Hotel Blocking

sarawifenow · March 2014

Hello Knotties. I am not sure if this should go here or not. If anybody has a suggestion on a different board to put it under, please let me know and I will.

We have about 20-30 OOT guests that we are inviting to our wedding. I am wondering what the process for hotel blocking is. Should I block out the rooms per family or should I check and see who would likely be sharing a room with who? Also, when is it appropriate to block rooms?

Thank you!

s-aries8990 · March 2014

I'd block based on the number of invitations, not guests. Like if Mary and John bring their small children, they would all share a room (presumably) and would be on one invitation. If Mary and John have two ADULT children (who may or may not live at home), they each get their own invite and presumably will get separate rooms.

Maggie0829 · March 2014

Out of the 20-30 OOT guests who many invites will be going out? Meaning 2 people per invitation or a family of 4 per invitation, etc.

I would book the amount of rooms in regards to the number of invitations plus maybe 3-5 more just in case. I would check with your hotel to make sure that you don't have to guarantee that you fill the number of rooms you blocked or have to pay for the one's that aren't booked. You can always add to the room block if you need to.

When is your wedding? Are you sending STDs to those OOT guests? If so, I think blocking off rooms by the time you send out STDs would be a good idea. Or if you aren't then I would provide a room block about 6 months before. Some people like to book their travel early while others like to wait. Also, make sure to provide the deadline to the room block to your guests. I attended a wedding once where a deadline wasn't given so I missed the special rate of the room block.

You can also set up room blocks at multiple hotels if you like, to offer some options.

sarawifenow · March 2014

@Maggie0829, I should have clarified. The wedding is October of this year. There will be about 10 save the dates and invites to these people. So I am thinking I will block out 15?

phira · March 2014

We're getting married in November. I blocked rooms at one hotel a few weeks ago, and I'm blocking rooms at another hotel in about a month (the second hotel doesn't do blocks as far out as the first one did).

We're having a lot of out of town guests, but the vast majority of them have family and friends in the area. However, I know a handful of guests will need hotel rooms, and just in case local guests wanted one too, we decided to book rooms at a hotel very close to the venue, and another that was closer to transit in the city (train to bus, more trains, and the airport).

You don't need to block EXACTLY the right number of rooms, so I'd just estimate. Family of 4? 2 rooms. Couple from out of town? 1 room. Single friend? 1 room. Etc.

I strongly, strongly recommend only doing room blocks with hotels that 1) don't require a deposit and 2) don't require a particular percentage or rooms booked. Most of the time, that means that guests will need to book their rooms far enough in advance (one of our venues requires 3 weeks before they release rooms), but honestly, the alternative is that you have to pay for unusued rooms.

Hope this is helpful!

Maggie0829 · March 2014

@Maggie0829, I should have clarified. The wedding is October of this year. There will be about 10 save the dates and invites to these people. So I am thinking I will block out 15?

I think that is plenty of rooms. You can always add more if you notice that a lot get booked up. Also, you may be surprised about how many local guests may want to book a hotel room so they don't have to worry about driving home that night if they want to indulge during the reception.

indianaalum · March 2014

You basically estimate how many you need....once they become booked, the hotel will add more if you request it (assuming there is still availability).

It's best to OVERESTIMATE how many rooms you needcuz there is no penalty if you dont make the quota (but check to make sure this is the case in your particular hotel//don't pick a hotel that charges you for unbooked rooms). If you underestimate, rooms may be booked and then they can't stay there.

Askt the hotel how they do it, though. Most will only book so many rooms at a time anyhow.

Also, check to see if the various hotels have a "shuttle". Alot of hotels in my area have free shuttles if you book so many rooms. That's always a nice perk.

AprilH81 · March 2014

I would ask about courtesy room blocks because those will be set up with ZERO obliagation to you if no one books. Most hotels will offer 10 rooms in a courtesy room block to start with and will tell you they will either 1) honor the rate after that as long as they have rooms or 2) add rooms to the block if needed.

I would do 2-3 room blocks at nearby hotels that offer different price points and ammenities so that your guests have options to suit their needs.

You can negotiate for lower rates, free wifi, to include breakfast and/or parking and all sorts of items to help out your guests. Not all hotels will offer everything so I would include what ammenities are included at which hotel on your website/insert.

