Help with convincing OH

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• 12-Apr-2010 18:01

  Help with convincing OH

  Carol1 Joined on 24-Sep-2009 Posts 45

  Contact Hello hitchers, I need your help with this problem.  Our venue is a hotel with over 20 rooms, and the deal is if we don't fill each room with a guest, we need to pay the full price of the room.  So we have been encouraging all our guests to book there, and it has been quite awkward because it is by far the most expensive hotel in the town, and there are cheaper ones right next door.  One friend would prefer not to stay there to save money, I explained the situation and we would need to pay, and they could stay there instead of buying us a gift.  She said that's fine, but they'd wait to see if it got booked up by other guests in the meantime, so she could still stay elsewhere and buy us a gift. Then - I had a brainwave, we have no entertainment planned for the drinks reception, when the wedding party will be off for an hour getting photos done. I planned to ask her other half who is a musician to play guitar for 30mins to entertain the guests, and in return we'd pay for their room at the hotel. My OH thought that was being too generous, and suggested we ask him to play and in return we give him a bottle of whisky(!) Firstly do you think my idea is a good one, and if so, what would you recommend I say to OH to convince him not to be so tight??? ------------------------------------------- Getting married in 67 days......

• 12-Apr-2010 18:05

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  tinks269 Joined on 26-Jan-2010 Posts 1,365

  Contact I think your idea is a great one.  It menas your friend can stay with you and you get entertainment.  I personally would find various quotesfor how much it would cost to get someone to play for the drinks reception (make sure they are around the same price as the room or more) and then show Oh thereby proving that you are not over paying and that it is better to do it your way than pay for a musician and the room if it is not taken.  Failing that i suggest tears and sleeping on he sofa!!! lol good luck And Mr and Mrs T lived happily ever after (well apart from when they were arguing or not talking to each other) Joint 3rd - MIA - I am touched I never knew you cared so much !

• 12-Apr-2010 18:18

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  niknaks22 Joined on 21-Aug-2008 Glasgow Posts 139	Contact I think yours is a good idea too, you could end up having to pay for the empty room as well as his whiskey and the room would be empty and your friend would also be paying for the room in the hotel next door!

• 12-Apr-2010 18:27

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  CupcakeQueen Joined on 07-Aug-2009 Posts 3,309	Contact If you can afford it I think your idea is a good one. What a pressure for your venue to put onto you and your guests though!? Is this normal? Our venue offers us discounted rooms for guests but it doesnt matter if they are booked or not they just get re-released. Mrs Jones- 29.1.11 TTC No 1- Jan 2011 If you want a Rainbow, you have to put up with the Rain

• 12-Apr-2010 19:41

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  mrslowndes2b Joined on 22-May-2009 Stoke-on-Trent Posts 765

  Contact LauraSJ: If you can afford it I think your idea is a good one.   What a pressure for your venue to put onto you and your guests though!? Is this normal?   Our venue offers us discounted rooms for guests but it doesnt matter if they are booked or not they just get re-released.     Same here I was thinking the same!!!??? We have the same arrangement at our hotel we have 20 reserved and if they are not booked by a certain date then they are released! Claire x Married my best friend on the 17th July 2010

• 12-Apr-2010 21:01

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  cola Joined on 16-Mar-2008 Ipswich Posts 1,378

  Contact why do you have to fill all the rooms? i take it you worked out some kind of discount or have exclusive use of the hotel for this clause in the contract! i think your idea is a good one but i guess it depends on the price of the room and also how good the guitarist is!  if you decided its worth it then your arguement with OH is.... you'll have to pay for the room anyway if your friends don't stay in it!

• 13-Apr-2010 8:51

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  Houdini Joined on 17-Mar-2009 Posts 7,211	Contact Why not offer the rooms to friends and family cheaper than you are paying for them? If you are going to end up paying for empty rooms anyway, you could pay the difference between the cheaper hotel and your venue so your guests aren't losing out and you are losing a far less sum than if the rooms were empty, if you see what I mean?

• 13-Apr-2010 8:59

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  emmy1979 Joined on 10-Nov-2009 Posts 386

  Contact The inn where we get married has this too - although we only have 9 bedrooms to fill and get the suite free. It's causing me quite a bit of stress because I really don't know if we'll fill them (OH family are all extremely 'careful' with money and MIL2B has already been offering her spare rooms/sofa to all and sundry). It's £69.95 a night so if we have to pay for, say 5 empty bedrooms, that's going to cost us an extra £350 which to say we can't afford a photographer is a huge amount. It's doing my head in! I'd say pay for your friends hotel room and get her OH to play guitar. At least it's one room to cross off!

• 13-Apr-2010 9:59

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  CupcakeQueen Joined on 07-Aug-2009 Posts 3,309

  Contact RaeF: Why not offer the rooms to friends and family cheaper than you are paying for them?   If you are going to end up paying for empty rooms anyway, you could pay the difference between the cheaper hotel and your venue so your guests aren't losing out and you are losing a far less sum than if the rooms were empty, if you see what I mean?     This is a very good idea. Mrs Jones- 29.1.11 TTC No 1- Jan 2011 If you want a Rainbow, you have to put up with the Rain

• 13-Apr-2010 11:53

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  Mrs Spink Joined on 14-Oct-2008 Sunny England! Posts 3,105	Contact Why not offer the hotel room to people at the same prices at the other local hotels? It will cost you, but not as much as an empty room. OM since 8-9-10

• 13-Apr-2010 12:39

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  Broody_wife Joined on 06-Nov-2009 Posts 3,766

  Contact Your idea sounds like a good one. Laura SJ - Our venue has advised us that if we dont tell them how many rooms we are usuaing 6 weeks prior and then we get charged for each room. There's only 20 at our hotel and we have exclusive use so they can't give them to anyone else anyway so don't see why we should have to pay. We plan on sending our invites out within the next month with a short RSVP date so that we can get the final room numbers etc as soon as! LxXx The hitcher formally known as Bailey_Wailey

• 13-Apr-2010 12:49

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  Carol1 Joined on 24-Sep-2009 Posts 45

  Contact Hi girls - thanks for your tips.  The hotel deal probably is something we should have negotiated at the beginning, as guests only get a discount if they book for 3 nights which is quite extreme! We have exclusive use for the hotel, and there is no venue charge, we would only pay them for the food and drink they provide. That's why we thought it sounded a good deal. I did consider paying a bit to make all the rooms cheaper, as it helps our friends out, and it could be good if it was less than paying for empty rooms I like tinks idea of finding some other quotes from musicians as a comparison, I think I'll do that then suggest it again. We're meeting the venue this weekend so I'll keep you updated how it goes!!

• 13-Apr-2010 12:56

  Re: Help with convincing OH

  CupcakeQueen Joined on 07-Aug-2009 Posts 3,309	Contact Bailey_wailey: we have exclusive use so they can't give them to anyone else anyway so don't see why we should have to pay   Some venues will do anything aye.. I agree, seems very unfair for you to have to pay for empty rooms that they cannot fill anyway! Is this on top on a venue hire charge?   x Mrs Jones- 29.1.11 TTC No 1- Jan 2011 If you want a Rainbow, you have to put up with the Rain