Hey folks!, I was wondering if any of you has had any experience blocking rooms for large groups of people in a Madrid hotel?
What offer were you able to negociate?
I'm going to need to block 40 rooms for out-of-towners. Jer, I'm guessing you had to do some research on this yourself for your own wedding... Congrats, by the way!!!
Is a 10% discount reasonable?
A million thanks!
Posts: 627 | Location: Brussels | Registered: 16 December 2001
nah, i had smaller groups at a few diff. hotels, made it a lot easier. i got 10% discounts at one and 20% at a few others but that was more because i know the owners.
my wedding was pretty small, 70 guests.
you will be very limited as to choice if you try to put everyone at the same hotel since most hotels will not be able to block out 40 rooms for you.
also, depends on the dates but act fast, madrid is pretty booked solid. even now in october when it should slow down, schwendy had trouble finding a hotel room when she thought she might have to change last week.
not sure you will get much of a discount, the hotels may have a "take it or leave it attitude" since they are so used to being full.
can't hurt to try so yes, ask for 10% which is reasonable.
please tell us what area/s you are interested in and the average budget per night for a double room so we can help you further.
That will give you an idea of what sort of discounts hotels give when they have too many vacancies, and you will have somewhere to work from. Still, I reckon you'd be lucky to find that many available rooms in the same hotel, as Jer says. Maybe try to find a few hotels in the same neighbourhood?
Ooops!, sorry I think I haven't expressed myself very well We have already been in touch with the hotel we want and they were 10 times more helpful than we would have expected; there is no problem in blocking the 40 rooms, bla, bla, bla....
But since we visited them on a Sunday, the manager wasn't there, so the only thing we couldn't discuss was the possible group discount. Now it's time I send them an e-mail confirming our request and I want them to specify what the discount for our guests will be. Back in spring a receptionist at that same hotel mentioned 10% , and I was wondering if that's fair enough....
Thanks guys!, anyone else?
Posts: 627 | Location: Brussels | Registered: 16 December 2001
hey pim, by the way, if you should need any airport shuttles (airport-hotel upon arrival and vice versa when guests leave), let me know and i will see if i can get you a discount via my contact at AEROCITY.
their profit margins are pretty tight but if the numbers are high, they can give some discount.
I don't have any particular knowledge about Madrid, but in general, if you are booking well in advance and are prepared to make a commitment, i.e. initial deposit for the whole group and then stage payments, I would have thought you'd be able to negotiate a lot more than 10%. Just my twopenny's worth!
Posts: 33 | Location: Near London, England | Registered: 23 November 2002
the problem here is that (especially from april - october), as a large group, the hotels know you need them but they do not need you since they WILL BE FULL anyway (with or without your group), barring any serious terrorist incident like sept. 11 or natural disaster like katrina
in some coutries/cities like italy, this happens all year round since there is SOOOOOOOOOOOO much tourism so the hotels adopt a "take it or leave it" attitude which lowers the level of customer service. a guide in italy explained this to us last month when we were there, basically, the hotels are so used to being full up all year that they know if one group does not take the rooms, another will.
only the big tour operators, international ones that move thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people every year , have any real negotiating power and even they have to take it or leave it in some places.
it does help when the hotel is further out of the touristy areas of the cities however.
Jer, I give up trying to understand the travel business anymore, yet I spent 30 years in it. I think that access to the internet has changed a lot of stuff, because hoteliers think (maybe!) that they'll achieve better rates via direct bookings. However, it always used to be the case that one could get a group rate nett of commission, rather than 10% discount (of which rate?) that's being mooted.
As I said, I know little about the particular situation in Madrid, but hotel occupancy rates aren't showing as 100% in Madrid as a whole (presume includes suburbs) and it would be a good operation indeed that has 100% occupancy rates all year round.
I have to confess that I've never tried to negotiate hotel rates as an individual, so maybe an incoming tour operator come destination management service would be an avenue to try?
Alternatively, I notice travelocity now have a group bookings page!
Posts: 33 | Location: Near London, England | Registered: 23 November 2002
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at 
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at 
, have any real negotiating power and even they have to take it or leave it in some places.
