Block room rates

j3nnmack3y

I'm interested in how you guys went about setting up block rooms and if they were any less expensive for your guests? I've contacted a hotel I'm interested in and they emailed me back a proposal but it doesn't seem to be any less than if my group booked rooms on their own either thru a vacation package website like orbitz or using discount codes via email and texts. I should have anywhere from 10-25 rooms needed for guests. It's not entirely necessary for everyone to be together I just thought bringing in that many people would warrant a discounted group rate. I may be mistaken. Anyone with more insight or any ideas on how to help ease the burden of room rates. My group is flying from various states in mid October.

ssteele04

We have block rooms, and I am not encouraging my guests to use them....b/c they are rediculously expensive! They are more than the Hotel Website even!! I'm actually encouraging my guests to book thru Southwest Vacations, they have beat everyone's price so far! We have 12 rooms blocked

Valeriecruz82

In my case our room block rates are a lot cheaper then booking through another website, about 80-100 less depending on which website. I did the room blocks about 6 months before and they recently announced there being a big fight that weekend so now the rooms are pretty high compared to the rate they gave me a few months back.

thesepinkdays

The group rates usually are not better in advance but as your close in on your date the rates will go up and if people put off booking those group rates will be lookin real good to me haha. Also it can put you all close together at the hotel.

Marlaina2014

I asked our hotel to do better twice and they came back with a so-so rate (like pinky said, it got better the closer to our date it got), but the hotel did make the resort fee optional which is a potentially significant cost savings, depending on the guest's length of stay. And since most people don't use any of the resort fee amenities, it is an okay deal. You just have to keep hounding them! And book early!

KikiMira

It really depends on your weekend. We booked at Aria for our block discount. We set it up before the Mayweather fight that Valerie mentioned was announced as well. The discount at the time of booking the block of rooms was about 25% off now it is all over 50% off and much higher on the weekend!!! We are paying $142 for friday night and now it is $399 a night, $185 for saturday night and now it is $429, which is a discount of almost 70% off!!!! 

We watched online and people were not able to get better rates by far!!

cirena166

It definitely depends. I didn't book a block because the rates were cheaper online or on the venue's own site. If you want a good sampling of rates, use the LVCVA's (Las Vegas Convention and Visitor's Authority) website for travel planners and submit an RFP (request for proposal). That will automatically send your planned # of rooms and any other requirements you enter to nearly every place in town. You'll get a ton of offers and most you'll ignore, but you might get a great deal. I was very tempted by a $139 rate at Mandalay Bay.

a13049

We got a great deal at aria. 25% off the room rate, which was the same as the sites. Our room rate is only $100 for the first two nights and 112 the third night. Plus, the bride and groom get a free upgrade to a suite when 10 rooms are booked. A good chunk of our guest are also saving money using the my vegas app so it works out really well for us. If you are going on a weekend or busy time, I would block the rooms for your guest, not to save money but to ensure they can get a room if needed. Just make sure your hotel doesn't hold you accountable for I booked rooms. Arias only stipulation was the block was released 30 days before our date, if we wanted to hold them passed that we would be charged for uncooked rooms

tcnoble

@j3nnmack3y you don't necessarily block rooms for a discount - often people block rooms so that their guests are guaranteed room availability at that property. So if you are getting married at Mandalay Bay, you would block rooms there so that guests have the chance to book there if desired, vs. staying at a different property. Sometimes you will get lucky with a discounted room rate, but not always true.