question about hotel room blocks

RachelR1977+RB

hey there -

so we're getting married in march 2016 in a small town in northwest indiana.  the town itself doesn't have any hotels, but it's right near (a 10-15minute drive) from an intersection of a few interstates and so there are about a bazillion hotels in the area.  Everything from a super 8 to a holiday inn express to a hampton suites (basically every kind of hotel chain there is aside from the SUPER FANCY ones).  

we've got a 200 person guest list, and about half are coming from 2.5 hours away, the rest live in the area.  the wedding is at 5:30 and the plan is to be totally done with the reception by 10 at the latest - the wedding & reception are in the same building and there's no gap.  

I figure that everybody is able to get their own hotel room if they want to, but i don't want to be rude. are hotel blocks required? 

ThxSugar

No. They are a nice gesture but not required.

jacques27

Required? No.
Some hotels let you negotiate a cheaper rate. Having a guarantee of rooms available thorough a certain date is always nice. And on the chance there may be some event on the area, you want to make sure you have rooms set aside. I mean, March in small town Indiana seems unlikely, but you'd be surprised. I'd at least do some digging and calling around to make sure there isn't anything else happening that same weekend. When there is a convention in the smallish city I was born in, hotels in all the small towns in a 30 mile radius are booked solid.

thisismynickname2

I would definitely suggest setting up blocks at two of the hotels (varying price points) as a courtesy. (Don't pay up front, don't be liable for any unused rooms.)

If you have a wedding website, you can point out that there are many other hotels in the area. People just appreciate the convenience. 

julieanne912

No, they are not required.  I set one up in an area like you describe (pretty much every hotel chain you can think of within a mile or so), but everyone just booked rooms at various hotels, I think because everyone has their own preferred chains they stay at... I know even my own mother didn't use it because they like the rewards program with Best Western.  I think 2 people used my block on Friday night, and 4 on Saturday night, I had blocked 10 rooms.  If you do set one up, be sure it's not one that would require you to "guarantee" the rooms with a credit card.  Hampton Inn, which was the closest to the venue, wanted us to do that, and I'm sure glad we didn't since we didn't use them all.  We ended up doing it at a Courtyard (Marriott) and it worked out well for us.  They let us hold the rooms up to a month beforehand, and after that they release them out.  But, if they had rooms available after that (which they did), they would still honor the special rate.  

aurianna

So in 2008 I went to a wedding outside of a small town in Indiana once (Columbus).

The night before the wedding I was invited to stay in a B&B with the bride and bridal party but I was driving from St. Louis, mapquest lied to me on the time, and I didn't even get to Columbus until after 11pm.
My mapquest instructions were wrong. I had to go through this big wooded area that wasn't lit. I had no GPS and my phone didn't get reception.
It was like driving through the frickin' Blair Witch Project.

So I decided I didn't want to get lost in the woods at midnight in a strange area with no light or phone so I let peeps know I'd get a hotel room in Columbus for the night and meet them for pedicures in the morning.

There was something going on in town. None of the hotels still had rooms. The Holiday Inn was nice enough to call a Knight's Inn not too far and see if they had any rooms.

So I drove up to the Knight's Inn at midnight. I got my room key from a gal sitting behind bullet proof glass. As I drove around trying to find my room, I encountered a very large man walking around the parking lot in his underwear. I parked my car, grabbed just my purse and pretty much ran to my door. Closed the drapes, wedged a chair under the door knob, stripped the bed of everything but the sheets and called my then-boyfriend and told him exactly where I was...

The next morning I got my bag and took a shower. But I dripped dried because one of the towels had lipstick on it and the other had an unidentified large brown mark.

Did I mention this room cost $80 which was almost as much as the rate we got our guests at a 4-star hotel?


Now... in my particular situation room blocks wouldn't have mattered because I wasn't going to take advantage of it anyway. But the moral of the story is that even in small towns, hotels can book up fast. And the ones that left might be able to price gauge.

You definitely do not NEED to get room blocks. But as long as you aren't obligated to pay for unbooked rooms, it doesn't hurt anything so I'd consider it.

