hotels and OOT guests...

cody+mandy2010

I may be naive, but I'm unsure how the reservation process for hotels works?  Many of our guest will be OOT and I want to make sure they have a place to stay, however, the budget is tight...how does this work?  Could someone shed some light on the subject?

cody+mandy2010

oye it posted twice...sorry :S

TTiger03

If your wedding is at a hotel, you can start there, or find hotels near by.

Usually you can ask them to hold a block of rooms to a certain date.  You shouldn't need to put money down unless you go past that date and still want to hold rooms.

I would check with a least two hotels at different price points.

skippylouwho

Typically guests are responsible for their own hotel rooms, you do not pay for them (you can if you want to/have the money). What you may want to do is call several hotels in your area and ask about reserving a block of rooms. When you reserve a block of rooms the hotel will typically give you a price break. The more rooms your reserve the better the price break. Also, if you reserve rooms for both Friday and Saturday night will probably give you a better price.

You also need to work out a date with the hotel for when they will release any rooms in the block that are not reserved. For example if you reserve 20 rooms for Saturday night but 2 weeks before your wedding only 15 have actually been booked by guests, the hotel will release those last 5 rooms to the public. 

If you reserve blocks of rooms you will want to post that on your wedding website and/or on an information card if you include one with your invitation. Usually guests will call the hotel before the release date, tell the hotel they are reserving a room in the Smith/Jones wedding party block. The guests pays for the rooms.

The other option is to simply list area hotels on your web site and information card but not reserve a block.  The thing about reserving blocks of rooms is it usually gives your guests a better price on the room and guests will be in the same hotels.

When reserving blocks of rooms most people try to reserve blocks in a couple of hotels and at different price breaks.  You might reserve rooms at a Hyatt and also at a Holiday Inn and a Best Western, that would give you rooms at 3 price points. Which hotels you actually book at will depend on how close they are to your activities, cost, and how many rooms they will allow you to book.  If you need to book 60 rooms and each hotel only allws reserving blocks of 20 rooms then you need to book blocks in 3 hotels.

So what you need, where you need it, how many rooms, prices, etc will vary. You might ask other brides in your area what hotels they used and what rates the hotels charged and then contact those hotels.  Sometimes if you reserve a block and sell the block out a hotel will give the couple a free or discounted rate on their room for after the reception (if you'll be staying there).

bridezillatobe2009

hotels here only typically give 10% off the cost of rooms for block booking and imo in the day and age where everyone and their dog has access to google reserving rooms isn't one of my highest priorities.

I should add that our wedding will not be at a hotel, and it's in November so the off season and we're anticipating a lot of OOT family staying with the family that is here.

mica178

Check out hotelplanner.com .

If you're getting married in a popular, expensive city or if you have a lot of out of town guests, it's nice to offer suggestions and discounts to your guests.  Yes, there might be a better deal on orbitz closer to the RSVP date, and if your guests are computer savvy, they can go that way.  But hotel blocks help the less computer-minded, and if you plan on doing out-of-town bags, it's nice if you know who's staying where and if they're only at one or two places.