Blocking hotel rooms for guests...?

Question

How far in advance do I need to do this? Our wedding is October 27 of this year and people have already asked me where we have blocked rooms. I thought that it was too early for that. And how does that work? Do I need to guarantee a certain number of rooms for the hotel to offer a discount or do I put money down?

Answer 1

asap usually October is not a very busy much for us in the hotel industry but ya never know.....most hotels i have ever worked at have said that they are giving a dicounted rate but it is usually the rack rate because they are not obligated to give you a higher rate even if you block the rooms because the rooms will sell anyways. So ask for the rack rate first then ask for a discount. One hotel i worked foor gave discounts only after 20 rooms where blocked and if those rooms were not all taken then the rate would go back to rack rate...you will need a credit card with enough funds to be able to authorize the total amount on if u r paying if u do not want to pay you block the rooms using ur credit card but tell the hotel guests will call in seperately to book rooms and ur card is only to hold they will set a date you need to cancel rooms by which is about a month previous and remeber all hotels have different rules and regulations even within the same chain so call around.....ask for triple a rates or aarp rates for those who have memberships that will drop the rate down also

Answer 2

It depends on the hotel, just start calling the local hotels you're considering, and ask what kind of a deal they're willing to give you. And no, it's not too early to do this, October 27 is about 8 1/2 months away, hotels generally start booking a year in advance. Do some research first, find out what the room regularly goes for, find out if the area caters to primarily business travellers (meaning weekends the hotel is empty) or vacationers (meaning the hotel is emptier during the week). You should have a pretty good idea of about how many rooms you can guarantee as well, so check with all those out of town family members, and see who is seriously thinking about coming, and how many hotel rooms would they need, and for how many nights? I would imagine most hotels will want some kind of deposit to hold the rooms, but that would probably be paid for by the family members when they book the room. Be aware there may also be an increase if you cannot fill the agreed upon room nights. This is a pretty big job too, you might want to delegate this one to your mom or dad, or future in laws (depending on which side most of the out of town guests are from). Best of luck to you!

Answer 3

Good question! I agree with drjen-act now. I was wondering that myself and intend to take drjen's advice as well.

I would suggest calling the hotel you have in mind and asking them about the terms. If they want some sort of guarantee, then ask your guests for definite answers now. They should understand. They can't expect you to reserve them a room if they won't give you an answer, can they?

If they don't have enough rooms to accommodate your needs, try spreading your guests out at a few different hotels. Keep in mind that proximity to each other and the wedding venue should be a factor as well as access to conveniences such as restaurants.

Congratulations and good luck.

Answer 4

There are some hotels that sell oput over a year in advance... I wanted to get married in Santa Barbara where things were booked two years in advance, yikes! Then the hotel I finally found only had a certain number of rooms left which lefthaving to limit the number of people who could attend my wedding. ACT NOW! You should find a central location (or two, one is best) near the wedding/reception and start calling now to find room rates and their rules for blocking rooms, then have people call as soon as possible to reserve their rooms. Acting early is much better than being dissapointed in the end.

Answer 5

Go ahead and book. This way everything is squared away. A lot of hotels offer discounts for over 5 to 10 rooms. Call your local hotels and find out what they offer.

Answer 6

Start looking now! When you book, make sure you know the terms.
Some places will still charge you if you don't use all the rooms. Make sure there's a "drop-by" date, so you can let rooms go if they're not going to be used and you won't be charged.

Answer 7

I'd call the hotel in your area and ask them, it kind of all depends on where you live it there are festivals in your area then it probably needs to be done as soon as possible to be safe.

Answer 8

I would certainly start calling hotels in the area, and asking them these exact questions.

Answer 9

Yeah...You should definitely start checking out rates and availability. You won't really know what kind of deals they can give you until you ask them. Good Luck!!

Answer 10

I would start to work on that now.