DC

Marriott Room Blocks?

Hi All, 
Has anyone blocked rooms at any DC Marriotts?  I wanted to block about 30 rooms at a hotel downtown (near the reception) and 30 at a hotel in Arlington closer to the airport, but I can't seem to get a straight answer from the Marriott on how that would work.  The woman keeps telling me  "We can courtesy block a maximum of 15 rooms at any hotel without penalty."    

Can someone explain how MORE than 15 would work and what the prices/penalties are if we don't fill them?

I know our families prefers Marriotts because they can use/earn their points, but at this point, I'd really like to work with someone other than this girl who NEVER answers my questions. 

Thanks for the help!!

Re: Marriott Room Blocks?

  • edited December 2011
    I don't have exact details and numbers for you but hopefully I can shed some light on this for ya a little.  I booked with a Marriott in Northern Virginia and they told me the same thing.  With the courtesy block, that means that they will set aside 15 rooms for your group.  Regardless of how many get booked, you will not be charged anything.  If you request that more than 15 rooms be reserved, they require that you book a certain percentage of those rooms.  What you need to ask them is what percentage of the number of rooms need to be blocked if you reserve more than 15.  If you do reserve more and don't have that percentage met, you are responsible for paying the difference which could be quite pricey!  I'm sorry I don't have more specific info than this.  Good luck!  =-)
  • edited December 2011
    Thank you so much for that info! 

    That was more informative than about 6 emails exchanged with the sales rep.  If we still decide to go with Marriott, I will call the rep next week and ask her those specific questions.  It sounds pretty risky in terms of meeting the minimum though (those rooms aren't cheap!), so I might look elsewhere.  

    Thanks again!
  • bigleenbigleen member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I didn't do a block with marriott, we are using the doubletree, but when I went to the big bridal show in the DC convention center, I came across a great FREE resource. Veronica Cole of AC events, LLC. Her company provides a free hotel accommodation service where you tell them where your wedding is and they search and contact hotels in the surrounding area and come up with a list of the their rates, rules, etc. They also are able to get rates cheaper than what you could get on your own. I asked how is this service free, and they basically make money on the hotel end of things (bringing them business) . She sent me a list of over 10 hotels near my wedding with all their offered rates. We ended up getting rates at the doubletree in downtown DC for $139/night! and she was able to get a suite upgrade for us to get ready the day of. Hope this helps. Here's her info

    Veronica Cole
    Event Consultant
    vcole@aceventsllc.com
  • edited December 2011
    We just confirmed our Marriott room blocks at both a downtown location and in Arlington.  We did the 10 with 2 different sales reps for each hotel.  Once they forward your information to the event manager at the hotel, they are really good at accomodating your group.  They basically told us that once we have filled our block, they could continue to add more rooms to our block as long as there were availabilities.  Many of our guests are coming from different countries as well, and they also said they would give our guests the group rate if they wanted to add extra days before and/or after the actual block we reserved.  And we confirmed that we wouldn't be held financially obligated for the extra rooms.  Hope that's helpful for you.
  • edited December 2011
    Thanks everyone!  

    Bigleen, that sounds like a fantastic service!  Before I saw your post, I found www.grouptravel.org, which does sort of the same thing.  Now that I've seen the better deals we can get, I probably won't do the Marriott, unless my future in-laws insist (they love their points!).

    I feel much better about all this stuff today than I did yesterday.  You guys are great!  

    Happy Wedding Planning to you all! :-)
  • bigleenbigleen member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    No Problem! Happy Planning to you as well!
  • mickeypottermickeypotter member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We just had our wedding 2 weeks ago and had a block at the JW Marriott downtown. Yes to everything below. When we got to 15, the Marriott actually offered us more rooms without a contract. However, the woman I dealt with there was a moron and ended up sending my parents a picture of a suite that didn't exist. So you need to be on top of them at the Marriott

    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_dc_marriott-room-blocks?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:57Discussion:02bae1a1-65a5-4d8f-9318-1cd0e0c8a918Post:dd50e36d-ba29-4be5-bf56-23a51ec10774">Re: Marriott Room Blocks?</a>:
    [QUOTE]I don't have exact details and numbers for you but hopefully I can shed some light on this for ya a little.  I booked with a Marriott in Northern Virginia and they told me the same thing.  With the courtesy block, that means that they will set aside 15 rooms for your group.  Regardless of how many get booked, you will not be charged anything.  If you request that more than 15 rooms be reserved, they require that you book a certain percentage of those rooms.  What you need to ask them is what percentage of the number of rooms need to be blocked if you reserve more than 15.  If you do reserve more and don't have that percentage met, you are responsible for paying the difference which could be quite pricey!  I'm sorry I don't have more specific info than this.  Good luck!  =-)
    Posted by 62511wedding[/QUOTE]
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