Room Blocks: What is reasonable cost?

Everybody's definition of reasonable will be different, but IMO that's pretty high. If I were travelling out of town for someone's wedding, the most I would be willing to spend on a hotel would be $200 a night. It certainly doesn't hurt to book more than one block to give your guests options.

I live near Sacramento and $300/night is OUTRAGEOUS! Was it the Kimpton Sawyer( that would make sense, but STILL)? That was the price with the discount for the block? I would definitely look elsewhere. We're getting married in Puerto Rico next summer and before we reserved the block, prices were about $200/night. After the block they went down to about $150/night.

A room block is only a convenience for guests. Frequently I’ve found prices less expensive than the so called discount, if any, on my own. You shouldn’t be “asking” anything of your guests. They can stay wherever they wish.


That said, if you’re hoping the majority will book in one place, unless these prices are consistent in your area or your crowd is pretty affluent I’d probably look for something a bit more reasonable. People don’t tend to like spending a lot when it’s just for the purpose of a place to stay, not their own vacation.

ETA I would list hotels in a range of price points. You can have more than one room block.

I agree with doing more than one hotel for your block. Guests aren’t obligated to stay in the block anyway, so they can always find something else, but it’s nice to let people decide their own priorities (cost vs quality of accommodations). Just from personal experience, our rooms were around 175, 250, and 400, and the middle one was by far the most popular choice among our guests. (We knew the $400 was a lot, but it’s literally right next to our ceremony space and a couple families did opt for that).

We did three hotel blocks, all at different price points and conveniences. One was downtown Sarasota. so walking distance to the Welcome dinner and a ton of restaurants and shops. It was the highest price. One was right near the airport, offered shuttle service to and from, and just happened to have the oldest running Tiki bar in our area (LOL) This was the cheapest. The other hotel block was right on the beach island we got married on, was walking distance to the venue and was the most "Florida-ish" hotel. It came in about $15 less than the downtown area. We also had people ask me about VRBO locations that were scoping out.

As others have said, doing a block is providing the legwork and convenience, but guests will choose on their own whether or not to use them. The BIGGEST thing to watch for is that you are not responsible - or charged - for unused rooms.

Hello, IMO, $300 is a little steep. I would recommend more than 1 hotel block. I would also recommend going to visit the hotels and looking at a few of the rooms. Another suggestion, if you have some out of town guests that are closely related, maybe an air bnb to accommodate a group. It may save you some money.
Erica

Reasonable is relative. Some people may feel that $50/night is expensive and others feel that $300 is not quality enough. Have options in a range of prices and let guests decide what works for their budget.

View Quoted Comment Where did you reserve? I am getting married in Puerto Rico too but having trouble reserving the blocks. The hotels I contacted have basically asked me to put down my cc but are not giving me a discount. 😤

View Quoted Comment Hi Samantha I’m also getting married in Puerto Rico in Feb 2024 unfortunately I’ve been only getting Quotes in the 300-400 range but was able to negotiate with caribe Hilton ! Did you have any luck elsewhere ?

View Quoted Comment Hi Samantha! We're getting married in Rincon, are you near there? We booked at the Rincon Beach Resort. And they originally asked for my cc info but ended up not actually needing it. Weird

View Quoted Comment I am getting married in San Juan this fall. So far the hotels have not been so responsive but I’m going to go in person next week to see if that works better.
Good luck and thanks for the tip!

View Quoted Comment Congratulations and good luck to you as well!

View Quoted Comment I was originally gonna go with caribe Hilton but now gonna check out some of the hotels in isla verde. They’re a lot cheaper!

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Can i ask which hotels you booked and what the feedback was?! i am getting married in sarasota in may of 2025 and currently searching for room blocks. thanks!!

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Aloft - This is the hotel in downtown Sarasota. Walking distance to tons of restaurants, etc. I believe, at the time, the rate was $199? SOrry, I cleaned out my wedding folders about 3 months ago. We paid for the resort parking fee ($18) Guests loved the modern resort, and the availability of the free Bay Runner trolley

Golden Host Resort - this is the resort with oldest tiki bar LOLOL My guests LOVED LOVED LOVED the retro decor (my generation, btw LOL) This was the cheapest resort, very close to Sarasota airport. My guests said it was super clean and great front desk service.

The other resort was near our wedding venue - on the beach on Anna Maria island. So unless you're going way up there, I am not going to share it with you.

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We may do a rehearsal at the beach house so happy to hear your anna maria rec!