Room Block Question

OFF

I'm having a really small wedding about 50 people with only about 7 of these people coming from out of town. I'm assuming with a number this low it would be silly to try to get a room block. Is it ok for me to just give those few out of towners a list of hotels in area near our wedding location? We're going to try to steer people towards the hotel we are staying at but it's a bit pricier than the others and I want to give people choices.

spuliafico

I think that's definately ok! One of my friends had a huge wedding with lots of out of towners but she didn't do a room block cause she didn't want people to feel obligated to one hotel or another...she just sent out a whole list with her save the dates of different places people could stay and it worked really well.

OFF

OK great thanks! Another question I have is how early did you guys book your hotel suites? I'm still like 8 months out is that too early?

guacamolly

I reserved my room block at like 15 months out and my suites at 11 months. I think most places won't take the reservation more than a year (or 330 days) out, so you should be good to do that now.

guacamolly

Oh also, if there are limited suites, they may actually be already booked. All the suites were booked for Friday at 11 months at my hotel.

spuliafico

I just booked my blocks last week...but it's not finished yet as the guy hasn't sent me the contracts yet lol

Crystalis77

Hey OFF as  you know we are date twins.  I just did my room block last week.  I wanted to include the info on the Save the Dates which I am in the process of making now.   I am expecting alot more out of towners than you so I guess that will make a difference.  If I only have 7 people coming from out of town I wouldnt worry about the block. 

OFF

Thanks guys! Good to know about booking rooms early. I need to call Lansdowne to see what their availability is around April.

marissalouann

Hi! I'm also a Loudoun county bride... we're getting married in Leesburg. We don't have many out of towners either (we're at 50 people attending too), and I wasn't going to do one, but since Leesburg is kind of far for most of our local guests (driving all the way back to Arlington/Springfield/Chantilly) people showed an interest to stay there in Leesburg.  Comfort Suites is nicer than the Best Western, but both don't require a certain number of rooms. As in, you can make a block of 10 to get a good rate (Comfort suites is $99 a night for a standard room, either king or queen, $129 for their suites). If the block doesn't get full, they just let the non-booked rooms go back out to the public.  BW and Comfort Suites are like that.  We're ALSO staying at Lansdowne that night, and wanted our guests to stay there too, but like you said, much pricier (however I get a discount for our room for being a LCPS teacher). And for us, we ultimately decided we probably want to just spend that night alone anyways. I would try to book soon... I waited so late that I wasn't even able to block 10 rooms... only 6 at Comfort Suites! It can't hurt to have one! (We actually have two!) But only because it gives guests an option and we're not responsible for any rooms not taken (unlike what happens at Lansdowne). Hope that helps!!

OFF

marissalouann WOW thanks that is super good to know. I was actually going to recommend Comfort Suites to people. I guess I need to hop on the ball to see how many people I'm going to have who will need rooms. So I can see if this is worth it. Thanks so much for all the info.