How to Reserve Hotel Room Blocks

 If you're having out-of-town guests at your wedding or planning a destination wedding, they'll need a place to stay, because you certainly don't want them crashing the bridal suite! Hotel room blocks for weddings allow guests to stay in the same hotel (or a couple of hotels), which makes things like wedding planning and transportation Online Hotel Booking easier. And it's more fun for your guests, who may want to mingle and enjoy their own after-party.

Reserving hotel room blocks is the best way to ensure your guests have a place to stay near your reception. Plus, hotels often give you a discount on the room rate, which you can then pass along to your guests.

While it's not difficult, it can be time-consuming to book hotels and there are some important details to consider. There's a shortcut, though: You can make it easy on yourself and use a room block booking site like HotelPlanner.com, a brilliant and easy-to-use online booking tool.

Whether you contact the hotels yourself or use a booking platform, here's everything you need to know to make it happen.

What is a hotel room block?

First off, let us provide some clarity on the definition of a hotel room block in the travel industry. A hotel room block is a group of hotel guest rooms that a hotel sets aside for an event at a pre-negotiated group rate to be booked and paid for by the attendees. Usually, a minimum of ten rooms and as many as 30 rooms can be blocked.

Local Hotels

For a wedding held locally, you'll want to reserve a room block at a local hotel with good access to your venue. Oftentimes, if you need 20 to 30 rooms, a room block will be reserved at two to three hotels to offer guests a choice of location and room rate.

If you've chosen a hotel wedding venue for your celebration, then a room block could be reserved at the same hotel and negotiated as part of your event. Although this doesn't have to be the case—you can reserve a room block at other local hotels.

Destination Wedding

When planning a destination wedding, the same principles apply. If you're hosting a wedding at a resort, part of the fun is spending more time with your guests and typically the guest list is smaller. Therefore, destination wedding packages usually include a room block to ensure all your guests have a place to stay.

If your destination wedding is in a city or region with many accommodations, then you may choose to offer your guests more selection, however, bear in mind that you'd have to have a large guest list to make this worthwhile.

Courtesy vs. Contracted

Your destination wedding resort or hotel wedding venue might include a courtesy room block in their packages as a sweetener to their offering. A courtesy room block means that you have no financial obligation for filling the rooms even if it's part of your contract.

A contracted room block, on the other hand, means that there are negotiated terms that must be met such as a deposit, cancellation policy, minimum bookings, etc. We get into all the nitty-gritty about a hotel room block contract below.

How Many Rooms to Block for a Wedding

In order to calculate how many rooms you'll need to reserve, answer these questions.

1) How many out-of-town guests are you expecting will need a room?

Estimate the number of households that will need accommodations by dividing the number of attending guests by two. Then make an estimate of what % of your out-of-town guests will book a room (e.g. 80% for a local wedding or 100% for a destination wedding).

E.g. 50 out-of-town guests divided by 2 equals 25 households.

80% of 25 households = 20 potential hotel rooms

2) How many nights are they likely to stay?

Depending on how far your guests are traveling and your wedding itinerary, determine the number of nights your guests will be staying.

3) Will your wedding party or immediate family members need a room?

Even if they live in town, sometimes wedding party and family members want to stay at the hotel for an enhanced wedding experience. Reach out to them early for a room commitment to ensure they're booked in.

4) Local wedding guests

The same holds true for local wedding guests that may not want to drive home after the festivities. This is certainly trickier to estimate, so we suggest that you hold off on reserving on their behalf and offering up any leftover rooms closer to the date in order to help meet your booking commitment.

When to Reserve a Hotel Room Block

Now that you've estimated the number of rooms, timing is your next key consideration. Given the post-pandemic wedding and travel boom, you'll want to reserve your hotel room block ASAP. Also, 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. Having them booked before the save-the-dates go out is beneficial so that guests know where they can stay as they start thinking about travel arrangements.

How to Block Hotel Rooms for a Wedding

There are a few key points you need to keep in mind before setting out to reserve hotel rooms for your wedding: number of rooms, proximity to your reception venue, room nights required, amenities and price point.

Number of Hotels

If you happen to be getting married at a venue that also has accommodations, start there. Ask the venue manager about room rates and a possible discount for your guests who reserve early. You should reserve hotel room blocks with at least two hotels under certain conditions:

1) you're having a destination wedding with a lot of out-of-town guests

2) you're getting married at a hotel with exceptionally pricey rooms

3) you have a larger-than-average guest list (more than 140)

4) you'd like to offer different price points for your guests to choose from

Contact Hotels Directly

To reserve a wedding room block for your guests, you'll want to narrow your search to two or three hotels and then give each a call. When you call to reserve, give the room block coordinator the dates you expect your guests to be there, plus any special requests you're hoping they'll help you fulfill (like dropping welcome bags at the door, or transportation to and from the airport).

Tip: Ask the hotel if they provide you with regular updates on room bookings by your guests so you can add more if needed.

Use HotelPlanner.com

Sound like a hassle? Save yourself a ton of time by using HotelPlanner, our premier hotel room block reservation service. With partnerships with major hotel chains and certified planners that boast decades of industry experience and collectively speak 28 different languages (hint, hint for destination wedding couples), HotelPlanner is your one-stop-shop for your group's hotel reservations.

HotelPlanner lets you search all the major hotels near your venue, recommends lodging, and helps you negotiate a great price and reserve all your room blocks in one place. All it takes is a simple informational questionnaire and you're matched with a local expert that can help you every step of the way.

Email: info@ehotelsreviews.com