When Should You Block Hotel Rooms For A Wedding?

Blocking hotel rooms for a wedding is a crucial step in planning a destination wedding. It ensures that all guests have a place to stay at or near the wedding reception, and the best time to reserve room blocks is 3-8 months before the event date. The average difference between group rates and standard rates is 15% to 40%. To block hotel rooms early, it is essential to book at least 10 rooms at a discounted rate.

To reserve a hotel room block, estimate the number of out-of-town guests and how many they will want to stay at a hotel. There are limits to how much you can negotiate, but generally, hotel room block rates are anywhere from 5- to 20 percent less than the standard nightly rate. If your wedding date coincides with a seasonal holiday, local event, or convention, you’ll need to reserve your room blocks at least 10 to 12 months in advance.

A hotel block typically opens one year prior to your wedding date and closes about 30 days out. Couples usually get the best rates when they reserve rooms a year out, but you should at least block your rooms between three and eight months. Most couples set up a block for at least the night before and the night of their wedding. Most guests who are traveling will need a room for the night before and the night of their wedding.

In summary, blocking hotel rooms for a wedding is a crucial step in planning a destination wedding. It saves time, money, and ensures that all guests have a place to stay during the event. It is recommended to reserve hotel rooms as early as possible to get the best options for your desired dates and to consider factors such as the number of guests, the location, and the availability of hotels.

What is a courtesy block at a hotel?

Courtesy Block Definition: A courtesy block is defined as a block of rooms held for your group with a cut-off date (usually 30 days prior to check-in). On that cut-off date, the hotel releases any unbooked rooms in your hotel courtesy block back into their inventory without financial obligation for you.

Who pays for the rooms?: Your guests/group will provide their desired form of payment when they book their room and upon check in at the hotel.

How much should wedding guests pay for a hotel?

• Flights: $200-$500, depending on where the wedding is located. If youre attending an international destination wedding, you can expect to pay up to $1,000 for your flight during peak summer months.
• Lodging: In most cases, youll need to spend two nights at a hotel or an Airbnb, likely around $150-350, depending on how fancy is the wedding accommodation. Hotel blocks organized by the couple sometimes bring costs down, but not always significantly.
• Transportation to the venue: If the happy couple doesnt provide transportation, you can easily spend $50-$150 on taxis, ride sharing or car rentals.
• Gifts: You can expect to pay $100-300, depending on how many people from your party are attending the wedding. AKA: if you and your plus one go together, custom says you give a more expensive gift.
• Wedding attire: $80-200 if you buy something new to show off.
• Hair and makeup: If youre in the bridal party, this will usually run you $100-200.
• Bachelorette party, engagement party and wedding shower: If youre in the wedding party or a close friend of the couple, youll probably get invites to all of these events leading up to the big day. These costs range dramatically, but you can easily spend upwards of $2,000 or more when a wedding requires travel.

Be proactive as soon as you receive the save-the-date. Before founding her company, Whimsy Soul, Kama Harms was a professional wedding photographer for six years. During this time, she photographed 27 ceremonies in a single year, so she has seen it all: the good, the bad — and the expensive. She recommends being proactive and starting to save money as soon as you know about the wedding. And while save-the-dates are traditionally sent out four to six months before the big day (which may be enough time for you to budget) if you know for certain youll be attending, ask your friend to let you know as soon as they know the location and date, possibly giving you 7-9 months to set aside funding.

“This way, you can have much more time to monitor flight prices and hotel room trends and book your travel at the best time for you and your budget,” Harms says.

Who pays for hotel blocks?

Who Pays for Hotel Blocks?. The most common arrangement is that the person staying in the room is the one who pays for it. In some cases, event producers may pay for the rooms in advance, but then the attendees will pay them back. Or, attendees may pay for their rooms and be reimbursed later.

How Much Does It Cost to Reserve a Block of Hotel Rooms?. It doesnt cost anything to reserve a block of hotel rooms. Rather, when you reserve a block of hotel rooms, you should expect to get a significant discount. In most cases, you want to see at least a $40 to $50 difference in the rate per room per night.

Because of this discount, reserving group blocks is more affordable than reserving individual hotel rooms. It also benefits the hotels: they get guaranteed bookings for dozens of rooms, as well as any additional charges from event stays, such as meals, snacks, movies and more.

Who pays for the hotel room the night of the wedding?

