Guests need to book a hotel!

[Deleted User]

My FI and I picked a weekend that is SUPER busy in Holland, MI to get married on.  (We didn't know this before - we would have picked a different date if we'd known sooner!) To give you an idea, we called around to some hotels in December, and the hotel downtown only had 7 of 150 rooms available for our date!  

We found a hotel less than a mile from our venue, and booked a block of rooms for our guests.  Most of our imediate family has booked a room, but yesterday we went to the hotel and the manager told us that by mid April every room in the hotel would be filled.  Last year they had to send people to the other side of Grand Rapids (an hour away) for the weekend, and I really don't want our guests to have to drive that far! 

Is there any way that you can think of that I can pass this information on to our guests?  I have a note on our wedding website, and we sent save the dates with the hotel information, but I know come July and I'm going to get phone calls from people who are upset that they can't find a room, and I'm going to feel terrible!  I know I can't "force" people to get a room now, but I feel like I need to at least let guests know they probably wont be able to get a room if they wait...

peachykd

I would just spread the word to people that that particual weekend is really popular and they should try to at least reserve a room. They can always reserve it and cancel it closer to the date if they're unable to attend.

Lobsters25

Putting a note on the website and sending the save the dates w/ hotel information means you've done your job.  You can also ask your family and WP to help push the urgency via word of mouth (that's helped a lot with our wedding).  Other than that, these are grown adults and if they do not book a room even after you've let them know about capacity, that really is on them.

dawnp917

If you have a block of rooms at your hotel those should be set aside for your guests until a specified date. After said date the hotel should release the rooms for general use. We are also getting married on a busy weekend for Seattle the hotel for our guests have 30 rooms set aside until June 30 after that date the hotel releases the rooms for the public.

VNEluvsAJB

We sent out a mass email with all of the hotel info and said that we highly recommend that they go ahead and book to ensure that they have a room in August. The only reason we did that is that many people don't pay attention to the wedding webpage being listed on the STDs. My grandmother and aunt who helped proof them (STDs) hadn't seen the page until last week that's when we realized that we needed to go 1 step further.  Beyond that there's not much you can do except hope that everyone will put on their grown up pants and take care of business.

saraschilling88

I agree with PPs that you have done a good job by utilizing the wedding website and STDs, I also think spreading the urgency by WOM will be a good idea!  When I blocked rooms they said mine are set aside until 1 month before the wedding, then they are released for regular use, so double check with your hotel since they said all the rooms would be taken, if your block is filled already see if you can set up another?  If it isn't filled they should be reserving those rooms, no matter how busy they are that weekend.

i2012do

Ia gree with sending an e-mail. THat is my plan as well. I called our hotel yesterday and they are already at 50% capacity for our wedding weekend. There are also 2 other weddings that have room blocks on that day, so if my guests wait they will be in trouble.

However, our room blocks are guaranteed for our guests until 6/3012. Meaning then those rooms go out into inventory.

Are your rooms guaranteed?