Hotel blocks contract?

Most places you don't have to pay anything for any unused rooms. I think it's so you have an agreed upon price and number of rooms available in writing for your selected date.

It depends. My hotels offered two different types of contracts - one where I received more rooms in the block but had to pay for the unused ones, and another where we got less rooms but didn't have to pay for any that weren't booked.

As long as it states specifically that rooms aren't going to be your responsibility (an attrition) then you should be okay with the contract. It's usually so that they can release the unused block after a certain date. Usually you can book in a block something like up to a month out from the wedding, so they'll have a contract that says something like "After September 24, we will release the room block" that way if your Aunt Sue forgets to book a room until 2 weeks out and finds the hotel rate is crazy, the hotel doesn't get in trouble. So you have to let your guests know about this cut-off date.

Also contracts really save you. For instance we had a block and then a friend tried to reserve her room in the block and they said they had no record of our block. I emailed the person I had dealt with and had my contract signed so they were able to enter it into their system easily and there was no problem. If there hadn't been a contract we would have been stuck.

Finally, contracts lock you into a certain rate which is the best part. So for us our wedding is during the biggest Comic Con in the country...hotel rooms book up fast! We got our block right when we found out it'd be Comic Con but the hotel didn't realize that. They gave us a rate, and we were locked in. We got it for $129 a night, it is now up to $209 a night!

Basically contracts are a really good thing!

Contracts are a really good thing as stated above ^ but if you are unsure if your guests will be actually reserving a room I would think twice. If you're nervous about a contract, ask If you can have a courtesy block, this would ensure that you are not responsible for any rooms that are not reserved!

Like HiH said, the contract is actually a good thing. It means the hotel is obligated to hold their promises to you. Most hotels won't charge you for unused rooms if you only block 10-20 at a time. This depends on the hotel, so definitely ask how many rooms you can block and ensure you will not owe anything at the end.

Also ask how adding rooms works as they fill up. Adding rooms to our block was completely our responsibility and we frequently asked the hotel how many rooms were left and told our guests to let us know if it was full.

A contract is good- it protects you and them. By having something in writing, it ensures you'll get what you're promised. My contract says the room rates for the block, how many and what types of rooms are blocked, when the discount ends, and that we get a complimentary king room for the wedding night and conference room to get ready in.

I found the contract comes in handy because it provides you & the hotel with a "confirmation number" in their system. If anything goes wrong (ie: Guests are told there aren't any rooms blocked off for them ..... this happened to me) you can use that number as a reference point! I was able to straighten everything out & get the rooms blocked off because I had a contract with the hotel!

I just felt more comfortable having a written document indicating we had a certain amount of rooms at a certain price! I wasn't charged for any unused rooms either. Our block expired one month before our wedding day to ensure the hotel could still fill the rooms if necessary!