Out of town guest accomodations?

[blueyes157]

How do you go about blocking rooms for a hotel?

Do they charge you for reserving rooms? Are you paying for the rooms or are your guests? If you reserved 10 rooms and only 8 are used, do they charge you for the remainder? I am assuming the give deals or am I wrong? How do you figure how many rooms you need? Do you go by the distance of each guest to your wedding site and estimate how many guests will stay overnight?

Anything else I should know about out-of-town guest accomodations?

Thanks

 

[jcrow]

i''m sure it may differ per hotel.... but for us:

there was no charge to block rooms. we reserved 15 rooms, including different types of rooms. we were not charged for the rooms not booked either. there was a special price and guests needed to mention that they were booking for our wedding. they also had to make reservations by a set date in order to get the deal. we figured out how many guest by actually communicating with our guests.

 

[piccolascimmia]

I just got blocks from 3 hotels for our wedding weekend, and it was the same as JCrow's details above. We picked 2 hotels we liked close to the center of town, and one hotel close to the ceremony but further away from all that guests would likely want to do in town that weekend. Also, one was under $100, one was $130, and one was $200 so folks could pick where and how much they'd want to pay.

I took our guest list, figured out who was OOT, and then estimated how many rooms may get booked from that pool. The rooms get released if not booked by a certain date, so I overestimated. I'm also reminding folks to book the hotels by the deadline so they dont miss out on the rate, which at 2 of the hotels is significantly less than rack rate. But, guests are also free to book rooms at any other hotels they want to stay in...

 

[Tacori E-ring]

For us we blocked a certain number of rooms at a discounted price and there was a release date (I think 3 weeks before the wedding). Anything not booked by our guests were sold to their normal clients. We didn''t have to pay for anything.

 

[zoebartlett]

Date: 8/9/2007 1:31:08 PM
Author:blueyes157

How do you go about blocking rooms for a hotel?

Do they charge you for reserving rooms? Are you paying for the rooms or are your guests? If you reserved 10 rooms and only 8 are used, do they charge you for the remainder? I am assuming the give deals or am I wrong? How do you figure how many rooms you need? Do you go by the distance of each guest to your wedding site and estimate how many guests will stay overnight?

Anything else I should know about out-of-town guest accomodations?

Thanks

We just did this actually. My mom is taking care of it and she contacted the sales manager of the hotel we wanted near our venue. This particular hotel did charge my mom $500 to block off rooms, BUT the $$ will be returned to my parents after the wedding if there are no damages to the hotel rooms, etc. I wasn''t happy about the security fee but I could kind of understand why they do that, from a business standpoint. We may pay for the hotel rooms of a couple family members who would not be able to attend our wedding otherwise, but other than that, we didn''t *have* to pay for anyone''s rooms.

Guests call the hotel just as if they were making any hotel reservation. You provide the information for the hotel on an insert with your invitations OR on a wedding website if you have one (or something like that). They should ask to book a block of rooms under the "[your last name/your FI''s last name] party." The hotel will take care of it from there. If more rooms need to be blocked off, the hotel usually keeps track of this and they will open more rooms if needed. If not all of the rooms are booked by a certain date, the rooms will be opened to the general public. Make sure you tell you suggest that your guests reserve a room earlier than you actually need them to in order to make sure that everyone gets a room -- even the last minute people.

Also, check whether the hotel has a 2 or 3 night minimum. I loved one particular hotel but I couldn''t ask guests to spend so much money to spend 3 nights when we knew there were other hotels that wouldn''t charge that much. We ended up getting the hotel I mentioned above for a cheaper price, with only a 2 night minimum.

 

[Elmorton]

I''d reserved blocks of rooms with my sorority for events back in the day, so I was very put off when the hotel we chose had us sign a contract, and if 80% of the rooms weren''t reserved by the cutoff date (2 wks before), we''d be charged in full for the rooms not used. It caused a bit of stress, but we only had 120 at our wedding, so it was relatively easy to make an informed estimate. In the end, we used all of the rooms booked, and there was no prob. Like I said, I don''t think this type of contract is the norm, but it was worth it for the hotel we chose (the quality and discounted rate was amazing compared to other the downtown hotels) and they gave us 50% off of their presidential suite (we didn''t have our reception there, I believe this is pretty standard when you do), complete with champagne, hand-dipped chocolate strawberries and orchids on our return. So, in the end, worth the stress of the contract, I suppose. Definitely ask what the hotel can do for you in return for your business before you choose.


...speaking of hotel wedding night freebies, I have to tell this side story: A friend of mine was a MoH for a wedding taking place at the most upscale hotel in Springfield, IL (so...not the Ritz, but definitely not a Super . As she went to place the rose petals and champagne to decorate the bridal suite for her friend, she realized that the hotel had already put out two wine buckets. In the first bucket, there was a can of Mr. Pibb and a Sierra Mist. In the second, a York peppermint patty, an individually wrapped twizzler (yes, one), and a Kit Kat Fast Break bar. Her husbands response was priceless: "What, are the bride and groom twelve?" Eeeek!!!!!