Hotel Welcome Bags Question

We're just doing them for people who booked a room in the block.

Just do them for people staying in the hotel block. Typically you give them to the front desk, and they will hand them out when guests check in.

View Quoted Comment That was my initial thought, but then I started second guessing myself. I will stick to just those who book in the room block. Thank you for your reply!

View Quoted Comment Thank you for your reply! It's a semi destination wedding, so our guests are all traveling to attend, and I wasn't sure if I needed one for everyone or not. I will stick to just doing welcome bags for those staying in the room block.

So I don’t have an answer for you but… what are you putting in your welcome bags??

View Quoted Comment Water bottles, a small bag of my fiance's favorite snack, a small bag of my favorite snack, sunglasses, small first aid kit (Band-Aids, ibuprofen, etc), a deck of cards with instructions for how to play our favorite card games, a map of the area, coupons for area restaurants/things to do, and a welcome/thank you note from us.

We're just doing welcome bags for those who booked with our hotel room blocks-- giving them to the front desk to distribute. We're including bottled water, airplane bottles of liquor, candy (groom's favorite, my favorite), snacks, ibuprofen, and mints. We put a tag on the bag thanking them for making the trip to celebrate with us on our special day.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for your reply! Based on everyone's replies, I think I'm going to do welcome bags only for those in the room block. It sounds like you have a great mix of items for your welcome bags, I love the idea of adding mints!

Since you keep using the phrase “room block” id caution you to leave extras, or try to get an idea if other guests may have booked at the hotel but outside of the block. I say this because I had a number of guests stay at our blocked hotel but booked separately as they could get a better rate on their own (membership or status or what have you), and I too have booked this way. I knew that many were staying there so I made enough bags for everyone I counted, as opposed to only those who were on the list the hotel provided me from my block. I mention this because if the hotel is handing out bags at check in, they’ll give them to everyone who says they’re there for the wedding.

View Quoted Comment Ooh, great suggestion! I will be sure to give the hotel extra welcome bags just in case someone books outside of the room block at the same hotel. Thank you for your reply!

We are just doing it for those who booked under our room block

View Quoted Comment

Awesome, thank you for your input! I'm thinking we'll just do welcome bags for those who book at the hotel where we have the room block (plus a few extras just in case). What all are you including in your welcome bags?

I would say the ones that booked the hotel because you are more than likely welcoming them from another place. The ppl that didn’t book can get the wedding favors if you are doing those

View Quoted Comment It's a semi-destination wedding, so all of our guests are traveling to attend. Some are booking through Airbnb or other hotels instead of our room block, but I can't track down where everyone is staying just to drop off a welcome bag. I will plan to just put together welcome bags for those staying in the room block (plus a few extra bags)! We are doing wedding favors, which everyone attending our wedding will get. Thank you for your reply!

If you're having a welcome party then I would give them out to the people not staying at the room block. If not and there are no activities/parties planned before the wedding then I would just give them to the people at the hotel.

What is the rationale for only having welcome bags for guests at the blocked hotel, and not other out of town guests at other hotels? I’m curious because I have the exact dilemma.

View Quoted Comment We're unfortunately not doing a welcome party, so I can't hand them out there. I love that idea though! That would have been a perfect time and place for the welcome bags. We don't have any activities planned that include all guests for before the wedding. I'll probably just stick to having the room block hotel hand them out. Thank you for your reply!

View Quoted Comment So we're doing a semi destination wedding in our state, and so all of our guests are driving in from out of town. It would be difficult for me to have to track down where every guest is staying - some are staying in the room block, some are booking different hotels, some are booking through Airbnb, some are staying at a campground, etc. Even if I had a list of where everyone was staying, it'd then be a huge chunk of time for me to run around and drop off welcome bags at each location. Because of this, I think I'm only going to do welcome bags for those staying in the hotel where we have a room block.

View Quoted Comment Ah makes sense. Any concerns about the guests staying elsewhere being or feeling “excluded”? Is there a risk someone might accuse you of being rude?

View Quoted Comment Part of me was concerned about people feeling excluded, which was one reason why I wanted to ask the forums about this topic. After reading the responses from everyone, I don't think I'm concerned anymore. I will bring extra bags and hand them out if anyone asks why they didn't receive one, but otherwise, will only plan to give them to those staying in the room block.