Is this appropriate to include as a note with the STD?

We are inviting 200 guests, and 140 of them are out of state. The hotels would only allow us to block 20 rooms at a time, but I want most of the guests to stay in the same hotel as us because we reserved a hospitality room for an after party.

Anyway, I want to add a note card with some hotel information such as the hospitality suite and shuttle will only be provided from one of the hotels, but I also want to express that the rooms are limited and if they don't book early, rooms aren't guaranteed. But I'm not sure if this is appropriate - I just know a lot of the older couples aren't as familiar with these room blocks. How does this sound:

THE BRIDE AND GROOM HAVE RESERVED ROOMS AT:
Hotel Name
Hotel Address
Hotel Address
Hotel Number

Group Booking Code: XXX
Room rate - $XXX per night, includes:
Shuttle to and from the Reception Hall
Hospitality Suite from 12am - 4am for post wedding gathering
Hot Continental Breakfast (eggs and breakfast meats in addition to standard continental)

Hotel B
Hotel Address
Hotel Address
Hotel Number

Group Booking Code: XXX
Room rate - $XXX per night, includes continental breakfast. Please note that shuttle service will not be provided between the Hotel B and Reception Hall.

Please note that a limited number of rooms have been reserved. Additional rooms will be blocked at these rates when the initial reservation is filled, availability permitting. All rooms will be released one month prior to the wedding.


OR, should I just rely on word of mouth? I'm just worried that FMIL's friends won't understand that they have to book in advance, and these hotels book up pretty fast - besides the fact that rooms are going to be blocked for all of the other weddings in the area.

Will the hotel let you add extra rooms after a certain amount sell out? I know some places hesitate blocking 50 rooms or so because they probably think you are nuts but if you block the 20 and 20 book right away, why would they NOT want to add more and get your business?

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Posted by melbalalala

Will the hotel let you add extra rooms after a certain amount sell out? I know some places hesitate blocking 50 rooms or so because they probably think you are nuts but if you block the 20 and 20 book right away, why would they NOT want to add more and get your business?

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They'll add on after the first 20 are booked, but I want to make sure my guests realize that. If they all wait until a month before the wedding, those extra rooms won't be available.

Thanks for responding!

Any other opinions?

Thanks!!!

In our STD, we went simple and said:

Please book early to secure a room, we want to make sure everyone is accomodated.

We had a decent amount of people book from the save the date. We only blocked at one hotel though.

As people keep on reminding me, if you give your guests 9-10 months notice about this, remind them via word of mouth along the way, send an insert in the invitation, and they still don't book rooms, it's their problem, not yours!!!

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Posted by ali120206

In our STD, we went simple and said:

Please book early to secure a room, we want to make sure everyone is accomodated.

We had a decent amount of people book from the save the date. We only blocked at one hotel though.

As people keep on reminding me, if you give your guests 9-10 months notice about this, remind them via word of mouth along the way, send an insert in the invitation, and they still don't book rooms, it's their problem, not yours!!!

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That's a good idea! Thanks!

It took us awhile to come up with what we wanted to say in one sentence.

It helps too to have FMIL mention to people how many people you expect to be staying at the hotel to any friends they invited to get them moving

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Posted by ali120206

In our STD, we went simple and said:

Please book early to secure a room, we want to make sure everyone is accomodated.

We had a decent amount of people book from the save the date. We only blocked at one hotel though.

As people keep on reminding me, if you give your guests 9-10 months notice about this, remind them via word of mouth along the way, send an insert in the invitation, and they still don't book rooms, it's their problem, not yours!!!

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ditto... i provided hotel info in my std, similar to all of this. with this, and the word-of-mouth reminders, people will still do what they want

a word of advise.... many guests find that it's cheaper to use other discounts that are available to them, like aaa discounts. this threw my room count off by A LOT.

include the note. remind by word-of-mouth somewhere along the way. that's all you can do.

hth

Does the hotel provide cards that you can put in with the STD's???
Mine did and I wrote the rate and it gave the info on the card on who to call, etc...

I think it's good to include everything!

I know that if someone told me all of that information I'd probably forget... but when you have everything in writing, and right in front of you I think that will be a good reminder, and people are more likely to book!

Keep it

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Posted by D's Girl

Does the hotel provide cards that you can put in with the STD's???
Mine did and I wrote the rate and it gave the info on the card on who to call, etc...

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We do have cards for one of the hotels. I wanted to include this additional card so that people know if they stay at the other hotel they have to drive themselves and can't participate in the after-party.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll probably leave it as is.

We too have mostly out of towners... For our STDs, I had an insert page printed that said (I'm ad libbing here):

'For those traveling from New England, we strongly recommend making reservations on the New London Ferry, blah blah....

We have reserved a limited number of rooms for a reduced rate for our guests at the Best Western In Riverhead, 12 miles from Atlantica. Transportation for our guests to and from the reception will be provided. Please call the hotel directly and tell them you are with the ____ wedding.'

We remind our guests that the Hamptons is a very popular retreat in the summer. Please be sure to reserve your rooms ASAP, for accomodations there book very quickly. If you choose to stay at one of the many beautiful inns in the area, please note that many have a 2 night minimum in the high season. '

I think people appreciated the heads up and the info. Plus, that way I didnt' get 100 calls from people asking for places to stay. Hope this helps

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Posted by carolinebr

We too have mostly out of towners... For our STDs, I had an insert page printed that said (I'm ad libbing here):

'For those traveling from New England, we strongly recommend making reservations on the New London Ferry, blah blah....

We have reserved a limited number of rooms for a reduced rate for our guests at the Best Western In Riverhead, 12 miles from Atlantica. Transportation for our guests to and from the reception will be provided. Please call the hotel directly and tell them you are with the ____ wedding.'

We remind our guests that the Hamptons is a very popular retreat in the summer. Please be sure to reserve your rooms ASAP, for accomodations there book very quickly. If you choose to stay at one of the many beautiful inns in the area, please note that many have a 2 night minimum in the high season. '

I think people appreciated the heads up and the info. Plus, that way I didnt' get 100 calls from people asking for places to stay. Hope this helps

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I am getting married at the same place over the 4th of july holiday and my wording was almost exactly the same!!!! We had to tell people the urgency of it so they wouldn't be without a room and panicking and having to pay an arm and a leg for a room because most places have a 3-4 night min over the holiday!!!

We had this problem too. We wound up having a shuttle from both hotels and the breakfast at my parents.

But we booked the first 20 rooms ourselves in the room block and then they gave us 20 more. We then used word of mouth to families for them to rebook. It was kind of a pain, because we had to check in with the hotel regularly to see if we needed to release some fo the the ones we had back into the block. AS long as 20 are booked we got the next 20. FM is you want more details.

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Posted by Fireworks Bride

We had this problem too. We wound up having a shuttle from both hotels and the breakfast at my parents.

But we booked the first 20 rooms ourselves in the room block and then they gave us 20 more. We then used word of mouth to families for them to rebook. It was kind of a pain, because we had to check in with the hotel regularly to see if we needed to release some fo the the ones we had back into the block. AS long as 20 are booked we got the next 20. FM is you want more details.

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That sounds like a pretty good idea though ... thanks!