No Hotel Rooms Left!

At this point I wouldn't bother with a hotel block - nor would I even consider this remotely far in advance. I usually book hotel rooms 2-3 months in advance when I am personally staying someplace. For the wedding, I booked my hotel block 11 months out.

Most hotel blocks only hold rooms until 30-45 days before the event anyway, which you are very quickly approaching.

We didn’t do a hotel block. We had a wedding website and on it we listed a list of different hotels in different price ranges.

Honestly this isn't really that far in advance. If you sent STD's which I hope you did if you have a lot of out of town guests then they will know to book hotel rooms. If I was a guest going to an out of town wedding in May my room would be booked by now.

Depending on your area, you can list Airbnb rentals for your guests, or rent a large Airbnb house for them all to stay in yourself. Otherwise, it might just be best to forgo the hotel block and let them handle their own arrangements. Another option is to offer spare rooms in your families' homes.

I don't think that it's far in advance...unfortunately. Hotels get booked very early. I already made my hotel block back in November, and at that time it was nearly almost a year away! At this point I would block off the hotel that you mentioned just so there's something available for your guests. People will make their own decisions. If they don't like the look/rating of the hotel they can choose their own accommodations instead.

Middle of May is most HS/College graduations, which bring in a ton of people (even to the smaller cities around). We're not doing a hotel block because the closest one is about 30 minutes from our venue - then after that there would be tons about another 15 minutes. We don't have a ton of out of town guests, but we're having the wedding at a time when they'd be able to leave by 9 even and still get home by midnight if they wanted to go on home.

From your profile, it looks like you are from upstate/western NY. As someone who spent a LOT of time in that area - hotels fill up super fast. It is prime graduation and prom season as well as the start to summer vacation time.

To put it bluntly - yes if you wanted a hotel block then you screwed up by not taking care of this last summer or at the very least when you booked your venue. But realistically, if you don't have a lot of out of town guests, then you don't need a hotel block so it isn't a big deal. Just list the hotels in the area on your wedding website and guests will figure it out. I love hotel blocks because it makes my life easier, but I am certainly capable of booking a hotel room without one. Hotel blocks are not a necessity. You could look into some AirBnB's, or if you are thinking about having an after party with a few friends - just let them know to book at a certain hotel ASAP.

Also, these hotels may have rooms available - just not rooms that they will set aside in a hotel block. My FH has a high enough Marriott rewards membership where he is guaranteed a room as long as he calls at least 24 hours in advance and most hotels leave a small number of rooms set aside to open for booking closer to the date.

We booked our hotel block a year in advance, hotels book up super quickly in Denver. I'd look into hotels 20 minutes out like you are and book them ASAP, I'd also look into airbnbs and VRBOS.

Exactly this.

I just told people where it was going to be and either bring your camp trailer or book a room. as my house and camp trailer are already being used for people that are either in the wedding or are from back east. (as Im in Oregon)

Unfortunately, hosts are not protected from such situations where they are blamed for nothing.