Tuesday Tips: Booking Hotel Blocks

Don’t leave your guests stranded… Photo: Liz Coopersmith

Where will they stay?

I’m knee deep in  locking down room blocks for one of my couples right now, and it can get a little hinky. There are two different types of blocks you can make. Courtesy blocks, where you reserve rooms for your guests with a hotel, at a discounted rate. Your guests can pay for their rooms, within a certain period of time, say, a month before your wedding. After that, your reserved rooms are no longer available at that rate. And then, there’s guaranteed rooms, where you sign a contract for a certain number of rooms, say 10. And, if after a specified date, a percentage of those rooms aren’t booked by your guests? You have to pay for however many rooms are left over. Yup.

Room blocks are a good idea, though, especially for big weddings or if you have a lot of out-of-town guests.  “Hotels in 2016 are filling up really fast,” Says Amy Green, founder of Where Will They Stay, a company that books guest blocks for weddings and for event professionals “Once you decide on your wedding and reception site, start your hotel research. You should lock down rooms for your guests and have them book as soon as possible.”

Amy and her team will search for hotels in the area that fit your guests’ needs, but you can also ask your wedding venue manager for recommendations. They might have a list of hotels that offer special discounts to your venues’ customers. Rule #1 of wedding planning: Use what you have to get what you need.

See you at the end of the aisle,

Liz Coopersmith

Silver Charm Events
www.silvercharmevents.com

Let’s talk about your wedding:
liz@silvercharmevents.com
323-592-9318