Hotels

awilkins78

Hi Girls,

Some of my OOT guests are already inquiring about hotels.  I have no idea how to figure out this kind of thing.  We have a small guest list, and if everyone on the list from out of town came and got a room, we'd still only need 25 rooms.  We have some people who have more extravagant tastes & budgets, and some who are probably looking for something more modest.  Part of me is tempted to just suggest a few hotels that are conveniently located (we'd have plenty to choose from since the wedding is in uptown), but people seem to be expecting blocks of rooms.  How many rooms do you have to reserve to get a group rate?  What if lots of those rooms go unfilled?  Should I pick one hotel or two at different price points? Or should I just give suggestions and let them fend for themselves?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

MissesKB

Use hotelplanner dot com. The hotels will place bids on the rooms you need. Many offer incentives as well.

MarieSD

I did hotel blocks at 2 different hotels. One was more basic and one was a slightly fancier hotel, but both were very close to the reception. I *think* the "starting block" is 10 guests, and you won't get charged if those rooms don't fill up. (I think they start charging if they hold a higher number of rooms than that, and they're not filled, but not all hotels do that). If those 10 rooms fill up before the cutoff date for that rate, you can add more rooms at that same rate.

I'm no expert, but that's how I'm doing it - 10 rooms at Inexpensive Hotel and 10 rooms at Slightly Swanky Hotel. It's definitely worth doing the block - my guests are getting something like $20 and $40 off what they'd get by booking on their own at the hotels.

MissAngel

I'm doing what Marie did.  And there is a slight discount for doing the room block.  The amount depends on the hotel.

Donnaaries

I used hotelplanner.com and then used the bids to leverage down the rate at the hotel we wanted even further ($20 add'l discount on top of the hotelplanner.com quote)

fallbride1109

Our venue WAS a hotel so it wasn't an issue but I do know that the blocks were only offered until a certain date and then cancelled.  We weren't charged anything if they didn't fill, but the rate was only good for a certain time.  I recommend the Melrose--very nice hotel for a reasonable price.

BanannaP

We're not doing hotel blocks, but I have hotel suggestions listed on our wedding website. But we haven't had anyone ask about it yet, either. But, most of our OOT guests will be staying with family/friends or are already familiar with the area.

awilkins78

Thanks so much ladies, for being so helpful as usual.  I'll look at hotel planner.  Stephie-we might use the Melrose since it is so close to our ceremony venue.

mseale

We only chose one hotel.  After looking at several, we ended up choosing the Melrose.  It was a fantastic price, the rooms are fabulous, and the service so far has been excellent.  We decided to only pick one hotel (even though we are expecting about 40 rooms to be booked) because it would be more intmate to have everyone at the same location.  That way you can see people in the lobby, or grab a drink at the bar much easier.