One of the items we cover in our destination wedding consultation is what kind of a group you are expecting. Is this a true group, with a room block contract, or no? It is not uncommon to think any collection of people qualifies as a group, but that is not so.

Hotel brands throughout the world handle room block contracts similarly, but let’s focus on all inclusive resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean. In general, when we work with an all inclusive resort, we will be contracting our group through a preferred tour operator. There are many options, and I would say each agency has their select few. We love Classic Vacations and have a great relationship with them, but other good options are Travel Impressions, GOGO Vacations, Delta Vacations, and more. For travel advisors, the agency relationship with the operator will be the determining factor, and this is not something you need to focus on. It should work seemlessly for you as the destination wedding couple.

A tour operator acts as a wholesaler and buys up group space. We work through the tour operator to contract space with the preferred hotel. It is rare that we work direct with a hotel group coordinator. I know that might seem counterintuitive from a client point of view, but having our tour operator relationship improves customer service and connections. We can often get things done faster through our operator than the resort directly. It is one more level of support. However, I think there is a change in the wind with resort and hotels since covid, so we may see that look differently in the future, but for now, that is our best practice.

When you schedule your destination wedding consultation there are a few things you will want to have a rough knowledge of regarding your group before the meeting; group size, room configuration, room category, and guest needs.

• Group size. This is not your invite list. The invite list is a good start but based on past performance, you can expect 60-80% of your invite list to attend. Have you told anyone that you were thinking of a destination wedding? What is the feedback on who might attend?

• Room configuration. Another good thought to have a handle on is guest room configurations. Will you need rooms for 2 people, 3 people, 4 people? Are they all adults or are children traveling? All inclusive rooms are billed based on guest occupancy. The nightly rate is not the same for all and will be based on guest count per room and perhaps a child rate. (While on that note, typically child rates are 12 and under.)

• Room category. We won’t expect you to know the names of room categories for the resorts. We can help you with resorts that fit your dreams, and then tackle the categories. What is helpful to know at the time of consultation is what you would love; ocean front, ocean view, swim up, or just a room on the resort? What do you think your wedding guests will prefer? When it comes to creating the destination wedding room block, we will hold just a few options. It is always possible to book outside those options based on availabilty, but we will want the bulk to be in a few categories to reduce confusion and help guests make decisions easier. Plus, the resort will need us to be specific.

• Guest needs. I know the destination wedding is about you and your partner. We definitely want to help you choose your dream location. However, you do want to have the location be somewhere the guests can manage to attend. If you have guests with special needs or physical difficulties we need to take that into consideration. We also need to think about preferred guest budget. Typically we focus on that in terms of a nightly rate. What do you think is the price range that your guests will likely pay?

The biggest discussion regarding your destination wedding group will be what type of group it is. In the all inclusive world with tour operators, you can have a traditional group contract or what is known as a flexible group.

Traditional Room Block Contract: If you are certain you will have a minimum of 10 rooms booked, my recommendation is that you plan on a traditional group contract.

• The traditional wedding group contract will pull space from the resort inventory which will guarantee that your wedding guests will have rooms and that the room rate will be the same for all guests. There is nothing worse than having the resort sell out while you are waiting for your guests to book.

• You will have a deposit due per room to hold the space, typically $50 to $100 per room, but this varies by resort. Often couples do not want to do this, thinking they will be stuck. This money is not lost or locked up in the guests room reservation, it just acts as a place holder and stays at the group level. Once your guests have all booked, that money will be applied to your room reservation or refunded to you. It is money that you will be spending anyway.

• We will have a timeline to follow for when guest payments are due and when we will have to release unsold rooms. We will keep a tight handle on that so that you are not paying for rooms that you are not using.

• PERKS! The resort prefers all wedding guests book through the same means so they will pay you incentives to do that. Traditional room block contracts typically come with a wide variety of perks for the couple. This can be anything from cocktail parties to complimentary rooms, which can be paid out in money to you after the wedding. Our wedding couples often earn their rooms free or close to it by the time the concessions are paid out. The larger the group, the better the incentives. This is how having a destination wedding can really help cut traditional wedding costs.

Flexible Contract: A flexible contract is available for a minimum of 5 rooms. The flexible contract does not hold space, nor guarantee pricing. There is no deposit to hold guest rooms. All the flexible group does is tie the rooms together for the resort to manage the wedding attendance needs. You might earn concessions based on group size, but often it is just a small discount per room of $25-50. It is generally not as beneficial as a traditional room block contract. In my experience, it is hard to have guests book through the same means if you do not have a room block contract. It also takes longer for guests to book because their is no timeline required. The couple ends up stressing because people are not booking, and when they do inquire, the resort availability is dwindling. It adds up to stress for the couples and little compensation toward costs. However, it may be the route that is required if the group size is from 5 to 9 rooms.

We can’t change from one type of group to another after your guests start booking, so this will be decided in the beginning.

The great news is you do not have to do this alone! We are here from the beginning to walk you through locations, group type, contract terms, payment and attrition dates and more. We become the point of contact for your guests so that you do not have to be in the middle. The goal is to give you time and freedom to focus on your wedding, while we take care of the rest. Schedule your destination wedding consultation to get things started!