Hotel Block difficulties

bluiz1997

I am finding the most frustrating thing for me is finding hotels to either provide a block of rooms this far in advance or affordable rooms.

I would appreciate any insight and reasonable costs for a french quarter hotel room in March.

louisianablue

I would just submit a request on the New Orleans Convention and Visitor's Bureau website and see what prices hotels offer.  It's way easier than calling a bunch of different hotels.

a80Lady

Drury Inn & Suites on Poydras has been great to work with and they are adding a whole new building.

Queen Jane

We sed the Best Western French Quarter and Hotel St Marie. BW was just remodeled and the best value, 109 a night on a Saints home game and college parents weekend in October. HSM is a beautiful hotel and their rates were pretty reasonable.

bluiz1997

Wow that is a much better price than is being offered!!  The lowest quote that I got was 160/night before taxes.  That is at least tolerable.  Others were in the 200 and 300/night.  That is too much to ask for my out of town guests!

Maybe I am trying to block rooms too early?

jml1981

It's never too early to block your hotels. I used Hotelplanner.com. You enter the date, area, and price range and hotels will send their quote to you. It was so easy. I ended up getting a rate of $99 at the St. James Hotel on Magazine for my wedding a few weeks ago. 

RYLZ

I also got a great price through hotelplanner but only at one hotel,the Whitney Wyndham for $125. But I also suggest you contact the Prince Conti. They own 4 hotels and offer really competitive prices. We got married the week before Mardi Gras and other hotel prices were consistently $200 but our guests got $90 rooms at the Prince Conti. They were also very flexible about the number of rooms they would make available.

NolaBride2012

Personally, I had MUCH better luck with emailing / contacting hotels directly than with those multi-quote sites. I was quoted $30 higher on the site for one hotel then the price when I emailed them myself. 

We blocked Hampton Inn DT for $129 a night and Astor Crowne Plaza for $139 a night. But this is October, and I know March is a convention-heavy month in NOLA so I wouldn't necessarily take those as applicable to your date. But as a starting point!

It is never, ever too early to block rooms. They only get more expensive as your date approaches!

Good luck!

[Deleted User]

The Bienville house quoted us a much lower rate than other french quarter hotels and i believe they recently renovated. We ended up doing our room block at the Bourbon Orleans simply because of its proximity to our ceremony and reception location.

bluiz1997

DId anyone try negotiating the prices?  If so how did you go about it and did it work?

The best I was quoted was 160.  I am about to go with that because the other quotes coming in are outrageous.

Our weekend does not fall on any major event and there is 1 convention.

Other than that I do not know why the prices are so much higher than everyone else?

Granted, I have only a small group/block so I am not going to get much of a discount there

Thanks again for all of the help!

RYLZ

There is always room for negotiation. I didn't accept the first price quoted to me from any if the hotels I ultimately ended up with blocks from. The size of the block shouldn't matter. I also wouldn't limit the block to just one hotel (we had 4). Are you getting married at or near a hotel in particular? Contact that Hotel and speak to the actual sales manager. Point out that you're OOT and all your guests will be staying where you send them. Let them know you're considering other hotels. I told my prospective hotels I was sure everyone would stay at the hotel with the best price and them I would let them know what the other hotels were quoting me. They all came down $30 or more in their quotes to me and I got most if them to drastically reduce non-weekend days. You definitely have to speak to many different properties. In the end I had best luck withBourbon Orleans, Richelieu, Chateau Bourbon and the prince Conti

sbelle85

We also experienced a lot of difficulty with blocks, and as a result we have only done one block so far, at the Place d'Armes.

We did HotelPlanner and honestly, I wasn't very impressed with the rates or conditions the hotels who responded offered us. I would recommend just contacting the hotels directly.

Almost every hotel was quoting in the $180+ range per night, with a 3 night minimum, and they wanted a guaranteed booking of 90% of the rooms. One of the hotels that we really wanted to block rooms at (and that my parents stay at all the time) wanted all of the above conditions AND the guarantee that we would host either a bridal luncheon or a rehearsal dinner at their hotel with a food and beverage minimum of several thousand dollars. I don't remember the exact amount, but the conditions they wanted us to meet to block rooms there were so absurd they were almost insulting.

Place d'Armes is the most conveniently located for our guests because our wedding is in the Cathedral, so we were very happy that they also offered us the best rates. Our block there is almost filled, so we are going to see if we can do a second block either there or at one of the other properties owned by the same company.

MarcusandMelissa

We used hotelplanner.com and had some good results (Astor Crowne Plaza for $119/night for Memorial Day weekend).  I contacted the W (on Poydras) and the Royal Sonesta directly.  Both were very accommodating and easy to work with.  We used three different hotels so we didn't have to have a personal financial obligation. I think we blocked 25 rooms at each hotel, which was the most they were willing to block for us without a "guarantee".  We even got upgraded at the W for our entire stay.  Overall, I'd say things have gone very well so far (knock on wood!).

alyss21mom

Also remember that blocks are usually only for two days.  If your guests want to add on extra days, the block rates will often not apply to the extra days.  So it's a good idea ot have a range of price points.  We had blocks at the Omni, the Bienville, and the Holiday Inn French Quarter.  A lot of guests wound up at the Place d'Armes although it was not one that we had blocked.   

Brklyn2LA

I had the same issue too with my wedding that just happened on March 9, 2012. I used Iberville Suites (guests loved it), Chateau Bourobon (not the favorite due to the construction) and Royal Sonesta.

bluiz1997

Thanks everyone for the help.

I was recently quoted 149/night at Hotel Provincial.

I am thinking about blocking with them since it seems to be a good location and close to Muriels where we are having our reception dinner.

For the March brides does this seem to be a good price?  It is probably the best that I am going to get. 

I have stayed at the Royal Sonesta before and loved it.  I have not received a call back yet but I do not think that the prices are going to be less than 200/night.

Also really like the Omni Royal Orleans but have not received a call back from them either.  Again think it is going to be a bit more expensive.

bluiz1997

Well...I just had block place at Hotel Provincial.

It is great location and only 2 blocks from Muriels where we are having our reception.

Margie was the nicest and most helpful of people that I had spoken with.

Some were just downright dismissive, most didnt seem to care about our business.

I would have picked Hotel Provincial based on principle alone even if it was a little more expensive!

The other places would not budge on their prices.

The only other places that were helpful and reasonable were the Crowne Plaza and Dauphine Orleans.

Other places were quoting me in the high 200 and 300's

I spoke with EVERY hotel in French Quarter and on Canal.

My block is from March 1 through 6th 2013.  From my understanding there is just 1 conference at this point no other events.

I am just grateful that this hotel was available.

No stupid rules like alot of the other places.

Based on my phone experience alone so far....very positive experience.

sbelle85

I am looking to add another block and will definitely check out Hotel Provincial based on this review! Thanks bluiz!