I'm not doing a hotel block

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Yep...that's the route I went on our website. I fell like most of them will go though a booking site to find a cheaper rate anyhow or some ill get an air bnb and share cost... so I did give ample suggestions. We shall see...

We didn't either. We already know her family will use a timeshare trade and we don't have enough people coming from out of town to justify it. They all have different preferences and needs anyway. I just put a list of decent hotels together for those that haven't spent much time here.

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I haven't seen a courtesy block option as of yet. But I am going to make some calls and see if any of them offer it.

My hotel block in Nj not charging me for unbooked rooms I think I used the knot to find the hotel block

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Sweet...Where in NJ are you?

We did a courtesy block so they help the rooms until a certain date for free and we weren't responsible for any costs/unbooked rooms.

View Quoted Comment They might not! No hotels in our city offer courtesy blocks so we let people do their own thing. But the majority of hotels in most places offer them so I would call a few places and ask. That way if no one books any rooms there it doesn’t matter.

I am in NJ. I booked a courtesy block through a Courtyard by Marriott with no issues, and we were not having our wedding there. They just lifted the block a month before the event date.

I was not responsible for my blocks if they didn't fill. I had two just to kind of direct people to an area of town - it definitely was not required. If the city/town is large enough it may be nice to at least direct people to a convenient location (i.e. tell them that the reception is downtown, so any hotels in XX neighborhood would be most convenient) especially if they're not familiar with the area.

Nope, if the hotel is holding you responsible for any unreserved rooms in the block, then I wouldn't do it either. My brother is dealing with this right now. He's setting up a hotel block at the hotel he's getting married at in San Diego. They are having a really small wedding, but literally every single guest will have to travel, as none of us live in San Diego. So, he's assuming that people will need hotel rooms, but he's calling or texting everyone about his hotel block, because he's worried about the same thing: that guests will find a cheaper Motel 6 or something other than the rooms he has reserved. To be honest, I thought of doing that myself, as the hotel he wants is quite expensive.

So, I don't blame you one bit for not wanting to risk it. If you know your family, and know they are likely to book the cheapest rooms they can find, despite a hotel block available to them, you're just setting yourself up for a lot of unnecessary costs.

I don't see an issue with it. We rented a house for the weekend of the wedding for us as well as some of our out of towners to stay at. For anyone else, I listed hotels that are close by on our website as well as Airbnb and VRBO options but like you said, they will do their own thing.

Some hotels will do a courtesy block for you at a group rate. Just as an option.

Add the names of some larger/newer hotels close and let them decide. Finding accommodations today is a lot different than it used to be. . Google is a wonderful thing!

View Quoted Comment Lyndhurst but wedding is in spring lake. You?

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(South Jersey) We're in Burlington and the wedding is in Palmyra

Nah. I didn't do one either. Listed out hotel options on the website and Airbnb's in the area and left it at that.

I think hotel blocks were more common before the Airbnb.