Room blocks?

jwh2010

Are you guys blocking rooms? If so, how do you determine how many rooms to block? We're aiming for 80-90 guests, most are OOT, and I'm not sure how many will make it out here AND would want to stay at this hotel (it's closest to the site, but is $115/night), especially with the economy the way it is.

katierocks8884

Most hotels have a standard that they block for you - say 10 rooms - if you need more, they are typically very accomodating in adding to your room block. I have heard of properties that try to lock you down with a contract and hold you liable for unused rooms, don't go with these. Most have you enter into a good-faith agreement that they will hold the rooms at a discounted rate and you will send your guests there. I have a number of guests coming from OOT and only about half booked through my room block. Some were willing to stay outside of downtown Denver for small savings. Personally I think $129/night for downtown Denver is a great rate!

me2rean

Like pp said, don't go with a hotel that will hold you accountable for the bill. Most chains will allow you to hold 10+ rooms at a discounted rate until a month before your event, then they will release them to other guests. If you're really going to have that many OOT guests attending, then I would look for 2-3 hotel options in different price ranges.

oconnorcaitlin

I emailed the City of Denver and they have a department that helps you with wedding blocks, etc. All I had to do was send the planner (Kasia) some info and within a couple of days I had quotes from all the dowtown Denver hotels. You can visit: http://www.visitdenver.com/, or email her directly- ksullenberger@visitdenver.com. I found it to be an awesome, free service!We were sent some room rates lower that $129 for Downtown and when I told some of the hotels I was offered lower rates, they lowered theirs.Good Luck.

steffenfam

Wow, oconnorcaitlyn, that is GREAT information!  We didn't block any rooms because the couple of hotels daughter checked, they were 80%-100% liable to pay for rooms that did not get booked.   Our guests were on their own, but I guess it worked out because some guests are Super8 type guests and some are Hilton type guests.