Hotel rooms

Look for courtesy blocks. We blocked off rooms at a hotel down the street from our venue. It gave our guests a break on the price and cost us nothing. Guests were free to book an AirBnB as well, but this gave them an easy option that was close to the venue. We also were able to provide a shuttle from the hotel to the venue and back at the end of the night for those guests so they didn't have to worry about drinking and driving.

You could always book a courtesy block! That way, you don't have to pay for any of the rooms (booked or not). The hotel sets aside a specific number of rooms (usually 10), and guests can call the hotel, give the name of the room block, and pay for the room under their own card. Any rooms not booked by the deadline (usually a month before the wedding) are released back to the hotel to sell to someone else. I think room blocks are nice because it gives your guests an option of somewhere to stay if they're not familiar with the area, though they do not have to book there if they don't like the price.

I think it is unnecessary unless you are actually paying for it. So far in the destination weddings I've been invited to, the bride and groom have always advised where they are staying and their recommendations re accommodation.

We had a courtesy block. Our wedding was at a 5-star hotel and they offered us a crazy good rate. There was zero obligation for us to fill a certain number of rooms. Our guests who wanted the convenience of staying on-site super appreciated a much lower rate than they could have gotten booking on their own, and other guests who preferred staying at an AirBnB or offsite at a different hotel had that option too.

It has never been necessary except on a very few places where without advance reservation, everything will be booked. From college towns on graduation day, to Disney, or peak tourist times . 95% of the time none are needed where I work some catering, but most people push for it, and places just consider in another fee opportunity where you only buy what you could have had free. If people who reserve at 6-7 weeks will have a choice, do not bother unless you have secondary party plans for particular lodgings. Or are on a high traffic holiday. I always consider it a strange thing when hosts take on completely unnecessary things. My family let me fend for myself with money sent, in several European countries, at 16. But my old college roommate, 20 years ago, iso careful to reserverve a room and even provide aspirin and toothbrush and thing I might have forgotten when I drive for 3 hours from my town to hers. Like we all need mummy's help to do what average adults do just fine on their own. Feel free to skip half the things on lists people have come up with. Unless you are inviting children without adults, most is unnecessary.

I'm reserving a block and it's costing me nothing. I have family and friend coming from all over the US and don't want them to have to think about the best option. I'm also providing a limo service to bring them from airport to hotel to venue and back again.

Well I wanted to do the same have them book there own accommodations as long it's not to far away. Now I will get a room for my mom and my honey and I will get a room too and then me and my honey come back to my room.

View Quoted Comment That's what I was thinking but waiting for our RSVP cards back to see how many ppl will come because I don't want to pay empty rooms

View Quoted Comment If you get a courtesy block, you have zero financial obligation for unbooked rooms. The hotel blocks off a certain number of rooms (usually 10) and then guests can book under your group number. Any unsold rooms get released back about a month before the event. You don't pay anything, regardless of how many people book, even if it's 0. If you fill up the 10 rooms, they'll add more to block.

View Quoted Comment Ok thank I will definitely look into it thank you so much for your help

View Quoted Comment Yes exactly. I am failing to to understand how or why people see this as problematic? It literally costs the hosting couple nothing and saves their guests significant amounts of money. If my guests were to book outside our courtesy block, even though it was not an extremely busy weekend, they would have paid over $100 more per night plus a resort fee. It took us five minutes during contact negotiations to figure out our courtesy block rate and maximum number of rooms. I hardly see that as taking anything unnecessary on or over hand-holding for our guests.

View Quoted Comment Agreed. Also, at least in my social circle, people like being in the same place. After my wedding, all of the guests who stayed at the hotel with us hang out for an impromptu after party (although my in-laws brought a decent amount of liquor, so clearly they had some forethought lol). This has been my experience as a guest at weddings as well. My SIL is getting married in 2 weeks, and it's a destination for everyone from her hometown, and we're all staying at the hotel block, which is walking distance from the hotel. And I anticipate that people will continue to party after the wedding together at the hotel. There's a fun component to staying in the same place as other guests and continuing the excitement.

