wedding event, knows the right people to contact to advocate for you.