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Carissa
Just Said Yes August 2020

Hotel Blocks

Carissa, on November 20, 2019 at 9:35 PM Posted in Planning 0 9

About half of our guests are local and half are traveling from out of town. Some of the out-of-town guests are from the area and have family local (and may choose to stay with them), but many will definitely need a hotel room. I just don't know how many hotel rooms to block off. Our venue is about 20-30 minutes from my hometown, but I know some of my friends and family who are local may also want to get a hotel room, just for convenience. Is there any way to get a hotel block without emailing and texting our entire guest list to see if they plan on staying in a hotel?

9 Comments

Latest activity by Kelsi, on November 22, 2019 at 5:40 PM
  • Mrs. S
    Master November 2019
    Mrs. S ·
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    You can reserve 10 and then they’ll open up more if they all fill up.
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  • Christine
    Expert September 2020
    Christine ·
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    I would book courtesy blocks (so that you aren't on the hook financially if the rooms don't get booked) and see if the hotels will agree to block off additional rooms once those are taken. Maybe start with enough rooms to cover 1/3 of the households you're inviting, and then you can reserve more if needed? That might mean booking at two hotels or at just one, depending on your guest list.

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  • Sinéad
    WeddingWire Administrator January 2025
    Sinéad ·
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    Hey Carissa!! I would definitely recommend contacting the hotel that you are planning on using for a hotel block and asking what your options are. They may be able to open up more rooms to your guests after the initial room block has been filled. It's worth inquiring about!

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  • Kaysey
    Super February 2020
    Kaysey ·
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    I agree with the other posts. Contact a local hotel and get info about blocking rooms. For my FH and I's wedding, we blocked 10 rooms to start (we aren't having many out-of-town guests but some of our local guests have thought about getting a room for the night so they don't have to drive 30-45 minutes home right after the reception. The hotel we chose is 5 minutes from our venue and we were told, as long as they still have availability, they will open up more rooms for our room block after our first 10 are booked.

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  • Cristy
    Master May 2021
    Cristy ·
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    Check for hotels that let you block the rooms so your guests get a good price, and can get a room, but that will also let you release those rooms by a certain date if any go unreserved.

    My brother made the mistake of not checking the hotel's policy on room blocks for his wedding. It turns out his hotel makes the couple responsible for paying for any unreserved rooms. You don't want that, as it could end up costing you a fortune. But any that will release unused rooms are ok. Also, these are all adults. You can simply block enough rooms for the out-of-towners, and let the locals figure it out. Many of those probably won't even decide until right before the event.

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  • Donna
    Dedicated December 2021
    Donna ·
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    I've found that hotels don't give you much of a discount for blocks in which case most people will just end up booking hotels on their own. I wouldn't worry too much about saving hotel rooms for guests other than maybe your immediate family. Most people nowadays get points for certain hotels and they'll want to use that instead of booking in your block. I put a list of hotels I recommend, near our venue, on our wedding website and I'm just doing a block for my immediate family.

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  • Meghan
    Master October 2019
    Meghan ·
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    We had 98 guests. Everyone had to travel a minimum of 1 hour to come to our wedding. We blocked off 20 double occupancy rooms (10 rooms at 2 different hotels). Any rooms that were not booked 2 weeks before our wedding, I canceled. We had no financial responsibility for our rooms blocks at either hotel. I also suggested Airbnb to a lot of our guests who wanted to rent a place together, which several did.

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  • Tamika
    Expert October 2019
    Tamika ·
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    I started off with 10 and then when it got closer I opened up 10 more. In my Save the Dates I put the information in there for our destination wedding and then again in the Formal Invitation; don't forget to put it on your website of course.

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  • Kelsi
    Expert June 2020
    Kelsi ·
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    I got 2 hotels blocked without asking my guest for a total of 20 rooms. I chose hotels where I won’t be on the hook if they don’t book.
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