curses, foiled again

[jaina]

The La Jolla Sea Lodge (where we're holding the wedding) is refusing to give us any kind of a discounted room rate. "Weekends in September and October are very popular and they fill up quickly, so we can't give any kind of discount." Their *lowest* rate is $209/night. So, um, that's a no. Basically I figure people can stay there if they really want to, or try to find a lower rate through one of the travel sites, but it's not worth getting a room contract.

The only other hotel in walking distance (10 minutes' walk to the LJSL and the beach) is the Hotel La Jolla. The girl there gave me a rate of $139/night for "gardenview" (the lower floors) and $159/night for "oceanview" (high enough to see the ocean). It's about $10-20/night off their regular rates and she says she really can't go lower.

I had a tour of the hotel, and it seems quite nice; the rooms are airy and they give you bathrobes. The cool thing about the Hotel La Jolla is they have a shuttlevan that will take you anywhere within 5 miles. So it'll take you to the beach if you don't want to walk, or you can go to La Jolla proper and see the Children's Cove (with the seals) and all the shops etc.

As far as I can tell, these are the only two hotels in La Jolla Shores. There are many other hotels in La Jolla proper, but they aren't exactly walking distance. We'd have to set up some kind of bus/shuttle system to get people to the wedding, which adds a *big* layer of hassle. Obviously, people who have their own cars or who rent a car could stay wherever they pleased, but that's going to be a minority of the guests, since so many are coming from across the country.

The point of all this is that I hate to stick my guests with a big hotel bill on top of all the other expenses associated with going to a wedding. I mean, $139/night split four ways isn't *that* bad, all things considered, but it ain't cheap, either. (And of course there's an extra charge for every person above 2, but you can get around that by only putting 2 people's names on the room.) Accckkkk!!! I still need to discuss it with Rogue (and with my mom) but I'm hoping for some feedback here, too.

Opinions, guys?

Comments

[sonata960.livejournal.com]

My experience with this - our room contracts held no financial obligation, so it didn't hurt us any to do it - is that people will *still* generally do their own thing about hotels regardless of what you do. If it carries no money obligation, do a room block at both, and don't be surprised if people go on their own anyway.

Otherwise, I would go for the Hotel La Jolla. Those prices don't seem bad for a popular vacation area, and I would do it on principle, since your wedding site should have cut you a better deal.

In our case, it really surprised me that so few people used the blocks, since the hotels were $129 and $159, nice, and right on the T, and yet only immediate family used it. Most guests waited until the last minute to make reservations, when the room block was gone and the hotels cost more, and are staying out in the boonies. Even funnier is the friend who claimed he couldn't find anything, so Rich asked me to find someone who would put him up, and I went to our website (which we told people about in the invites) and clicked on the link we had to a low-cost hotel 1/4 mile from the wedding and got him an $89 room. It took me all of 10 minutes, tops.

So my point is, people procrastinate, feel obstinate that they can do better, so don't beat yourself up or waste much time worrying about it :-)

[wesleyjenn.livejournal.com]

I obviously have no wedding planning experience... but 139 dsounds reasonable to me.

[lily-advance.livejournal.com]

can't side with Sue enough; people will do their own thing. Your job is to provide them with one well-considered option, and in your case the good part of it is location and the shuttle ride (I too think Hotel La Jolla sounds fine), not the price. If someone wants a better price, they will head elsewhere, and carpool or do whatever else is necessary to be where they want to go.

On that note, tho, I just got a room for the one person coming from out of town for our little city hall event, and Hotwire got me a fab deal on a room downtown at a frighteningly classy hotel called the Nine Zero on Tremont St. It was fun, but even that brief brush with things made me glad I wasn't helping other people find rooms in town for Memorial Day Weekend.

[jainamsolo.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Sue. It's good to here from someone who's been there (or is there right now-- congratulations girlie, since no doubt if you ever read this comment it will be *after* your wedding).

It's funny how you get worked up over little things. At least I usually limit myself to one thing at a time! ;-)

[jainamsolo.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Good to know. :)

[jainamsolo.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Cinda. :) You make excellent points. On the list of things to worry about, this should be pretty low. It's so nice to have other brides sanity-checking me. *g*