Hotel blocks and shoe help!

sarilynnep

Hey everyone!

I need to block hotel rooms off for our guests, but we need a lot of rooms. 95% of our guests are from out of town and will need hotel rooms, including the bridal party. We are having the ceremony dowtown (Smithfield UCC) so we need to stay in that area or in Oakland (Carnegie Music Hall for reception). We already talked to the Sheraton at Station Square, and I think we will block off rooms there, but we can only do 20 rooms or we have to pay for additional rooms over that if we reserve them and they aren't booked. We just don't want to risk that, so we need to book another hotel that is reasonably priced for our guests and located well.

My other dilemna is shoes. I need to find shoes quickly so I can start my alterations soon. Any suggestions for stores? I want silver/light gray or shoes to match my bridesmaids dresses (ocean blue) but I am having trouble finding what I want. I have already hit up DSW and the like, but I'm not sure where to go from here.

Thanks!

mookow86

Hmm I'm afraid I can't be of much help on the hotel front. As for shoes, I got a really good deal on mine at Famous Footwear. Other places I looked were 6pm.com and zappos.com. I feel your pain- it took me forever to find shoes!!

lindsayloo1212

Hey Sara!

I know a friend of mine did a room block at the Wydham in Oakland. It's on the corner of Forbes Ave and McKee Pl, not sure about pricing or the process of getting a block. Sorry, maybe not too much help.

I didn't find anything for shoes in stores. I got my shoes on piperlime.com. I got my bridesmaid's shoes at dsw.com. Other online sites I like are shoes.com (if you have AAA you get a 20% discount) and like PP said, zappos.com as well. All online sites have free shipping and free returns, so I think it's the best way to go!

HTH! GL!

lindsayloo1212

Also looking around for you online - what is the max you would pay for your shoes?

Tara5384

There is a Hilton Garden Inn in Oakland that is actually really close to the museum.  Also, try endless.com for shoes!

Britt0412

Just a word of advice - a good friend of mine who used to work at a major hotel chain said that hotels typically only reserve half of the number of rooms you ask for, but they'll never tell you that. Apparently they think many brides overestimate the number of rooms they'll need. Then they just "keep an eye" on reservations that weekend and add a few more to your block if they think it's necessary. So if you need a lot of rooms, it might be worthwhile to reserve rooms at two different hotels. 

sarilynnep

Thanks everyone! I will check into the sites. I really want to match my dresses, but its a little hard to do online... I might order then and have to ship them back if the color is off. I really don't want to pay more that $200 for shoes, but I think I can definitely find something within budget.

And we are definitely doing 2 hotels- we made it perfectly clear to the Sheraton that the rooms will be filled as 20 rooms would only help half of our out of town guests. I have a feeling that even with 40 rooms reserved in total we may not have enough rooms reserved :-(

pantherRN

http://www.dsw.com/shoe/kelly+.and.+katie+dahlia+pump?prodId=212669&productRef=SEARCH I have these shoes and they are crazy comfortable! I wore them for a wedding I was in last July and I easily wore them all day.

JoyjoshM

I did a Hotel block at the Wyndham in Oakland

http://www.wyndham.com/hotels/PITUP/main.wnt

Cambria Suites Downtown next to the Consol Energy Center  http://www.cambriasuitespittsburgh.com/

Both were around the same price which was $135/room.

Hopefully that helps. Sorry no help with the shoes (I havent gotten that far yet)

GL

Flowerstar1023

The Sheraton actually seems a bit inconvenient to me unless all of your guests will have cars.

Oakland:

Wyndham

Hampton Inn (stayed there for an interview - was actually really nice and inexpensive - it's right behind Magee Women's Hospital)

Holiday Inn

Downtown: 

You have so many hotels to choose from! Renaissance, Fairmont, Courtyard Marriot on Penn, Westin across from the convention center, all of those by Consol Energy Center, the Omni William Penn, Hampton Inn in the Strip (which has free parking and quoted me $149 per night for block rooms). Personally, if your guests want to walk and explore the city, I'd downtown would provide them with a better glimpse of Pittsburgh than Station Square.

When we were looking for block rooms, I made a spreadsheet of the hotels in the neighborhoods we were looking at and just quickly called each one asking for a quote. Took maybe an hour total. I then negotiated down the rate at the hotel we really wanted based on those other quotes and knocked $40 off the quoted nightly block room rate in the process. It's good to do your homework for the sake of your guests and really doesn't take that long.

Beth0413

I don't have any advice on the hotel situation but I highly recommend checking our Zappos for shoes. I ordered 3 or 4 pairs when I was hunting for the perfect color. It's free shipping both ways, so it can't hurt! Good luck

sarilynnep

Thanks so much everyone!

Panther- I love those shoes and I am wearing them in a wedding this weekend! lol... Which is why I don't want to get them actually as I may have my bridesmaids get them.

Flowerstar- thank you for the list! I think I will just start calling today and see what people say. How did you negotiate down? And we like the sheraton in that we are probably having an after party down there, and in March, I doubt people will walk around that much.

Beth- good to know it's free shipping! That helps a lot!

Flowerstar1023

I got a rate quoted at one hotel that was $149 so I approached the coordinator of the hotel we preferred that had quoted us at $189 and told them we'd found a comparable hotel elsewhere at $149. They matched the rate. All and all, doesn't hurt to ask and if it helps, all the better!