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Hotel Block Negotiations

Brogey7Brogey7 member
10 Comments
in Illinois-Chicago
While we are still deciding on a recpetion location, one of our choices is a hotel. The planner at the hotel mentioned a room block to us and said she'd check rates. Well she came back and said because of a convention in town, she can't go lower than $245/night. We have probably 40-50 rooms that will be booked and she can also only block a small amount of those for us (I was planning on starting small and adding, but still). This is is alarming to me because doesn't this city always have conventions? Yet they still can't negotiate? Anyone else deal with non-negotiable weekends? Finding a church date in this town is harder than reception space, so there's no way we can change the date. While I'm not set on this hotel, I'm fearful this will happen everywhere. Any suggestions? TIA!
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Re: Hotel Block Negotiations

  • brideinfall08brideinfall08
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I think it depends on where and what the convention/event is....if you're planning a downtown wedding on marathon weekend then there's very small room for negotiating....but if it's some lame convention then i'd shop around more....you're bound to find somethign cheaper.
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  • Sparkette19Sparkette19 member
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    That is insane! We haven't done our hotel blocks yet so I am nervous about what I will find out. However our wedding is in the 'burbs so I'm assuming it will be cheaper. From a guest perspective, I wouldn't be cool with forking over that much money for one night at a hotel. From a bride's perspective, I would keep looking. If you really like this place tell them that the room rate is what is really holding you back from booking. I would think that the rate reduction wouldn't even compare to the loss of a wedding, from a business perspective. Maybe there are people out there that can pay that kind of money but I think there are fewer b/c of the recession.
    When you're born in Chicago you're blessed and you're healed the first time you walk into Wrigley Field. My Bio
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  • cirrus319cirrus319
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I would definitely shop around some more. Even if you could get a quote from another hotel and then go back to your original hotel saying, "I can get X rate at this other hotel, can you at least match that?" A lot of the times they will. You could also do one other hotel block with a lower price point of rooms too. I did this and ended up dropping that hotel block because several months later my main hotel reduced their rates from $229 to $164. Its just all about timing and keeping an eye on places like hotels.com
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  • Brogey7Brogey7 member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Thanks all! That's what I was thinking, I looked at the convention schedule and it seems that it's bringing 25K people in, which doesn't seem like a ton, but maybe some hotels North of the river won't be as bad to negotiate? Hope Monday is going smoothly for everyone...
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  • e_feldmann_15e_feldmann_15 member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    My wedding falls on one of the biggest conventions in the city of chicago. They are expecting 30,000-40,000 people. My hotel woud only give me 20 rooms out of the 562 rooms they have. I had to call around before we signed a contract and found one hotel to give us 10 more but we are still short. Definitely call and get room blocks as many as you can. If your hotel wont give you very many chances are they wont give you more in the end or if they do have some free up it might be to late to let your guests know. My wedding is now 6 months away and we are struggling finding a few more rooms, no one including our venue will give us any because of the city wide convention. Also on cost, we were told by many of the hotels that whatever rate they give the convention, it is in contract with them/convention that they will not give the anyone else a lower rate, it has to be the same or more than the convention.  I hope this info helps and good luck!
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  • sgyllingsgylling
    500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Like everyone said, I would look around. I found hotelplanner.com to be really helpful. Especially if you need that many rooms. They basically send out an RFP to all the hotels in the city. The National Kitchen and Bath Show is the weekend of my wedding and I still got rooms for $99-175. Good Luck!
    Steph & Brandon 4.17.10
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  • lawhitedlawhited member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Grrrr... sorry to hear about the convention. Doesn't that hotel understand that your once-in-a-lifetime wedding is WAY more important than a stinky old convention?!?! I second hotelplanner.com -- it's a GREAT (and totally free, no-obligation) resource so hopefully you'll get some better quotes through there. I used it to find a more affordable alternative for my guests and was pleasantly surprised by all of the competitive pricing I received. Good Luck!!
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  • LuckyXinNiangLuckyXinNiang member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    have you tried calling a travel agent? they often have better deals than individuals and have much more negotiating power than a bride. i would try something like CRC travel that might be familiar with something locally rather than the other places like apple vacations which are for far destinations. best of luck
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