I had a very smallish wedding (80 people, 38 invitations sent) and I set up three hotel blocks. I worte something like:

Hotel X: $119/night and includes, wifi, hot breakfast and parking. Reserve a room by [insert instructions about web links or phone numbers].

kitsunegari89 · March 2014

Some hotels will max you out after a certain number of reserved rooms. Mine was 10. Honestly, most of my out-of-town guests made their own arrangements, but a few did take advantage of the reserved rooms. All the hotels downtown are booked solid because apparently Wrestlemania AND French Quarter fest are in the same weekend. I think Wrestlemania is like Comicon for wrestling nerds?

Sugargirl1019 · March 2014

indianaalum said:
You basically estimate how many you need....once they become booked, the hotel will add more if you request it (assuming there is still availability).

It's best to OVERESTIMATE how many rooms you needcuz there is no penalty if you dont make the quota (but check to make sure this is the case in your particular hotel//don't pick a hotel that charges you for unbooked rooms). If you underestimate, rooms may be booked and then they can't stay there.

Askt the hotel how they do it, though. Most will only book so many rooms at a time anyhow.

Also, check to see if the various hotels have a "shuttle". Alot of hotels in my area have free shuttles if you book so many rooms. That's always a nice perk.

Unfortunately the two hotels I booked with will charge if 75% of the room number is not officially booked. We would be financially responsible for those unpaid rooms. Just letting you know OP that that "surprise" is out there!

indianaalum · March 2014

Sugargirl1019 said:

You basically estimate how many you need....once they become booked, the hotel will add more if you request it (assuming there is still availability).

It's best to OVERESTIMATE how many rooms you needcuz there is no penalty if you dont make the quota (but check to make sure this is the case in your particular hotel//don't pick a hotel that charges you for unbooked rooms). If you underestimate, rooms may be booked and then they can't stay there.

Askt the hotel how they do it, though. Most will only book so many rooms at a time anyhow.

Also, check to see if the various hotels have a "shuttle". Alot of hotels in my area have free shuttles if you book so many rooms. That's always a nice perk.

Unfortunately the two hotels I booked with will charge if 75% of the room number is not officially booked. We would be financially responsible for those unpaid rooms. Just letting you know OP that that "surprise" is out there!

I would find a new hotel then. MOST hotels won't do that. Keep looking, if possible. or try to negotiate

Sugargirl1019 · March 2014

indianaalum said:

Sugargirl1019 said:

indianaalum said:
You basically estimate how many you need....once they become booked, the hotel will add more if you request it (assuming there is still availability).

It's best to OVERESTIMATE how many rooms you needcuz there is no penalty if you dont make the quota (but check to make sure this is the case in your particular hotel//don't pick a hotel that charges you for unbooked rooms). If you underestimate, rooms may be booked and then they can't stay there.

Askt the hotel how they do it, though. Most will only book so many rooms at a time anyhow.

Also, check to see if the various hotels have a "shuttle". Alot of hotels in my area have free shuttles if you book so many rooms. That's always a nice perk.

Unfortunately the two hotels I booked with will charge if 75% of the room number is not officially booked. We would be financially responsible for those unpaid rooms. Just letting you know OP that that "surprise" is out there!

I would find a new hotel then. MOST hotels won't do that. Keep looking, if possible or try to negotiate

Thanks for your concern. These hotels are within walking distance of our venue plus we get an added discount by being married at this venue. We are just starting at a low number and can add on rooms as our guests need. Thankfully most of our guests are out of town (like across the country) and we've discussed with them who will need a hotel room and to use our block before our invitations have even gone out. I think we'll be okay, but we've used word of mouth to have guests notify us if the hotel says our block is full.

Cookie Pusher · March 2014

Our hotel charges us 80% of the cost if 90% of the rooms we blocked aren't filled, but they let us do a really low minimum. The other hotel option we had didn't have a minimum, but they didn't have a shuttle either. We did the math, and it would actually cost us less to pay for unused rooms in our block than to pay for a shuttle!

carliealissa · March 2014

I'm having a really hard time with this as well. We are only planning to block rooms at one hotel. However, I think many of our OOT guests (mainly all aunts/uncles/cousins etc.) won't stay at the hotel because they will stay with local family members. And I think a good number of our local friends will want to stay at the hotel so they can party harder. So basically I have no idea how to come up with an estimate. I was wondering if people just base it off of a percentage of total guests or something.

Sugargirl1019 · March 2014

@carliealissa
Ask your aunts/uncles/cousins/local friends what they think they will do.

