To book a hotel room block or not to

I would call the two hotels and see what the deal is. If they offer a courtesy block (where you don't pay to do the block), it's nice because the hotel often gives a discount to your guests. We also got a free upgrade since we were staying there as well. If you do the block, you can also ask about a shuttle. We did a courtesy block with a Marriott down the street from our venue and they had a shuttle that our guests used to go back and forth so they didn't have to worry about drinking and driving. The shuttle cost me like $200, which was way cheaper than if I used an outside company. If they aren't able to do a courtesy block, I would just list the hotels on a details card and call it a day.

View Quoted Comment That’s what I was thinking just write the 2 closest ones to me and call and regardless of what they say they are still the closest options if they don’t wanna drive and don’t wanna Uber to another state

Ask if they have a minimum and if you meet the requirement, ask for a courtesy block (if they allow it). You'll get the rooms at no charge to you and your guests would be financially responsible for booking the room.


Whichever rooms don't get used in your block would just be released back to the public. If you can't get the block, at least you'll still have the info for them on the card ahead of time.

Definitely try to get a courtesy block. Also, if you don't want to really think about it, you can use a free service to make the hotel block for you. I used and liked Kleinfeld and I know there are others. Also, having a service was really helpful when I had to postpone due to covid, because someone else made the follow-up calls when hotels were basically closed and it would've been hard to contact them. Another nice thing to do for your guests, especially if you're worried about them driving and the hotel doesn't offer a shuttle, is set up an event with uber or lyft. You give each person a code that they can use in the app like a gift card, and you can limit each ride to a certain dollar amount of distance from your venue.

We didn’t do a hotel block because of the financial variations within our guest list. We provided a link to the hotel on property as well as used the accommodations tools on our website to allow people to see nearby hotels and air bnbs. This way, everyone can get what fits their needs and groups who want to stay together can split the cost of an air bnb.

If either hotel is willing to do a courtesy block, I highly recommend it. It wouldn't cost you anything, and they might give a discount to guests staying in the room block. The hotel would release any unused rooms from the block a set number of days before the event, so it wouldn't hurt the hotels either. I also agree with a previous comment of asking if they have a shuttle service to take guests to/from the wedding.

It’s definitely worth inquiring about a courtesy block!! I’d reach out to those specific properties you have in mind and see what their room block policies are!

We actually blocked a total of 15 rooms last night at a nearby hotel. It didn’t cost us a thing and after 3 weeks those rooms will be released back to the public. They also gave us a discounted rate on the room and upgraded us to a suite for the same price as a regular room.

View Quoted Comment So after the wedding you’re staying at the same hotel the guests are? We’re going into Boston to stay at a hotel for the night and the next day after. Have a relaxing day to ourselves. The closest hotel is actually in the same town my venue is in

View Quoted Comment Unfortunately, yes. We are going there for an after party. Only because our honeymoon to Jamaica was cancelled because of COVID 💔🥺

I would definitely recommend doing a hotel block. My husband and I ended up getting a free upgrade to a super fancy suite because our guests filled up so many rooms in the block