How wedding hotel room blocks work
Courtesy and contracted blocks, attrition, cut-off dates, how many rooms to hold, and the four sentences guests need to book one.
A wedding hotel room block is a set of rooms a hotel holds for your guests, usually at a group rate, until a cut-off date. Guests book and pay for their own rooms through a link or code you share on your website. Choose a courtesy block if you can, because it carries no penalty for rooms that go unbooked.
Room blocks sound like a contract negotiation, and occasionally they are. Most of the time they are a short phone call and an email with a link. The few terms below are what decide whether it stays that simple.
The two kinds of block
Courtesy block
The hotel holds rooms at a group rate with no financial commitment from you. Rooms nobody books by the cut-off date are released back to the hotel, and that is the end of it. Courtesy blocks are usually smaller than contracted ones, and easier to get outside peak season.
Contracted block
You sign an agreement for a set number of rooms, usually in return for a better rate, a larger block, or perks such as a hospitality suite. The catch is attrition: the contract names a percentage of the block you promise to fill, and if guests book fewer rooms, you pay the difference.
If you sign one, read three lines before anything else: the attrition percentage, whether it is counted per night or across the stay, and whether rooms the hotel resells count toward your total. Ask for a review date a few weeks before the cut-off, when you can give rooms back without penalty.
The terms, in plain language
- Group rate: the price per night your guests pay, fixed when the block is set up
- Cut-off date: the day unbooked rooms are released and the rate may end, often a few weeks before the wedding
- Attrition: the share of a contracted block you must fill, or pay for
- Pickup: how many rooms guests have booked so far
- Booking link or code: what guests use to get the rate
Ask the hotel for the pickup report every few weeks. It tells you whether to add rooms while they still exist, or to stop worrying.
How many rooms to hold
Count households, not guests, because a couple shares a room. From your guest list, mark which households are travelling and likely to stay overnight. Then hold a little under that number for the main night. Some guests will book a rental, stay with family, or decline.
For 120 guests in about 55 households, with 30 households travelling, a block of 20 rooms on the Saturday and 12 on the Friday is a sensible start. Many hotels will add rooms to a block that fills, if they have them. If your list has a travelling-from column, as recommended in how to organize a wedding guest list, this count takes five minutes. How many of those guests will come at all is its own question, covered in how many invited wedding guests come.
How to set one up
- Pick two or three hotels close to the venue, at different prices
- Call or email each one's sales or group team with your dates and an estimated room count
- Ask for a courtesy block first, and compare the rates offered
- Get the cut-off date, the rate, and the booking link in writing
- Put all three on your website before the save the dates go out
Big chains have made the small end of this self-service. Hilton's group booking page lets you book and confirm up to 25 rooms online, asks larger groups to contact the hotel, and offers a page where guests book their own rooms within the block. For anything bigger, or anything with a contract, talk to a person at the property.
Two hotels are better than one
A second block at a lower price point is a kindness. Guests choosing between a $300 room near the venue and a $150 room fifteen minutes away will pick by budget, and they should be able to do so at a group rate either way. Make sure the shuttle, if there is one, stops at both.
How to share the block with guests
On your wedding website, in the travel section, with everything a guest needs to book without texting you:
We have a block at the Harbor Hotel, 2 Quay Street, at $189 a night for Friday and Saturday. Book through the link below, or call and mention the Ellis-Park wedding. The rate is held until May 14. After that, rooms are subject to availability.
The name of the hotel, the price, the dates, the link, the group name, and the cut-off: six facts in four sentences. This is the same detail recommended for the travel section in what to put on your wedding website. Mention the block on the save the date, by pointing to the site, and follow the save the date timeline so guests see it while rooms remain.
Line the cut-off up with the RSVP deadline
If the hotel's cut-off falls well before your RSVP deadline, guests are asked to book rooms before they have decided to come. Ask the hotel for a cut-off a week or two after your deadline, or set the deadline earlier to match. The arithmetic for picking that date is in how to set an RSVP deadline. Send guests a reminder a week before the cut-off, because the guests who forget are the ones who later find the hotel full.
When a block isn't the answer
In a town with one small inn, or a destination where guests rent houses together, a block may not exist. List the options instead: the inns, the rental areas, and the drive time from each. Getting guests from scattered places to one venue is a transport problem, set out in planning wedding guest transportation, and keeping a far-flung weekend affordable is the subject of planning a destination wedding guests can afford.
Common questions
How does a hotel room block work for a wedding?
The hotel sets aside a number of rooms for your guests, usually at a group rate, until a cut-off date. Guests book and pay for their own rooms with a link or a code. After the cut-off, unbooked rooms go back on general sale.
What is the difference between a courtesy block and a contracted block?
A courtesy block holds rooms with no financial commitment from you: rooms nobody books are released at the cut-off. A contracted block usually gets a better rate or more rooms, but you agree to fill a share of them and may pay for the shortfall.
How many rooms should be in a wedding room block?
Count the households travelling and staying overnight, then reserve a little under that per night, since some will choose rentals or stay with family. Start small. Many hotels will add rooms to a block that fills, and nobody charges you for rooms you never held.
When should you set up a wedding hotel block?
Before the save the dates go out, so the link can go on your website with them. For a peak weekend or a small town with few hotels, start as soon as the venue is booked.
Does the couple pay for the hotel block?
Not usually. Guests pay for their own rooms. The couple's exposure comes only from a contracted block's attrition clause, which is why it is the one line to read before signing.
What is the cut-off date for a hotel block?
The date after which the hotel releases unbooked rooms and may stop offering the group rate. It is often a few weeks before the wedding. Put it on your website, and remind guests a week before it.
A courtesy block, a clear travel section, and one reminder before the cut-off cover most weddings. Simplyweds keeps hotel blocks, links, and shuttle routes together in the travel section of your site, and the features page shows the rest.