Room Blocks, is it really cheaper?

Totally depends on the hotel but they are usually cheaper. You should shop around. My hotel block room rate is $119, Expedia $200. But my brother has Starwood prefer membership and got his $110.

If you're only looking a week or two out, they may just be cheaper now because the hotel is trying to get rid of whatever is left.

Yeah, the price I got for my hotel block is literally $5 cheaper per night. But at least it's locked in in case the price goes up before then.

The rooms will be cheaper for next week, because they are trying to sell their inventory. I wouldn't base your price assumptions off that. Definitely do a room block, because it makes it easier for your guests, especially if hotels in your area tend to fill up quickly or fluctuate on price.

The hotel's website says $160 a night for our rooms but my block is $119.

Mine will be. I negotiated 180 a room by the night of if they don't sell out will be in the 4's

It was cheaper for my guest as well. Usually the rooms were $110.00 and I got them for $79.00 a night plus tax. I only blocked off 15 rooms but they say the more you block off and the more that are booked the better the discount.

Because a year from now prices will go up. How many people boom their hotel a year out? Not many. Room blocks aren't guaranteed to be the lowest price but they usually are or close to.

You also have to consider what might be happening around your wedding. Any conferences, sporting events, festivals or other large events will drive up the market price. Even a large family reunion in the area. With a room block you know you and your guests have a locked in lower rate when they are ready to book.

From what i experienced from the 2 hotels i blocked was no, they were not any cheaper at all than someone just going online and booking a room or calling, BUT the blocks were good because there's a major football game going on during our weekend so rooms were being reserved quickly in general. So although no cheaper rate, I was still able to hold rooms for my guests.

The hotels we set up room blocks gave us lower rates than I found online, but some of the hotels we got quotes from actually charged more for a room in the room block than it would cost to book a room on hotels.com for the exact same night

My rates are much lower than advertised on the website for wedding week next year, but it's also because i work for the same company.

Rates usually go up as the dates get closer, but it depends on what the hotel primarily books. The hotel i work for is primarily business, so we get a LOT of last minute bookings.

Totally depends on the weekend, other events in town, etc. My rooms were only about $10-20/night cheaper than the published rate, and even then I had to negotiate a little for the lower price. A few places did throw in some suites at the same rate as a 'bonus' - we're recommending them to our friends bringing kids.

Totally talk to your hotel or nearby hotels. I was able to offer my guest a room rate 15 months in advance. And it's deadline was only 2 months before the wedding. The price was slashed in half. And even though I did see it a tad cheaper at time - it wasn't guaranteed at least my room block was. Now for those who chose to wait til the last second they are looking at double the rate at my hotel and hotels near by.

For us a benefit isn't so much the price, but that it will reserve the rooms for them. Depending on your area, you don't want guests stuck with a hotel an hour + away because they didn't know about limited availability etc. So even if the prices aren't fantastic it's still probably a good idea!

In my area there is a big event the weekend after our date. Hotels are booked a year ahead for the event. Getting a block knocked the rate down from $226 to $148.

Four our hotel, full price rooms run ~$200 per night. The room block discounted rate for our guests is $129 per night. Way cheaper.

Now, I did look at online rates for our hotel around March 25th this year and found rooms were going for $125. I noticed this the week before the 25th, and happened to be in town meeting with the hotel's wedding coordinator. I asked why we were told we would be getting a $70 discount on the rooms when it seems like the room block quote was identical to the current room rate. The answer was that you can find good deals online really close to the date in question if they're under capacity.

This means that if my guests want to book in advance, they're better off going through the room block because the room rates outside of the block will be expensive. It also means that if any guests want to wait until the last minute to book their rooms, they could end up with either the same deal, or an even better deal than the room block rate, but they're taking a risk that there may not be rooms available at the hotel under a month before the wedding (our block closes a month before our wedding date).

The two hotel blocks we booked are about $30 cheaper than if you booked on your own.

The hotel we're looking at is $300/night for 2 beds. Way more than we want for our guests. Booking online through their site today is $10 cheaper. Our wedding is a holiday weekend though and it's the only oceanfront hotel in town, so they're not budging a whole lot on anything. They offered free wifi, which you can easily get if you're a member of their points program. So the long answer to your question is I haven't found it to be cheaper to book a room block. Need to look at other hotels still.