Booking lodging for guests (wasnt sure where to post this)

ashfann

Hi all! I'm about to start booking hotel rooms for my guests (i'd say about 90% are out of towners, as we live where my fiance is stationed). We have about 110 guests, which is about 40 families. I've picked the hotels, but I really don't know how this works. I found 2 hotels that I like, and are affordable. Now, do I assume all families will be using what I book, and do 40 rooms in each hotel? That seems like too many. Do I do 20 in each? What's the formula here? Also, when we book, do we put money down, or do the guests do that when they confirm? How many days should i book for? Help!

artbyallie

You don't book the rooms, you ask about a room block. The hotel will set aside rooms for your guests to book, usually at a special rate, and hold them until a certain date. For us, I think they released the rooms a few weeks before the wedding. We only blocked at one hotel, the one with the best rate. Then we spread the word to family and friends about the hotel and they were able to get the discounted rate in the reserved rooms by calling and booking for the "Ourname" Wedding.

poison+kisses

I just did the whole hotel block thing last week! From what I`m told, most hotels don`t make you put down any money, they just set aside a group of rooms for your guests to book, and then after a certain deadline, they release the rooms to the public. But I`ve heard that sometimes they make you pay a deposit and if a certain minimum of rooms aren`t booked they keep the deposit, or if you block 30 rooms and only 20 get booked, you pay the difference of the 10 rooms. It depends on the hotel and they`ll explain it to you. They can probably also let you know how many rooms they recommend blocking if you`re splitting it between two hotels.

Mine was done a little differently since I booked rooms at a group of small inns. Since they were inns, I had to go through my list and figure out how many rooms I need with one bed and how many with two, and then the woman `played tetris` and figured out where to fit everyone. Then she booked specific rooms in our name, and when guests call to get a room (they say it`s for our wedding), the room transfers to their name and they pay for it. I just have to make sure I call at least a week in advance to cancel any rooms that haven`t been booked.

AmethystMSU

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_chit-chat_booking-lodging-guests-wasnt-sure-post-this?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:14Discussion:e76053f7-ce15-4df6-9f48-57cd815f13b7Post:a6efe62c-addb-4041-a6f9-ed481fe14faa">Re: Booking lodging for guests (wasnt sure where to post this)</a>:
[QUOTE]You don't book the rooms, you ask about a room block. The hotel will set aside rooms for your guests to book, usually at a special rate, and hold them until a certain date. For us, I think they released the rooms a few weeks before the wedding. We only blocked at one hotel, the one with the best rate. Then we spread the word to family and friends about the hotel and they were able to get the discounted rate in the reserved rooms by calling and booking for the "Ourname" Wedding.
Posted by artbyallie[/QUOTE]
This. Do NOT put any money down. I've heard (very rarely) of brides who are asked to put money down; this should not be necessary. A room block is exactly what you need.