MandyMost

Hotel blocks, while not mandatory, are a nice gesture because:

• People won't bother you with recommendations for hotels, or questions about how to get from point A to point B depending on where they are staying
• All of your guests will end up staying at the 1 or 2 hotels. This will make it easier for you to give directions, and if you choose to do welcome bags or anything like that
• If you have guests who know each other, they'll appreciate being in the same hotel as the other people they know, and it will make their trip more enjoyable
• If hotels book up fast or price-gauge, people may opt to not come to your wedding because of it.
• You might get a better rate for your guests than if they had booked individually
• If your guests don't know the area, you'll be doing them a favor by picking a safe, convenient hotel for them to stay in. They won't accidentally end up someplace like the hotel described above!

simcal18

MandyMost said:

Hotel blocks, while not mandatory, are a nice gesture because:

• People won't bother you with recommendations for hotels, or questions about how to get from point A to point B depending on where they are staying
• All of your guests will end up staying at the 1 or 2 hotels. This will make it easier for you to give directions, and if you choose to do welcome bags or anything like that
• If you have guests who know each other, they'll appreciate being in the same hotel as the other people they know, and it will make their trip more enjoyable
• If hotels book up fast or price-gauge, people may opt to not come to your wedding because of it.
• You might get a better rate for your guests than if they had booked individually
• If your guests don't know the area, you'll be doing them a favor by picking a safe, convenient hotel for them to stay in. They won't accidentally end up someplace like the hotel described above!

All of this.  Hotel blocks cost you nothing (don't sign up for any that require you to guarantee room bookings with your own credit card), and they can make your life and your guest lives infinitely easier.  If you are going welcome bags, shuttle transportation, a hotel after party, etc. etc., it is all easier to do if guests are staying at 1-2 hotels, and most hotels will offer a discounted room rate that can save your guests some money.

JediElizabeth

MandyMost said:

Hotel blocks, while not mandatory, are a nice gesture because:

• People won't bother you with recommendations for hotels, or questions about how to get from point A to point B depending on where they are staying
• All of your guests will end up staying at the 1 or 2 hotels. This will make it easier for you to give directions, and if you choose to do welcome bags or anything like that
• If you have guests who know each other, they'll appreciate being in the same hotel as the other people they know, and it will make their trip more enjoyable
• If hotels book up fast or price-gauge, people may opt to not come to your wedding because of it.
• You might get a better rate for your guests than if they had booked individually
• If your guests don't know the area, you'll be doing them a favor by picking a safe, convenient hotel for them to stay in. They won't accidentally end up someplace like the hotel described above!

One more to add: filling up hotel blocks may get you perks from the hotel (which may in turn be used to better host your guests). The hotel we're using will give us a free shuttle service to the venue as long as we have enough rooms booked in our block, for example. See if you can't negotiate something like that with the hotel sales rep.

kvruns

JediElizabeth said:

Hotel blocks, while not mandatory, are a nice gesture because:

• People won't bother you with recommendations for hotels, or questions about how to get from point A to point B depending on where they are staying
• All of your guests will end up staying at the 1 or 2 hotels. This will make it easier for you to give directions, and if you choose to do welcome bags or anything like that
• If you have guests who know each other, they'll appreciate being in the same hotel as the other people they know, and it will make their trip more enjoyable
• If hotels book up fast or price-gauge, people may opt to not come to your wedding because of it.
• You might get a better rate for your guests than if they had booked individually
• If your guests don't know the area, you'll be doing them a favor by picking a safe, convenient hotel for them to stay in. They won't accidentally end up someplace like the hotel described above!

One more to add: filling up hotel blocks may get you perks from the hotel (which may in turn be used to better host your guests). The hotel we're using will give us a free shuttle service to the venue as long as we have enough rooms booked in our block, for example. See if you can't negotiate something like that with the hotel sales rep.

