Block of hotel rooms, necessary

Cokezerofreak

Is it necessary to find a hotel and have a block with special pricing for my guests?  I'm in Central Florida and there are a ton of hotels almost everywhere -- except near the golf course venue we are having the wedding at.  My fiance's family is from California and Texas and I have family in New Jersey and Puerto Rico.  Is it really necessary for me to reserve this for them?  The weddings we've both been to, they've never done it and with everything we have to do that just one more thing added to the list.

What do you think?

KDM323

It took me about 10 minutes to set up a block of discounted hotel rooms.

My venue had 2 hotels they typically worked with.  They even included the business card for the sales manager in an envelope for me.

I called both hotels, spoke to the respective sales managers...and had "holds" put on blocks of rooms at a discounted rate for my guests.

The sales managers even sent me emails confirming the names/block/and including a link to the driving directions, etc. so I could share that with my guests.


Do you have to do this for out of town guests?  No.  It isn't required.  But it really takes such minimal effort it is a nice thing to do.

misshart00

It's nice, but not necessary.

manateehugger

Not required, but for out of town guests, I think you should really take the 20-30 minutes or so to call a couple hotels.

You probably could have called one hotel in the time it took you to write this post.

harper0813

It takes so little time. I did three and it took, like, 5 minutes for each of them. FMIL really wanted to block rooms at a hotel chain she likes (which is 2 miles away from the venue... but whatever) so that was no work for me.

It's not required, but it's easy for you to do and it's convenient for your guests.

libby2483

It's not required, but it is a very nice gesture. For our wedding, guests got a discounted rate as well as a free shuttle to and from the reception. Since 20 rooms were booked in our block, we also got a free night's stay in the honeymoon suite, complete with chocolate and champagne waiting for us in our room.  So, there may be benefits for both you and your guests for booking rooms.

NOLAbridealmost

It's not required. Had it been easy to do room blocks I would have.  However, for me it was incredibly difficult (frankly, after two days of calling around I determined it was impossible).

It's going to depend on where you live whether it's convenient or easy to block rooms. For instance, in NOLA it's actually really difficult to block rooms most weekends because there is ALWAYS some sort of big event in town.....it's not that there are no vacancies but the hotels won't block off large sections of rooms at a discounted rate if they know that Mardi Gras, Jazzfest, French Quarter Fest, The-Whatever-Convention, etc. are in town that weekend and they stand a decent chance of selling the rooms to someone for full price.  

Grown adults know how to book a hotel when they travel. If you can get them a discount with a block, great. But it's not the end of the world if you can't.

jessyk1065

It sounds like you will have a lot of out of town guests, so it may be really beneficial for you/them to set one up. Most of our family live near us, but the venue is about an hour south of where most of us live. Even though it's not unusual around here for people to have 30-45 minute commutes for work or to drive that distance to get together, many of our family and friends who plan on drinking are booking a room in addition to our out of town guests. So you never know who may end up wanting a room, and even a small discount can really help people out nowadays.

allispain

Depending on what options you have around you, booking a hotel block (while it may take some time - ours definitely took a bit more than what PPs have mentioned) could be completely worth it. We blocked off rooms at a hotel that works with our venue regularly. Not only did we get a free shuttle for our guests to use plus our suite for free, they also set aside a private room for us to use during the continental breakfast they offer - free day-after brunch

PatriceC59

As someone who has been to several OOT weddings, yes, I'm an adult and it's easy to look around for area hotels, but it's nice to have at least one the B&G have booked if for no other reason than it's likely that other family and friends will be staying at the same place.  Makes carpool an option and also isn't so lonely, especially in an unfamiliar area.  Additionally, as mentioned by PP's, if you have a block, the hotel may do a discounted brunch or free breakfast the next day. Shuttles are also a huge plus and in some cases negate the need for a rental car.  Bonus!

If people are coming from OOT, those things might not seem like much, but really add up.  If their travel and stay is smooth, you'll have happier wedding guests!  Plus, it's probably one of the easiest wedding tasks...

Cokezerofreak

Thank you everyone.  I appreciate it.  I thought it was more of an ordeal than what it is!

MandyMost

As a guest, I love it when there's a hotel with a room block. It means I don't have to look up the location, find hotels near it, pick one out myself when I don't know the area, etc. And then I also know I'll be staying in the same hotel as other friends attending the wedding...otherwise that would take all kinds of emails about where other people wanted to stay, what they were thinking, if they know the area, blah blah blah. With a hotel block, it's just so simple and I know the hotel itself and the location is already "pre-approved" by the couple, and I'll be staying in the same hotel as friends--making any pre-wedding activities that much easier. 

HeatherSP13

Not required.  I would not necessarily stay there if I was guest.  I got married 3 months ago.  I did not block rooms.  I got a lot of flak from an in-town aunt for not doing so.  I do not regret my decision.  We only had 4 people stay in hotels.  They all stayed in hotels in different locations & price ranges.  I was unable to give a credit card to hotel or guarantee a certain number would book.

amorrison340

If you'll be staying at a hotel I think it's nice to let guests know the info for it as well.  On the other hand, I opted not to get the hotel block and just let guests know the info for it, and about 4 months later found out that in the mean time two other weddings scheduled there, and the hotel completely booked up after my wedding party got rooms!  This is apparently super unusual.  I just gave more hotel choices and plan to have a shuttle for the end of the night.  So I think it just depends - if it makes you feel better, then get one.

muenginerd

From the hotel side of things we like to know of Blocks of rooms. (This is for a larger group of room, if you are only talking a few rooms you can ignore this)

*You usually get perks like free shuttle transportation, suite night of wedding, free stay on anniversary nights....etc

*Block of rooms are sometimes given at a discounted rate

*Blocks of rooms allow us to put all guests in one location, if they book seperately they could be spread out across the property.

*It makes it easier to manage Welcome Bags

*If we were to over sell the hotel and have to "walk" guests to another hotel we would generally move a single guest before moving guests of a block.