Hotel Room Blocks

hildeedee

Any recommendations on hotels to do room blocks through? I honestly have no idea how many guests will need hotels as a lot of our out of town guests have friends or family that live here. I'm worried about the rooms not filling up and getting stuck with fees. Any advice?

FromPenceToPrice

Honestly, we decided not to do hotel blocks for that very reason.  We didn't want to "reserve" rooms and then people decide to stay elsewhere.  It just seemed like a huge hassle and not really necessary--with the internet it's super easy for people to book their own rooms. We listed about 5 different suggestions for hotels on our wedding website, but people mostly just stayed where they wanted. 

FromPenceToPrice

Although, I should add, if your wedding is on a weekend with another big event going on (ACL Festival, UT Graudation, SXSW, etc.) it might be a good idea to block some rooms so your guests don't end up having to stay in a less than desirable place/location.

SarahPLiz

I went through hotelplanner.com. There are lots of hotels that will block rooms for you and not make you guarantee them nor charge a fee. I don't know about downtown, but the Hilton in Round Rock certainly had no problem blocking rooms for us, and it is a holiday weekend.

mistyleon

I'm not sure what area you are looking at, but we are getting married next Memorial Day weekend and still found several downtown hotels that do not require a guarantee or charge fees if the rooms do not get filled.  The hotels will release the rooms anywhere from several weeks to about a month in advance of the wedding if they have not been booked yet.  In our case, most of our guests will be coming from out of town and many have never been to Austin before, so we thought it was a nice thing to do.  If it doesn't seem necessary for your guests based on the circumstances, I would follow the suggestion above about identifying several suggested hotels on your wedding website, etc., to help out anyone who is unfamiliar with the area or not that savvy at finding hotels on the internet.

mon@ATX

most of our guests will be from out of town (and have never been to austin before), plus our ceremony & reception are close to downtown (hotels more expensive) - so we decided that securing a couple of choices for our guest would be the best way to go.  we ended up going with the radisson downtown and the hilton garden inn downtown.  both offered rates that were significantly cheaper than their regular prices.  we are not having to pay any fees, they will release the rooms 4-6 weeks before the wedding, if unbooked.  i used austinhospitality.com to help me get the rooms through a recommendation of a friend, who had a great experience with them.  i didn't really care for them, but we got it done, so i'm not complaining.

Mrs.Purdue

ditto PPs about plenty of hotels that don't require a guarantee.  my reception was downtown, and we reserved blocks at 5 hotels. they all let unused rooms go about 3-4 weeks before the wedding, but it wasn't a special weekend as far as sports, concerts, etc, so I didn't have to compete with that. 

We did: 
Omni Downtown
Radisson downtown
Hampton Inn downtown
LaQuinta downtown
Holiday Inn Express Pflugerville (near our house at the time)

lasaggie08

I blocked rooms for my wedding and regret it. It caused some stress that wasnt needed. But I had a small wedding of 50 ppl and a lot of ppl ended up staying with family but in the end the hotel didnt charge us for the unused rooms.

JudieN

I have "guaranteed rates" at the Stephen F. Austin and Radisson downtown. They do not make you pay for rooms that aren't used. Basically, the way it works is your guests get a special reduced rate, but they are coming out of their general pool of rooms. Once the hotel is booked your guests are out of luck...but you are not obligated for any certain number of rooms.

akg0053

I love the Hilton, and the downtown location is where we're doing the wedding. 

We are reserving the minimum number of rooms however because they have a 70% or 80% rule (if you reserve 10 rooms, and then only 6 book, you are responsible for paying 2 other rooms in full to achieve 80%) and since UT graduation is the next day, the rooms won't be left empty. Therefore, I think this rule is crap. So, if you're looking at the Hilton downtown, watch out for that.

latashaphillips81

we did them. i have alot of oot guest too. we did ours at the embassy suites and they didnt charge me anything. guest were just given a certain time to reserve the room or they went back into availabilty.

pacificgalx

Our hotel block is at the Doubletree. There is a courtesy hold for 10 rooms. We can block additional rooms but if the additional rooms don't get booked, we will be liable for them.

austinabi

I second HotelPlanner.com. It was easy.

We are doing the Marriot South and the Marriot Suites (forgot exact name) next door. They provide a free shuttle downtown, had good reviews on yelp.com, don't charge me, and it was nice. 

ycristina84

Doing a room block doesn't require a deposit or a credit card. If they don't fill up, they don't charge you. They give you a date they have to be booked by, and if they aren't they get released to the public again. 

I highly recommend saving your guests the trouble of searching hotels and block them. Plus, if the room rates go up for any reasons, they still get them cheaper rate, which your guests will appreciate it. Everyone has loved that we did that for them, we just put all our info on our website.

treenastaats

I agree with PP's. I work at a hotel and we do room blocks all the time. Just make sure to ask the hotel when your rooms will be dropped and make sure your guests get their rooms booked before they are released! Nothing should be charged to you for unsold rooms. Ours are usually dropped 30 days before the arrival date. Make it VERY clear you want the extra rooms dropped though, just in case. :]

 I recommend getting a room block because sometimes your guests can get the rooms for cheaper because you are basically telling the hotel all of your OOT guests will be staying with them and that means the hotel gets all that good business!