Or my friend's wedding where apparently they got $$ off the reception room for every room that was booked in the block. Of course it didn't better host the guests.....we were still 200 people crammed into a space for 150.  I'm sure they got back a decent amount because there aren't many hotels in that area anyway

aurianna

kvruns said:

Or my friend's wedding where apparently they got $$ off the reception room for every room that was booked in the block. Of course it didn't better host the guests.....we were still 200 people crammed into a space for 150.  I'm sure they got back a decent amount because there aren't many hotels in that area anyway

I went to a wedding that had a hotel block. And initially reserved through that. But on the way there I noticed online there was a better deal (like $25 per night for two nights better). So I got up there and said I wanted that rate instead.
The gal behind the counter said, "well... if I do that the couple might not get as many benefits..."
And I was a b and said "For $50 out of my pocket, I don't care. I know they wouldn't want me spending more than I have to."
(And it turns out it was the other couple getting married that weekend that was getting perks from the hotel)

The room block is a guaranteed rate. It's not always the BEST rate. So it's good for any guest reserving a hotel to still shop around. But it does tend to protect against gauging.

MrsAitch

We got married at the old court house in Crown Point and assumed most of our out of town guests would want to stay at the hotels in Merrillville (I'm guessing your wedding is in CP or Schererville or similar?). We actually did a block at the Hilton Garden Inn for a few reasons. It guaranteed that there would be rooms available for most of our OOT guests as long as they booked by a certain date. It also gave them a discounted rate on the hotel, even for multiple nights for people like our bridal party, which was nice. We provided a shuttle (a school bus through first student) and wanted to make it easy and have it go to one hotel only--we figured if guests stayed in the other hotels they are all close enough that it would be easy to walk or drive to another. Also, that particular hotel had a major bonus for room blocks. While they don't have a free breakfast, they do have a restaurant with a breakfast that is normally ~$10/person. They gave all of our guests who stayed there coupons (as many coupons as the number of people staying in the room) for a free breakfast at their restaurant. So our guests got a free made-to-order meal at no cost to us or them, which was awesome. Everyone who stayed there said it was really good. I've also heard of some hotels giving deep discounts or free rooms to the bride and groom. Just call around to a couple of them and see---it was seriously the easiest part of wedding planning.

JediElizabeth

kvruns said:

JediElizabeth said:

MandyMost said:

Hotel blocks, while not mandatory, are a nice gesture because:

• People won't bother you with recommendations for hotels, or questions about how to get from point A to point B depending on where they are staying
• All of your guests will end up staying at the 1 or 2 hotels. This will make it easier for you to give directions, and if you choose to do welcome bags or anything like that
• If you have guests who know each other, they'll appreciate being in the same hotel as the other people they know, and it will make their trip more enjoyable
• If hotels book up fast or price-gauge, people may opt to not come to your wedding because of it.
• You might get a better rate for your guests than if they had booked individually
• If your guests don't know the area, you'll be doing them a favor by picking a safe, convenient hotel for them to stay in. They won't accidentally end up someplace like the hotel described above!

One more to add: filling up hotel blocks may get you perks from the hotel (which may in turn be used to better host your guests). The hotel we're using will give us a free shuttle service to the venue as long as we have enough rooms booked in our block, for example. See if you can't negotiate something like that with the hotel sales rep.

Or my friend's wedding where apparently they got $$ off the reception room for every room that was booked in the block. Of course it didn't better host the guests.....we were still 200 people crammed into a space for 150.  I'm sure they got back a decent amount because there aren't many hotels in that area anyway


>>>>>boxes<<<<<

Ugh. That sounds awful.

I think mine has the option of free bridal suite OR free shuttle. There's no way I would choose the bridal suite when the other option will let my guests party as much as they want with no thoughts of designated drivers or cabs or anything.

People need to get their priorities straight.

sugar005

I wouldn't bother with the hotel block. Since your guests will have lots of different hotel options all in the same area, it's sort of pre-assuming what every single OOT guest might want in a hotel, and what their budget is. It would be different if the wedding was somewhere remote with maybe only 1 or 2 hotel options.

I have a lot of OOT guests too, and my day-of coordinator advised not to do a hotel block, as I'm "not a travel agent"! Makes sense. So I'm putting a bunch of hotel suggestions on our wedding website, all at various price points.

JediElizabeth

sugar005 said:

I wouldn't bother with the hotel block. Since your guests will have lots of different hotel options all in the same area, it's sort of pre-assuming what every single OOT guest might want in a hotel, and what their budget is. It would be different if the wedding was somewhere remote with maybe only 1 or 2 hotel options.

