Rooms for out-of-town guests

mlesleev · November 2010

Does anyone know anything about setting aside blocks of rooms for the out-of-towners?

Is it as simple as calling local hotels and asking what their wedding group rates are and picking 1 or 2 in higher and a lower price range?

Beachy730 · November 2010

Yes it is that simple. Some people might choose to pick hotels in different locations (for example one near ceremony site one near reception site), but if you want them in the same location I would go closer to the reception site for those will be drinking.

Start calling around and asking if they do a block, how much rooms would be, and how many rooms you can have blocked. Another important question is how they handle the unbooked rooms in the block. Some require you to pay for any rooms that aren't booked. Our contract with the hotel said we weren't responsible for any un-booked rooms so long as we released the block 30 days before the wedding. See if you can get something like that so you aren't stuck paying for 5 hotel rooms to sit empty. Then you'll sign a contract with them most likely. If you do need to release the rooms just make sure you send your invites out early enough for people to decide if they're coming and make reservations. We sent ours out at about the 8 week mark and had no problems.

mysticl · November 2010

One hotel told me they don't do block rooms. They will give anyone who says they are attending a wedding a dicount but they don't reserve any rooms, it's first come first serve. That way we wouldn't have had to pay for any unbooked rooms.

I ended up not reserving any because we had such a range of people that there was no way i could please them all. So I just gave a list of hotels near the ceremony/reception site and some resources to find other ones. I also live in a major resort and military area so there are well over a hundred hotels to chose from.

A bride on aother board mentioned going to hotels.com and letting the hotels compete for your buisness.

MilitaryBride2Be · November 2010

I called and set up a room block at the hotel where my reception is. If you have a hotel you like nearby its probably a good idea to at least let them know that you're sending business their way. Its great if you get a discount but that way you also know if they are holding some other event or planning on a big weekend and can make reccomendations else where.

Luke&Sam625 · November 2010

I'm actually getting married at a hotel, and for our guests that make reservations, they simply have to call tell them that they are coming for "The____/____" wedding, and they the get the special rate that was locked in back in august. I'm sure it helps that we're having a small wedding and that its really the off season at our particular venue. You could include a list of area hotels in with the invitations, kind of like an rsvp card.. just make sure you've called those hotels and if youcouldn't get a block of rooms that they at least had some availibilty. Good Luck!!

Rooms for out-of-town guests

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