My hotel did a courtesy block. My whole family is traveling from out of state and our venue is about an hour from most of my FH's family and I got a good rate for a 20 room block. It'll be fun having people close by, but there are other hotel options if people choose that as well.

The hotel we are using has a weekend wedding code that allows guests a % off their stay.

I unfortunately had issues trying to book a block. The prices they gave me were significantly MORE than the rate given when I randomly looked up booking a room for my wedding date! That seemed crazy to me, so It was all a hassle so I let it go.

View Quoted Comment

I agree with Lisa 100%.

I personally appreciate hotel blocks being provided. Often times, hotels will give your guests a great discount if you block off a certain amount of rooms with them. We're doing 25 for our hotel, and they gave us a generous discount! Whatever rooms aren't booked by the deadline, the hotel will release them back to the general public so there's no extra cost to us for rooms not booked.

Just an example: we went to a wedding an hour away from us that had only 2 hotels near it. The couple blocked off rooms only for them and the wedding party, but they listed both hotels on their wedding website. Neither hotels had rooms available during their wedding weekend, so they had guests scrambling to find ways to get home like carpooling, ubers, lyfts, taxis. It was kind of a nightmare. We were fine, but guests that traveled at least 2 hours to their wedding....it was a hassle for them.

It really depends.

If you are having a wedding at a hotel or venue with on-site accommodations, I do think it makes sense to block off rooms for guests, family, and/or members of your wedding party.

If you are having a wedding at a place that has limited rooms or there is peak travel for other reasons (like having a wedding in the mountains of Vermont or New Hampshire during peak foliage season) and there is any risk your guests will have difficulty booking rooms, then I think you need to block them off. Sometimes couples do really stupid things like getting married in Louisville the same weekend as the Kentucky Derby or choosing a college graduation weekend to get married in a college town. Not only are rooms hard to find then, but they can be really expensive, so blocking them off ensures your guests at least have an option available to them when they RSVP to your wedding.

Hotels have various rules/restrictions regarding room blocks. Some let you place a hold on a certain number of rooms up to a certain date and there is no cost, some require a minimum number of rooms to be booked and you are responsible for the difference if the minimum isn't met, some give discounts, some don't. Before committing to a room block or ruling them out I would do a little research and see if there is an option that is convenient for both you and your guests. If a no risk option is available and you think it would benefit some guests, there is little harm in having a room block, even if few people use it.

As a wedding guest, I personally don't care much for hotel blocks unless there is a significant discount associated with them and I know a bunch of other people also invited to the wedding who I feel like I'd want to connect with before or after the wedding itself. I don't always want to be in the middle of the action, my husband has loyalty points with a certain hotel chain and always prefers to stay at that chain when it is an option, and when I was single I was usually on a budget and would prefer to stay in a less expensive hotel than what was usually listed. Your guests will have different price points and preferences and when there is a block I feel pressure to stay in those accommodations and guilty if I don't, even if its what's best for me. It can also be difficult to avoid an after party when you are surrounded by other wedding guests, but if you want a bunch of people to keep the party going all night long, having them all stay together increases the likelihood of that happening. There are pros and cons.

We chose not to block hotels because we were having a small wedding, with a limited number of guests traveling, the guests who were traveling were coming from different directions (aside from a five-room BnB five minutes from our venue, the closest accommodations were either 25 minutes to the west in the town where we live, or 15 minutes to the east of our venue), and we didn't have our wedding at a time of year where accommodations would be limited at all. We live in a college town and had our wedding after graduation but before summer vacation, so there were going to be a ton of unoccupied rooms for guests to choose from. As it was, we had very few guests actually book hotels and some did so just days before our wedding and there was plenty of availability.

I decided not to because we are in the Northern Va DC area so lots of hotels to choose from.

I have a courtesy block of 10 rooms for my wedding, and I can add more rooms as needed after the 10 are booked and won't be on the hook for anything. I am also providing a bus to and from the hotel and venue for guests specifically staying at the hotel. Guests can book elsewhere but transportation cannot accommodate other hotels or locations.