Lancaster City (and close by) Brides... Hotel Block?

erose86

Hey ladies!I had looked into blocking off hotel rooms before and then gave up because it just proved to be a huge headache.  Recently my Fiance's dad mentioned us blocking off hotel rooms especially for his side of the family... ::Huge sigh:: ...so once again im going to attempt to find ... SOMETHING.What hotels did you guys use to block off rooms?  What rate did they give you?  Are they charging you anything? (ie. a deposit, a fee if xx% of rooms aren't booked)The reason I'm asking is because quite frankly, I don't feel like dealing with having to call all of these hotels *again* (I threw away my original notes on hotels because I thought i was *done* with it...), since half of them won't even call me back and I have to keep hounding them for a phone call.Thanks in advance for all of your help

forensicdeb

Well, I guess I am  not really from Lancaster, but Harrisburg, but I'll let you know what I did anyway, since it seems like you are frustrated. I ended up with two hotel room blocks, one at the Days Inn for $74.99 and one at a Holiday Inn Express for $79.  They didn't require a deposit or anything and they just said that the room block would be "held" until a month before the wedding and then would be released to the public.  There didn't seem to be a problem with people booking after the rooms went back to the "general" pool, but maybe it wasn't a busy weekend.I didn't think the prices they gave were too bad either.  There was a bit of a mix-up the day before the wedding with the hotels, ie we gave them a credit card for the bridal party rooms and then they didn't have it on file. The one BM called me as I was leaving for the RD saying that they were making her pay for the room when my mom said that they would take care of it.I am sorry I am not closer to your actual area, but it really wasn't much of a problem for me.  Why was it a headache for you?  HTH!

mandasue82

I reserved rooms with the Hampton Inn in Ephrata. They are a little more expensive ($120-ish a night), but they are only a few blocks away from our ceremony & reception sites. They have been great to work with. You have to block at least ten rooms, but if they aren't all booked, they just get released back to the public. No fees, no deposit. Also, that rate is like $30 cheaper than their standard room rate, AND they allow an upgrade to a king suite for no additional charge, which a lot of my family took advantage of. You can also track your group online, so you can see who has booked and who hasn't.HTH!

erose86

Deb -It was a headache for a number of reasons haha.  First of all, it was like PULLING TEETH to get them to call me back about rooms.  I'd have to call hotels several times before I actually got a call back from someone with information.  That was annoying.All the hotels within walking distance of our venue are something like $200+/night which I *know* our guests aren't going to want to pay.Any hotel within close range that WASN'T $200+ either wanted a deposit or had some rule that if 60% of the rooms weren't reserved that my fiance and I were responsible for paying for any of the unused rooms under that 60%.  - We refused to book there because of that... his family SAYS they all want hotels... but we're getting married January 2nd... so not only do we risk them just not feeling like staying over night, we risk them not staying over night because of snow the morning off resulting in them not coming PERIOD... and if we're already going to be paying for missed meals... I don't want to pay for missed rooms too...I DID find some hotels within a 15 minute - 20 minute drive that were actually affordable, but my fiance's father is concerned about people drinking and then driving that far to a hotel ... and that's where it REALLY starts to get frustrating.

erose86

...and forgive me for asking but, what's HTH??? haha

mandasue82

HTH = hope that helps

yellow_grace

I reserved a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn Express in Elizabethtown (just off 283.) Super easy to arrange- just call the front desk! They give you 2 options, one is like Deb described, the other is to reserve the rooms usign a credit card. I did the first option, and so far, no issues. They gave me a rate of about 10% off the normal booking rate of the room. I would also ask some of the farther away hotels if it would be possible to run a shuttle after the reception- that way people wouldn't have to drive after they have been drinking... There might be a fee, but it could be worth it...?

erose86

yeah that's actually a good point   I'll definitely have to ask about the shuttles.