Who pays for the wedding partys accommodation?. As a general rule, the couple arent expected to pay for anyones accommodation but their own. In Ireland, the UK, and most regions, its not all that common for the couple to pay for wedding party accommodation. So, as long as there are reasonably affordable accommodation options available, either at your venue, or nearby, theres no need for you to offer to pay for these rooms. If your venues room rate was very expensive you could offer to subsidise the rooms, but this wouldnt be expected. But there are a few exceptions to this rule:

• In some parts of the world, like the USA and Australia, its fairly common for the couple to pay for the bridesmaids and/or groomsmens accommodation on the night of the wedding, so theres a chance that wedding party members in these regions, or from these regions, might expect it.
• If youve requested that the wedding party stay overnight in your venue (this is most common for bridesmaids staying the night before the wedding), and your venue is very expensive, this puts your wedding party members in a tricky position, where they feel obliged to spend more than they had previously budgeted on accommodation. In this case, its only fair that you offer to pay for part or all of the room cost.

Why do some couples pay for wedding party accommodation?. Whether or not you want to cover this is largely up to you, and how generous youd like to be. While its generally not expected, some couples like to pay for one nights accommodation for their bridesmaids or groomsmen as a thank you for everything theyve done in the lead up to the big day, and on the day itself. Couples might pay for their parents accommodation for the same reason, or because their parents have made financial contributions to the wedding. Some wedding venues include a number of on-site bedrooms in their package, which means that guests cant pay for these rooms separately. In this case, its usually easier for couple to absorb this cost into their wedding budget and assign the rooms to their wedding party members.

How do I know how many rooms to block for a wedding?

Determine How Many Rooms Youll Need. Deciding on the number of rooms largely depends on your guest list. “Figure out how many people are traveling in from out of town that are going to attend,” Ayers recommends. “If 50 percent of your guest list is traveling, try to match that percentage.”As most guests travel in couples or bunk up with friends, youll want about half the number of rooms for the total number of guests who will need one, plus a little buffer. For example, if you have a 200-person guest list with 50 to 60 percent of guests traveling for the celebration, youll want to hold space for about 120 guests. That equates to 60 rooms. But dont worry about it being perfect.”If not everyone needs a room, the bridal party or other friends and family will fill in,” Ayers adds.

Make sure you have a conversation with all members of the bridal party about accommodations beforehand. If youre hoping that theyll be a part of the hotel block, youll want to give them a heads up (and make it clear if youre covering costs or expect them to do so). If youre hoping that they pay for their own hotel room, be sure to provide an even more affordable alternative.

Figure Out How Many Blocks Youll Need. Once you know your room number, you can determine how many blocks to book.Block sizes vary from hotel to hotel, but theyre usually between 10 to 30 rooms, with larger hotels offering larger blocks. Per Ayers, blocks at corporate chains, such as Marriott and Hilton, typically dont go above 25, and she rarely sees anything above 30 unless its a privately-owned property.

How do you estimate room block for wedding?

Determine How Many Rooms Youll Need. Deciding on the number of rooms largely depends on your guest list. “Figure out how many people are traveling in from out of town that are going to attend,” Ayers recommends. “If 50 percent of your guest list is traveling, try to match that percentage.”As most guests travel in couples or bunk up with friends, youll want about half the number of rooms for the total number of guests who will need one, plus a little buffer. For example, if you have a 200-person guest list with 50 to 60 percent of guests traveling for the celebration, youll want to hold space for about 120 guests. That equates to 60 rooms. But dont worry about it being perfect.”If not everyone needs a room, the bridal party or other friends and family will fill in,” Ayers adds.

Make sure you have a conversation with all members of the bridal party about accommodations beforehand. If youre hoping that theyll be a part of the hotel block, youll want to give them a heads up (and make it clear if youre covering costs or expect them to do so). If youre hoping that they pay for their own hotel room, be sure to provide an even more affordable alternative.

Figure Out How Many Blocks Youll Need. Once you know your room number, you can determine how many blocks to book.Block sizes vary from hotel to hotel, but theyre usually between 10 to 30 rooms, with larger hotels offering larger blocks. Per Ayers, blocks at corporate chains, such as Marriott and Hilton, typically dont go above 25, and she rarely sees anything above 30 unless its a privately-owned property.

How many hotel rooms should you block for a wedding?

Determine How Many Rooms Youll Need. Deciding on the number of rooms largely depends on your guest list. “Figure out how many people are traveling in from out of town that are going to attend,” Ayers recommends. “If 50 percent of your guest list is traveling, try to match that percentage.”As most guests travel in couples or bunk up with friends, youll want about half the number of rooms for the total number of guests who will need one, plus a little buffer. For example, if you have a 200-person guest list with 50 to 60 percent of guests traveling for the celebration, youll want to hold space for about 120 guests. That equates to 60 rooms. But dont worry about it being perfect.”If not everyone needs a room, the bridal party or other friends and family will fill in,” Ayers adds.