If someone hasn't given serious thought to what their arrangements will be (or if theyre even coming!), don't include them on the hotel list and give the hotel this "minimum" number; hopefully you can add rooms on from there.

Unfortunately no percentage number exists, for every wedding is different.

carliealissa · March 2014

Ugh I was hoping I wouldn't have to poll everyone on the guest list, is that seriously what everyone does? Especially since it's basically entirely FI's family and friends. We just sent our STDs last week so I doubt anyone has had any time yet to think about what they will do, so at least I can probably put it off.

Inkdancer · March 2014

carliealissa said:

Ugh I was hoping I wouldn't have to poll everyone on the guest list, is that seriously what everyone does? Especially since it's basically entirely FI's family and friends. We just sent our STDs last week so I doubt anyone has had any time yet to think about what they will do, so at least I can probably put it off.

Oh gosh no way did I poll everyone!! Just the people who were super important to me, like my grandfather and my besties.

PrettyGirlLost · March 2014

carliealissa said:
Ugh I was hoping I wouldn't have to poll everyone on the guest list, is that seriously what everyone does? Especially since it's basically entirely FI's family and friends. We just sent our STDs last week so I doubt anyone has had any time yet to think about what they will do, so at least I can probably put it off.

Newp I didn't poll anyone. We will be inviting about 200 guests and many are OOT. Unfortunately most of the hotels local to our venue do not offer room blocks, but my venue itself is a B&B and I was able to get a block of 10 rooms at another hotel a few miles away. That hotel will offer a shuttle to and from the reception but I expect most guests will carpool since that has been the norm for them for other weddings.

If guests don't book all the rooms at our venue we are responsible for the cost. . .no way that will happen but it's in our budget anyways.

So what I did was to list all the hotels and smaller B&Bs local to my venue on my wedding website, with rate info and links to their websites and links to a custom Google Map with everything mapped out. That way our guests can check out the lay of the land so to speak once they get their STDs and can choose where to book rooms whenever they like.

Beyond that I'm not going to worry about guest lodging. My FMIL drove herself crazy last year during her daughter's wedding worrying about where ppl were staying and who had rooms and who didnt yet.

princessleia22 · March 2014

PrettyGirlLost said:

Ugh I was hoping I wouldn't have to poll everyone on the guest list, is that seriously what everyone does? Especially since it's basically entirely FI's family and friends. We just sent our STDs last week so I doubt anyone has had any time yet to think about what they will do, so at least I can probably put it off.
Newp I didn't poll anyone. We will be inviting about 200 guests and many are OOT. Unfortunately most of the hotels local to our venue do not offer room blocks, but my venue itself is a B&B and I was able to get a block of 10 rooms at another hotel a few miles away. That hotel will offer a shuttle to and from the reception but I expect most guests will carpool since that has been the norm for them for other weddings. If guests don't book all the rooms at our venue we are responsible for the cost. . .no way that will happen but it's in our budget anyways. So what I did was to list all the hotels and smaller B&Bs local to my venue on my wedding website, with rate info and links to their websites and links to a custom Google Map with everything mapped out. That way our guests can check out the lay of the land so to speak once they get their STDs and can choose where to book rooms whenever they like. Beyond that I'm not going to worry about guest lodging. My FMIL drove herself crazy last year during her daughter's wedding worrying about where ppl were staying and who had rooms and who didnt yet.

I'm having a small wedding (about 35 people) where EVERYONE is coming from out of town and will need hotels. Originally I had planned to do a hotel block. But, as I got talking to our families, I learned that our guests have very different ideas on what type of hotel they wanted. FI's family wanted more luxury, regardless of cost. My family wanted budget friendly. I wanted someplace with larger rooms, so we have space for me and BM's to get ready morning of wedding (hair/makeup is coming to our hotel). I also will be there for a few days by myself prior to wedding, so getting someplace nearby everything and that would be safe for me was very high priority. Others wanted someplace with more local, historic atmosphere (wedding is in New Orleans). I booked at a hotel that worked best for my purposes. I quickly learned that anywhere I booked, if I wanted to do a room block it would only involve 2-3 rooms, since everyone wanted someplace different. So, I am letting everyone know where I am staying and listing a few other recommended hotels nearby (of varying prices and styles) on my website. With it being destination, many of our guests are staying in town for a few days before or after the wedding to do a mini vacation. So, it just got too complicated to find someplace that worked for everyone.

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