Destination Room Blocks

I went through my travel agent doing this. We set aside 20 rooms, they needed $2000 to hold the rooms. My dad paid, but that $2000 ends up coming off his room bill in the end. We also get 2 room upgrades for every 10 rooms booked, we get to choose who gets the upgrades. I know that all 20 of our rooms will be taken soon then we can add more, travel agent also told me as time gets closer she would have been able to release some of the rooms ahead of time because I guess if you hold them too close to the date you may have to pay a fee to cancel. I'm sure this is something your travel agent is aware of and would keep checking on. We are at the Riu in Aruba, I assume every hotel has different policies but I would assume they would be similar. Hope this helps

I don't know how it is for a DW but I wouldn't be putting any money down for room blocks.

@Kimberley thanks for the insight! That is pretty much along the lines of what I was thinking. We are doing the Hyatt Ziva in Jamaica.

Our all inclusive in Mexico requires us to put $100 deposit per room that we want to block. The money we put towards the blocked rooms then gets transfered to our final bill as guests book and pay for their own rooms. We can reduce the number of rooms blocked at any time up to 4 months before the wedding date. If we reduce the number of rooms closer to the date, they charge a fee. Our RSVP date will be very early because of this. Make sure to check with the resort about their policies for adding or reducing the number of rooms. Our hotel also gives us 1 free night for every 7 rooms booked and money off the wedding package if a total of 90 nights are booked by wedding guests. These credits are given at the end of our stay. You'll have to check the resorts policy about giving those perks to other guests.

Thank you Nicole!

@NicoleH Would you mind telling me where you're getting married? Sounds a lot like my venue!

If you are doing Jamaica, try Apple Vacations. They will work with the guests directly on room deposits. I'm glad we did, cause about 10 people who said they were "definitely coming" ended up backing out when it would have been too late to cancel a room block.

Just be careful that the resort doesn't charge you for the unused rooms. I've seen that happen a couple times.

We had to pay $1000 deposit to hold our room block, which went towards our room. Everyone else paid $100 deposit on their rooms to start payments. Everything worked out for us! If we would have had 20 rooms booked, we would have received our room free plus some other incentives. We were at Jewel Dunn's River Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica

@FutureMrsG. We are going to Sandos Finisterra in Cabo San Lucas Mexico