Hotel Room Blocks For Small Wedding?

Re: Hotel Room Blocks For Small Wedding?

• sarawifenow member

  

  July 2014

  vulpiepop said:

  Fi and I are getting married in California and our reception is at a hotel. We're having a very small wedding (maybe 30 guests) as we are on a tight budget and most of our guests will be coming from out of town so we want to get discounted block rooms for them. The hotel we'd be having our reception at is a 4 star hotel and offered a discounted rate of $140/night but requires a minimum of 10 rooms. 

  
  

  Since our wedding will be on a weekday and will be out of town for most guests, we're not anticipating a high RSVP rate (although we are prepared to accommodate for 100% RSVP) so we're not sure how many rooms we need and are worried that we can't meet the minimum 10 rooms; and with such high prices and the better part of the guest list being college students or recently graduated (I just graduated myself) we'd like to keep the price to a minimum, so I've been calling other hotels in the area to see if they can give us better prices, but that also means that we'd be going from a 4 star hotel to a 2 star, going by what my college friends said their budgets are.

  
  

  So my questions are:

  1. If not all of the rooms in your room block are filled, do you have to pay for the unused rooms?

  You should not have to pay for these extra rooms. For our blocking, any unbooked rooms just get released 1 month before the wedding.

  2. Would you set up room blocks in more than one hotel for such a small wedding?

  I probably would not, but some people like to have options. You could always put suggestions on the website of other nearby hotels and then indicate which one has a room block.

  3. Would you skip the room blocks all together and just list hotel suggestions with prices on your website?

  See other answers.

   

  I hope this helps!

  
  

  

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• jules3964 member

  

  July 2014 edited July 2014

  I wouldn't book a room block that requires you to meet a minimum. If you can't find another hotel that meets your requirements, I wouldn't do a room block at all. I'd give everyone a list of suggested accommodations (on your website, or on an enclosure with the invite) and leave it at that.

  With your wedding being a weekday, and your small guest list, it's less likely the hotel will sell out. That would be the only real reason to do the block—to guarantee room availability. But some people won't book from the block anyway, and will want to research and find their own hotel deal. It's too risky that you won't meet the minimum.

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• vulpiepop member

  

  July 2014

  Thank you both for the help!

  
  

  

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• mysticl member

  

  July 2014

  Some hotels do require you to pay for any unbooked rooms.  There is a thread on another board where a bride is about to be on the hook for $7500.00 in unbooked rooms.  I would only do a block if you will not be responsible for paying for them.  Even then I don't think it's a great idea.  We had people who would only stay at specific hotels because they were members of their rewards program or liked the amenities.  A rate of $140 a night would not have been enough to get them to change their mind.  

  

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