- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee Blog
A friend of mine is doing some consulting for some boutique hotels who host a lot of weddings.
They want to better serve brides, so they’d like to know:
1) Have you ever had problems with a hotel reception venue - as a bride or as a guest? What were they?
2) What about problems with guest rooms - from getting price quotes, to reserving blocks of rooms or staying in them.
3) Is there anything else you’ve ever found annoying about a hotel? It could range from a poor website with bad photos of a ballroom, to hidden fees or whatever.
This is our chance to make a real difference in how hotels work with brides, so please chime in! 
Our hotels were great. They allowed us (and helped us) put our welcome bags in each room. They also had a dining area (think “residence inn”) where our guests and family could gather during their stay. One hotel even offered a shuttle from the airport and the reception site for some of our wedding party.
We got a discount on rooms at each hotel (we had 3), we didn’t have to pay a deposit, and we had a direct phone number for someone in the hotel if we had any problems.
I will say that we chose brand name hotels so that our guests could expect a certain standard of service. We also chose those for the reward points offered.
I’d say pictures of the ballroom and ceremony locations would be great! Also, if they are partnered with any other hotels in the area, having one central booking ability for blocks of rooms would be great.
One of my pet peeves with my hotel at the moment is that they have a block of rooms reserved for us, but if we don’t use them all we get charged a flat fee per room for not having used it- ugh. Plus, the lowest number of rooms I could make up in a block was 10.
i second that pics of ballrooms and ceremony locations are great.
A pain is that my hotel won’t allow us to bring in ANY outside food… including dduk! I mean it’s cultural, and the hotel can’t make it, but they won’t let us!
- lack of a hotel shuttle for guests or charging extraorbitant fees for a shuttle (esp when the reception is 5 miles away)
- AAA/AARP rates that are better than the hotel block rate
a two night minimum stay, for us and our guest blocks - it adds up and not every guest wants to stay oot for 2 nights. isn’t 40 rooms at one night stay better than 4 rooms at a 2 nights stay? yet, some hotels would rather pass up the business of guarenteed guests than reduce the minimum stay!
what about mrs. spider’s debacle with her hotel? the lack of customer service was a huge issue.
I tried to book rooms at my fiance’s favorite hotel for some of our guests. The owner told me he would not be booking until 2 months beforehand. This is for a summer wedding in Santa Barbara so we’re not risking it.
The only place we had luck blocking rooms was Best Western. Other hotels refused.
The biggest problem I’ve encountered (and this has been surprisingly common) is venues that can accommodate a ceremony for the number of guests we are having (80) but will not provide seating for all of them, AND won’t let us rent our own seating. For heaven’s sake, why is this even an issue? Of course I want my guests to be able to sit during the ceremony, and if there’s enough space to do so, this should be accommodated. I’ve had several locations turn down our business for this reason.
The other thing that I wish hotels would do is abolish the “set menu” plan. I think they should offer a set menu for brides/grooms who would rather just pick from a standard offering, but they should also be willing to work with the wedding group to create the menu they would like to serve. This seems to be much easier to do with caterers, but hotels/restaurants that do their own catering never want to deviate from their standard offerings. I think for a day that is as important as a wedding, brides and grooms would love to see their vision accomplished rather than compromise because their first choices aren’t offered.
Im booking with Best Western too, and once I figured out the right person to block rooms with (online or the front desk person), it’s been really easy. Just a credit card to reserve, then a week or two before the date all the empty rooms are released with no obligation. And the rates are good (though no better than AARP like Sarah said.)
As a wedding videographer I’ve had the bride’s family book rooms for me at hotels, and on several occasions they couldn’t find my reservation. Maybe it’s confusion with two names. Don’t know if that’s common, but it can be stressful for me and a hassle for the bride.
I think hotel food generally has the bad rap of being generic, and I think oftentimes its true. My reception is at a hotel, and food is something I am concerned about. At $100+, I dont want generic, but I’m not sure how “creative” they can be (won’t have the tasting for a while).
They also told me that if I want shrimp cocktail, its friggin $4 PER SHRIMP. C’mon!! I WORK for this company for cryin out loud, cut me some slack. haha.
Booking the hotels has been the single greatest source of frustration so far in planning our wedding. Granted we are getting married in a busy city over a holiday weekend, but I can’t believe how lousy the customer service at some of the boutique hotels has been. Not returning phone calls, telling me they’ll check on something and get back to me and then not doing it, and just generally having an attitude of “we don’t really care if we get your business or not.” Can hotels really afford to act like that, even if they are in big cities?
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Mrs. Bee, New York Age and Occupation: 29, Weddingbee Publisher Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Internet Engagement Date: May 7, 2004 Wedding Date: March 5, 2005 Venue: Westside Loft, New York About Me: Yes, my name really is Bee! I love my blogging, wikis, and tabasco sauce!
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Latest Gallery Pics