How to qualify for great
Group Rates
If you are looking to get great group rates on your next trip or vacation it is easier than you might think. Hotels, resorts, airlines and cruise ships will give groups a better rate than someone traveling by themselves. The reasons are simple:
1. This helps the supplier guarantee rooms/seats get filled.
2. The supplier only has to deal with 1 person to make the entire reservation thus cutting down on customer service time.
3. Groups have their gratuities added automatically thus ensuring those servicing the group are well taken care of.
How many people does it take to get a group rate?
Most hotels consider bookings of 10 or more rooms, regardless of how many people are in each room, a group. Most cruise lines consider a booking of 8 or more rooms to be a group.
So how exactly do I go about getting a group rate?
There are 3 different ways to get a group rate on your next vacation:
1. You can join an established group on their vacation if you don’t have enough people to form your own group.
2. If you have enough people to form a group, you can call a group travel organizer and let them know when and where you want to travel to and let them do the work for your group.
3. If you have enough people to form a group and you have the time, you can do the work yourself. This option is not hard to do if you have an internet and can stay organized. You will have to keep track of all the deadlines, collect the money and submit all documentation required for everyone in your group. The first thing to do is to decide when and where you want to travel to, if you need group airfare(if you are all leaving from the same airport), how long you will be gone for and what your per person budget is. Remember you will have better bargaining power if you choose weeks that do not contain holidays or other special events where you are traveling to.
With this information you can search the internet for hotels in that city. Then you should go to each hotel’s website that fits in your price range and view their group information. You can send an email or call to find out what price they will give you per room and what your deadlines will be for payment. Most all suppliers will offer a tour conductor credit for the person organizing the group trip. You can use this for you own room since you have done all the work, or you can divide the price of the free room between all the rooms to bring the cost down for everyone. Depending on when you are traveling, you can also ask for extra amenities to be offered to your group such as a free cocktail hour, on-board credit or upgrades in rooms. Don’t be afraid to ask for a better rate or amenities to be offered. After you find a hotel to work with, ask for a group contract to be sent to you. This contract should include price per room, cancellation fee and any extras your group will receive. This will protect your group and the hotel from cancellations and rate increases or undisclosed fees.
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