Make sure you have a conversation with all members of the bridal party about accommodations beforehand. If youre hoping that theyll be a part of the hotel block, youll want to give them a heads up (and make it clear if youre covering costs or expect them to do so). If youre hoping that they pay for their own hotel room, be sure to provide an even more affordable alternative.

Figure Out How Many Blocks Youll Need. Once you know your room number, you can determine how many blocks to book.Block sizes vary from hotel to hotel, but theyre usually between 10 to 30 rooms, with larger hotels offering larger blocks. Per Ayers, blocks at corporate chains, such as Marriott and Hilton, typically dont go above 25, and she rarely sees anything above 30 unless its a privately-owned property.

What does blocking off hotel rooms mean?

A hotel room block is a designated number of rooms set aside at a specific hotel, often at a discount rate. Those rooms are held for guests who are part of a specific group event or wedding party. Many hotels offer this service upon request, but its often a time-intensive endeavor to navigate if you dont have experience booking a hotel block.

Thats when Where Will They Stay comes into play. Were a complimentary service that sources a selection of room blocks for any event (weddings, bachelor/bachelorette parties, family reunions, corporate events – you name it). We take this time-consuming task off your plate so you can focus on event planning.

When an occasion calls for friends and family to gather together at the same hotel, our team can find hotel properties that offer your guests a wonderful experience at an excellent price – all with minimal demands on your time. Additionally, we can ensure our suggested properties satisfy your needs in terms of amenities, price, location, etc. Then you select the hotel(s) that are right for you!

What are the benefits of a hotel block for a wedding?

What is the benefit of setting up a hotel room block?

Room blocks are popular with weddings because it gives your guests a central home base for your wedding weekend, and the hotels typically offer a reduced room rate so your guests can save money over the regular reservation rate. It is also helpful for you in your planning because when a guest books a room under your block their name is listed in the hotels system. If you are trying to determine shuttle details or you want to know how many welcome bags to deliver you can get the list from the hotel and know every reservation that is made from your group. One last added benefit is that a lot of times hotels will keep all guests in a block in one part of the hotel (like in one wing or on one floor) so usually guests in a block will have rooms close to one another.

First you want to narrow down the geographic area that you would like your guests to stay. If you are getting married in Lake Placid then you know you will be considering the hotels right in town. But if you are getting married at a remote venue in Central New York you might not have a lot of options nearby. Once you have the area picked out do a quick online search of hotels around there. Pay attention to the hotels location, amenities, and price for your wedding weekend. Then determine how many rooms you think you may need to cover your guest list (remember that your count should be for number of rooms, but number of guests). Lastly, you should determine if you want to give your guests more than one option of hotel to stay at, or if you want everyone to stay at the same hotel. This last piece often comes down to the price of each hotel.

Most people dont know that hotels typically wont do room blocks for dates that are more than a year away. So if you are getting married 16 months from now you will have to wait another 4 months before you can get your blocks established. Some hotels make you wait until you are 6 or 9 months out. If you are trying to work with an inn or a local non-chain hotel they may have completely different rules to follow.

How many days should you block hotel rooms for a wedding?

Do we have to pay for a wedding group block at a hotel?. This is entirely dependent on your hotels contract terms. Some hotels offer courtesy holds on group bookings until a particular date (usually 30-90 days before the wedding), while others require a deposit from the couple or a penalty charge, or attrition rate, if not all of the rooms are booked. Its very important that you read your hotel block contract thoroughly and ask questions about anything you dont understand.

How many different hotels should we book room blocks at?. If youre hosting a destination wedding, three hotels in different price points should be plenty. If your wedding is local, one hotel should be fine depending on your guest list. If you have a large number of out-of-towers, three hotels may be a better bet.

What is blocking procedure in hotel?

The blocking procedure is very important in ensuring an even flow of processing guests who want to check in. Blocked rooms allow the front desk clerk to immediately assign a room to guest without searching through confirm and guaranteed reservations as well as available room inventory. Otherwise, guest clerks could have to review reservation and available rooms at the guest arrival.

The blocking procedure begins with the review of confirmed and guaranteed reservation as well as expected check outs for a particular day. For example, if a 200 room hotel has 125 rooms occupied on the night of November 1 with 25 room checkouts scheduled for the morning of November 2, the front office manager could determine that 100 rooms are available for guest to use on November 2.

From this 100 room availability, the front office staff should be able to determine which room should be assigned to which guest reservation.