I have a lot of OOT guests too, and my day-of coordinator advised not to do a hotel block, as I'm "not a travel agent"! Makes sense. So I'm putting a bunch of hotel suggestions on our wedding website, all at various price points.

A hotel block isn't a demand that your guests book there - it's a room that's guaranteed to be open for your guests to book until a certain date (even if there's a convention or something in the area taking over most rooms) at a guaranteed price. People can book elsewhere if that price doesn't fit their budget, but it ensures that rooms are available regardless.

The "I'm not a travel agent" bit from your vendor grates on me - no, you're not a travel agent, but you are asking people to travel to a town they may not be familiar with and stay in a hotel just for your event. It's a nice gesture to ensure that hotel rooms are available for them, and that if they choose to take them, they'll be near other guests. 

SP29

To continue on Jedi's post...

And once the block is set, (you literally call the hotel, ask about a block, and tell them how many rooms) your guests deal with the hotel, not you. 

We had 2 blocks, at 2 different price points. We stayed at one of the hotels, so with the other, I have no idea how many, if any, guests stayed there. The option was open- our guests took it or not and deal with the hotel directly- I have no idea. 

It's definitely not a requirement, but it's a nice gesture. 

DH and I went to a wedding on Vancouver Island. We were not familiar with the area. There was also a dragon boat race competition going on. So I blindly googled for hotels in the area that looked good (and were cheap!). The hotel we ended up in was kind of sketchy. They left the doors open after it had been cleaned (to all the rooms), so when we got there it was full of bugs and there were some stains.... Really it was my own fault- the B&G had one hotel block and I missed it (I didn't really understand the concept yet- first time I'd seen one). But just to show you that if you do have lots of OOT guests who don't know their way around, it is very considerate to steer your guests in a good direction. 

sugar005

SP29 - that's a good idea, to do 2 at different price points. I think that's my main beef with the concept (our OOT guests will have varied hotel expectations and budgets). My other concern is that the hotels will require some sort of deposit. I'm reading on here that many do not, but I'm in a pretty big city... I doubt hotels will want to block off rooms for free with no commitment. Worth doing my research tho, I suppose.

@JediElizabeth - sorry if my comment rubbed you the wrong way. I just thought it frank and a bit funny. My current state of mind on this was to appeal to a varied group of OOT guests, with about 4 different hotel suggestions on our wedding website. And providing that info 6.5 months in advance gives them lots of time to decide and book whatever they're comfortable with. 

ILoveBeachMusic

At my daughter's Chicago wedding we had room blocks in two downtown hotels and didn't have to put any deposits down. They released the blocks one month before the wedding. All the information was included on the accommodations insert with the invitation and on the wedding website.

JediElizabeth

sugar005 said: SP29 - that's a good idea, to do 2 at different price points. I think that's my main beef with the concept (our OOT guests will have varied hotel expectations and budgets). My other concern is that the hotels will require some sort of deposit. I'm reading on here that many do not, but I'm in a pretty big city... I doubt hotels will want to block off rooms for free with no commitment. Worth doing my research tho, I suppose.
@JediElizabeth - sorry if my comment rubbed you the wrong way. I just thought it frank and a bit funny. My current state of mind on this was to appeal to a varied group of OOT guests, with about 4 different hotel suggestions on our wedding website. And providing that info 6.5 months in advance gives them lots of time to decide and book whatever they're comfortable with. 
------BOXES-------

No apology needed from you! It just reminded me of the kind of vendor who would say something like "It's your day! Your guests can deal with (picnic blankets instead of chairs/a cash bar/a 4 hour gap) for your vision!" 

I may be reading too far into it. It's been a tough weekend, and I'm primed for snark.

downtondiva

We didn't do any hotel blocks. We just advised our OOT guests of hotels in the area and let them decide what they wanted to do. It's a nice thing to do for your guests but it's not required.

MobKaz

SP29 said:

To continue on Jedi's post...

And once the block is set, (you literally call the hotel, ask about a block, and tell them how many rooms) your guests deal with the hotel, not you. 

