Post #169045 by thejab on Thu, Jun 30, 2005 5:08 PM

I called Key Holidays back and here's the procedure to book a group:

1. Make a reservation for a group of 16 or more people. Group reservations started in June and there is still space on the Hawaiian themed train (which leaves Emeryville on Friday 1/27/06 at 10:15AM returning Sunday 1/29/06 at 5:55PM).

2. Sometime in August pay a deposit of $20 per person.

3. 60 days before the trip (for the Hawaiian themed train that would be around 11/27/05) payment is due in full for each person (minus the deposit). The cost last year per person was $255 (includes 2 nights at the Nugget + gourmet meals on the train :lol: - it was really KFC).

Since I have no experience in planning events I would like any ideas on how we can set up an account where everyone can submit their deposit and we can get an idea of how many people are serious. Those who don't pay a deposit don't get a reservation. Then when the time comes people submit payment for the trip to the account, and the account owner pays Key Holidays.

If people change their mind before the 60-day period they get the deposit back from the account manager. If we have less then 16 people when the time comes to pay in full we still get our seats but there is an additional $25 fee (not per person).

I'm not sure how it works if people cancel after the full payment is made. Last year the amount you were refunded varied by how close to the date you cancelled, but you could pay a small additional amount for cancellation insurance.

I have a Premier Paypal account and I am charged a fee to receive money (it varies from 1.9% to 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction), so I would need to charge that fee back to each person who sends money to the account. The advantage of a Premier account is I can receive payments from credit cards (unlike a personal Paypal account), and I have a Paypal debit card that I could pay Key Holidays with. I don't really want to be treasurer so if anyone can think of a better way I would love to hear it.

Or we could skip the group booking and try to book it ourselves when they start accepting reservations on Sept. 6th.

We should get a count of who's in so we can see if we have even close to 16 people.

I'm in!