Hotel blocks

lesliejenna · November 2010

We have a ton of out of town guests coming for our wedding, we need 32 rooms! I'm trying to work with the Courtyard Marriott at UD, but they are not very responsive. They also told me that Oct 1st is a NASCAR weekend, and therefore rates would be higher. Really?? Not what I wanted to hear. They'll also make us sign a contract, guaranteeing 80% occupancy, if we need more than 15 rooms. Is this customary for hotels to do?

I really want to reserve a block of rooms at Courtyard Marriott for SEVERAL reasons: it has free shuttles to and from my reception venue, it is close to my parents' house and to Main St for those who want to continue the party! I'm just a little worried b/c I spoke with them last week and they told me I would get a proposal by Friday. I never heard back. Cause for concern or am I just being overly dramatic? LOL

paprika28 · November 2010

I have had some MAJOR problems with that hotel in particular... with blocking rooms. I would highly recommend speaking to the manager there, because what they did to me was because I was getting a room for myself, when I requested them reserving a block of rooms, they (unknowingly to me) attached my debit card number to them. The people who did book rooms at that hotel were not given the rooms I had blocked off, and were instead given other rooms, and and because I wasn't informed of it, I got charged for reserving the rooms. So, instead of a single room charge for two nights, I got charged for my room for 2 nights and five other rooms for one night. Over $600. They would only credit half the money back, even though they didn't have any sort of signature or agreement from me for it. Apparently they misunderstood me, and thought I wanted to reserve the rooms, not block them off. Yeah.

Please do yourself a favor and talk to the manager.

Ms.BriarRose · November 2010

I have never ever heard of a hotel making you sign any sort of agreement. Don't walk, run away from that, and fast.

We booked with the Courtyard Marriott by the Christiana Mall, and they were wonderful to deal with. No hassle, no contracts of any type, etc. They were able to tell me when the booking date came if anyone booked (no one had, we didn't have that many OOT guests), and were very helpful from the beginning.

I have never heard of a Courtyard making you sign an agreement. And our wedding was on Oct 2, which was race weekend, and we didn't get any BS about higher rates. At most Courtyards, depending on when you book, you should be paying 89-109 a room (if you book really early, you can get the better rates. I booked two months before, and got the 109 a room rate). That may vary a bit, but that gives you a range to relate to.

I would suggest looking at other hotels if they are not being easy. You have many hotels in that area (Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, are right there, plus all the hotels by the mall). Where is your venue? Most of your hotels, if they are higher up, offer some sort of shuttle, so don't think you have to go with UD marriott.

Now, all of that being said, you need ALOT of rooms. Because you are holding so many rooms, they may want some sort of agreement- I only had 10 rooms, so they were not that worried about it. If you want to avoid that, and you have already tried talking to the manager, my suggestion would be to book at more than one hotel.

You also may want to offer several hotels with differing rates. Offer the Courtyard, but also offer the Sleep Inn (which has a rate of $59-79 a night, usually for weddings). We booked with the Courtyard at the mall and the Days Inn (which was $64/night), and had several rooms at the Days Inn booked, while none at the Courtyard were booked. While you may think $109 is cheap, for guests that are traveling, spending money on a gift, etc, they are trying to save as much money as possible in this economy. And please don't say "Oh, my guests can afford it". You have no idea of their finances. Try and offer a variety to save them the hassle of coming up with the money.

Those are the tips I can give you. Hope they help you out.

lesliejenna · November 2010

Thanks for the advice, ladies!

Paprika - what a nightmare! If 30+ rooms are charged to my credit card, I would be in some huge trouble. Will DEF make sure that doesn't happen should we use that hotel, so thank you for the heads up!

MrsBR - I'm definitely looking at some other options, just had my heart set on this hotel... We're getting married at The Hartefeld National, and the manager their talked up the Marriott at UD, saying they've been very good to her past guests. The shuttle service is FREE, and would save us quite a bit, not having to provide buses for our guests. So far we've consulted with two other hotels and they will not provide a shuttle service :-(

I also think that with so many rooms, I'll probably have to sign some kind of contract no matter what! I would like to have several options, but would just hate for not all of my family to be able to stay at the same hotel, since we'll be having a breakfast there the morning after.

We will definitely be giving cheaper options to our guests, without a doubt, but just know for a fact that 8-10 rooms (all my family) would like to be within walking distance to my parents' home, to literally be able to walk, which the only Marriott at UD is. The majority of my family comes from big cities (NY, Boston) so $159 per night doesn't bother them. College friends, other folks, we know that that would be a stretch, so we'll give more budget options as well too. Just really bummed about the customer service I've heard about for this location at UD...

I'm sending my mom there this Friday to negotiate. She's a tough cookie so hopefully we get some good results! I'll be sure to post updates

lesliejenna · November 2010

Sorry for all the typos and poor grammar above, it was a LONG Monday.

dibsontop · November 2010

It's probably not so odd that you have to sign a contract, IF they're offering the shuttle for free. I reserved rooms at the DoubleTree on 202 and in order to get the shuttle for free, I had to guarantee x number of rooms be filled. Otherwise, if I wanted to use the shuttle I'd have to pay for it.

We opted not to use the shuttle (because we knew we couldn't fill the rooms), so the only "contract" we signed was between us and the hotel saying the hotel would block off x number of rooms until x date. I verified ahead of time that we were not responsible for paying for unused rooms.

paprika28 · November 2010

Dibs- I verified that I wouldn't be charged for them either. I'm chalking it up to the hotel being new when this mistake occurred... Hopefully, they're better now. But it really sounds like they might not be.

Ms.BriarRose · November 2010

If you are using the UD Courtyard and have questions, page Mrs.Jax and I will let her know. She had her wedding at Clayton Hall at UD and used the Courtyard for all her guests in may 2009.

Santorini2011 · November 2010

I blocked rooms at 2 hotels to provide options for our guests and was advised that if I wanted to guarantee a large block of rooms, I would have to guarantee occupancy since they are taking a risk. since I, like you, did not want to do this, I blocked the 10 they allowed and called all of my family that already said they were staying. We asked them to book now to make sure they have rooms. Once these 10 are booked, they are giving us another 10.

So in short...this might be a way to go. Maybe ask the family that you are very close to and know they will need rooms to book them now. If you absolutely need 32 rooms, I would call all of those guests or put it on your website that it is an event weekend for the hotel and availability is extremely limited so it is advisable to book their accommodations as soon as they are able to.

lesliejenna · November 2010

Thanks again for the advice and help! Santorini, that's a great plan, to get all 15 rooms given to us (without signing a thing) booked right away, and then hopefully be able to get another 15 in the same manner. We'll see if they allow for that. I reached out to my contact at our venue, who recommended this hotel, and she gave me the contact info for the GM at Courtyard UD. Hopefully the delay in response and poor customer service will help get us a better deal! Otherwise, they're going to be losing our business. It's shocking to me that you can tell someone you need a block of 32 rooms and they go a week without response. To be continued!

Hotel blocks

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