We had 2 blocks, at 2 different price points. We stayed at one of the hotels, so with the other, I have no idea how many, if any, guests stayed there. The option was open- our guests took it or not and deal with the hotel directly- I have no idea. 

It's definitely not a requirement, but it's a nice gesture. 

DH and I went to a wedding on Vancouver Island. We were not familiar with the area. There was also a dragon boat race competition going on. So I blindly googled for hotels in the area that looked good (and were cheap!). The hotel we ended up in was kind of sketchy. They left the doors open after it had been cleaned (to all the rooms), so when we got there it was full of bugs and there were some stains.... Really it was my own fault- the B&G had one hotel block and I missed it (I didn't really understand the concept yet- first time I'd seen one). But just to show you that if you do have lots of OOT guests who don't know their way around, it is very considerate to steer your guests in a good direction. 

My son's wedding was in the heart of downtown Chicago.  Rooms are pricey.  In addition to finding hotels with differing price points, we tried to find one that offered suites as well.  This greatly helped our guests who attended with extended family members.  They were able to put a few more bodies into a room to stretch the cost of the room. 

kimmiinthemitten

sugar005 said:

SP29 - that's a good idea, to do 2 at different price points. I think that's my main beef with the concept (our OOT guests will have varied hotel expectations and budgets). My other concern is that the hotels will require some sort of deposit. I'm reading on here that many do not, but I'm in a pretty big city... I doubt hotels will want to block off rooms for free with no commitment. Worth doing my research tho, I suppose.

@JediElizabeth - sorry if my comment rubbed you the wrong way. I just thought it frank and a bit funny. My current state of mind on this was to appeal to a varied group of OOT guests, with about 4 different hotel suggestions on our wedding website. And providing that info 6.5 months in advance gives them lots of time to decide and book whatever they're comfortable with. 

I have a hotel block at a local Marriott for $99/night with a free shuttle with 15 rooms.  I was going to do 2 price points, but since our rate is less than $100, I'm only using this one.

Every hotel I looked at required a deposit to hold more than 20 rooms, but told me they'll check in with me when I get to 15 and can up the number of rooms at no charge at that point.  The other 2 hotels baked the cost of the shuttle into the room rate and I did not like that; the Marriott's shuttle was at no additional cost since they own the van.

As a guest, I prefer hotel blocks.  It makes it easier for me to travel and make sure I'm staying someplace nice, safe and within a reasonable distance.

RachelR1977+RB

MrsAitch said:

We got married at the old court house in Crown Point and assumed most of our out of town guests would want to stay at the hotels in Merrillville (I'm guessing your wedding is in CP or Schererville or similar?). We actually did a block at the Hilton Garden Inn for a few reasons. It guaranteed that there would be rooms available for most of our OOT guests as long as they booked by a certain date. It also gave them a discounted rate on the hotel, even for multiple nights for people like our bridal party, which was nice. We provided a shuttle (a school bus through first student) and wanted to make it easy and have it go to one hotel only--we figured if guests stayed in the other hotels they are all close enough that it would be easy to walk or drive to another. Also, that particular hotel had a major bonus for room blocks. While they don't have a free breakfast, they do have a restaurant with a breakfast that is normally ~$10/person. They gave all of our guests who stayed there coupons (as many coupons as the number of people staying in the room) for a free breakfast at their restaurant. So our guests got a free made-to-order meal at no cost to us or them, which was awesome. Everyone who stayed there said it was really good. I've also heard of some hotels giving deep discounts or free rooms to the bride and groom. Just call around to a couple of them and see---it was seriously the easiest part of wedding planning.

we are also using the old courthouse  i always swore i'd be married there some day (grew up down the street).  but we're jerks and aren't doing any sort of shuttle or anything.  the ceremony is at like 5 and the whole thing is in the same building and will be wrapped up at 10 at the latest.  I have a feeling there may be some after-party going on in one of the 80bazillion bars on the square too.  

SP29

If a hotel requires a deposit, or a minimum amount of rooms reserved to get a block, I definitely wouldn't do it. But it doesn't hurt to call and ask. 

I called a few places and one or two of the highest end hotels did want us to put down a deposit, so obviously we didn't go with them. But the rest were all pretty open since they release the rooms a month before anyway.