Help - blocking hotel rooms and guest transportation

FH and I need to get on the ball and block hotel rooms for our wedding! There will be quite a few out of town guests coming. We may need to block rooms at more than one hotel. (Is this an okay idea / thing to do to give them options?)

We are getting married in August -- the ceremony is at a church in West Hempstead and the reception will be at the Metropolitan.

We thought it was probably easiest to have the hotel closest to the RH, but at this point, I think anything within a reasonable distance is all right. We are thinking about providing transportation for our guests to / from the event.

So I have several questions:

1. Hotel suggestions? We want something nice, but not too expensive for our guests. It would be nice if there were a restaurant in the hotel or at least a few nearby.

2. How do we go about blocking the rooms? Just call up and say we want to block rooms? Is there a fee? Is there a problem if fewer than a certain number of rooms book up?

3. Does the hotel usually discount the rooms?

4. How many nights do I book the rooms for? Friday and Saturday, or just Saturday? (It's a Saturday evening wedding)

5. Re: guest transportation... We are having a church ceremony at 4:30, with our CH starting at 7pm. It's about twenty minutes to a half hour from the church to the Metropolitan, depending on traffic. Do we just provide transportation from the hotel to the RH and back? This way, OOT guests drive to the church and then back to the hotel to meet the bus? Or would we need to provide transportation for the entire day. The ceremony is not a mass, so it shouldn't be more than half an hour + half hour for receiving line and pictures... Then the BP would be off for pics and the guests would have a small bit of free time...

Any thoughts / help would be appreciated!

Try this

I used that tip and it saved me a lot of time and energy.

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Posted by laural2979

Try this

I used that tip and it saved me a lot of time and energy.

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Just saw that, too! I emailed them, so hopefully that will help.

I'm just not sure about how many nights (just the wedding night)?

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Posted by Kara and Todd

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Posted by laural2979

Try this

I used that tip and it saved me a lot of time and energy.

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Just saw that, too! I emailed them, so hopefully that will help.

I'm just not sure about how many nights (just the wedding night)?

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Do the night before the wedding and the night of the wedding. Some people come in the morning of the wedding and sometimes people want to come int he night before as to not travel. We had A LOT of people do that.

Its easy to block rooms. Just do what the other girls suggested or call some hotels directly & ask for the Banquet Manager. I also agree that you should block rooms for both nights, since your BP or anyone invited to the rehearsal dinner might need a place to stay. The rate they give you will probably be about 10% less than a standard rate.

I would give your guests 2 hotel options: One fancy, one basic, to fit everyone's budget. The Metropolitan should have a list of recommended hotels for you. Call & ask.

As for transportation, just get something from the hotel to the RH & back. They can drive to the church. There are a bunch of vendors listed on this site that have shuttle buses/luxury buses. But I warn you, it's not cheap. My hotel is 10 miles form the RH & I got quotes for $550-750 each way.

Thanks a lot.

We already asked the Metropolitan about hotel recommendations. Most were very expensive, and I'd like to give our guests affordable options. The more affordable one was a Fairfield Inn that we know nothing about (and quite frankly, neither did our BM - She just knew it existed. I think it's somewhat new.)

So I thought I'd ask to see if anyone was familiar with hotels near the RH. I grew up near GC, so that is a litle easier... but still, since I lived there, I didn't exactly stay in hotels regularly!

We just went to a wedding at the Metropolitan. They blocked rooms at the Glen Cove Mansion and the East Norwich Inn.

I think they had trouble with GCM giving away their rooms ... so they had everyone stay at the East Norwich Inn. We didn't stay over, but I think they were happy with it.

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Posted by PreshusSmurf

We just went to a wedding at the Metropolitan. They blocked rooms at the Glen Cove Mansion and the East Norwich Inn.

I think they had trouble with GCM giving away their rooms ... so they had everyone stay at the East Norwich Inn. We didn't stay over, but I think they were happy with it.

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we're having our wedding at the Met too & thinking of the glen cove mansion too

I think you just need to provide transportation to and from the RH. Most guests will drive to the church or carpool with other guests. In my view, the purpose of the shuttle is to allow people to drink without having to worry about driving or to make things easier for OOT guests who are not going to be familiar with the roads at night. So, I think most people are okay with just having a shuttle for the reception.

I only blocked rooms at one hotel. I asked a few people who I know plan on using the hotel and they all agreed that they really only cared about one thing, the price as opposed to 'swankyness', provided, that it was not an 'unsavory' type of motel . However, this totally depends on your guests and their specific tastes so you know what to do in that regard.

Good Luck.