I think I have it narrowed down. I'll probably block rooms at the Best Western Woodbury Inn. It's walking distance to my RH and it has a free shuttle. I stayed at the hotel before and thought it was nice and clean.
They told me that if I block 10 rooms, 7 have to get filled. If less than 7 get filled, then the guests who blocked the room have to pay the regular rate. Has anyone heard of this? I think it's about $20 more per night. I feel bad if it ends up happening.
Second question...How do you generally tell guests about the hotel block? Does the hotel give you cards with the rate on it?
halfbaked
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
As far as guaranteeing a certain number of rooms to be booked in order to secure the special rate, this is pretty standard. There are hotels that don't require this but they are few and far between.
I included my wedding website on the STDs so guests can look up all the hotel info on the website. Otherwise, it will be from word of mouth.
FutureJOC
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
Posted by jilliibabii
As far as guaranteeing a certain number of rooms to be booked in order to secure the special rate, this is pretty standard. There are hotels that don't require this but they are few and far between.
I included my wedding website on the STDs so guests can look up all the hotel info on the website. Otherwise, it will be from word of mouth.
agreed. I have seen some people include a separate card along with the STD letting guests know that rooms have been blocked off at certain hotels. That way you can get a head count early on of how many rooms you will need and if you wind up needing fewer rooms than originally blocked, you can call an cancel the extra rooms.
Lsorrent
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
Sorry, but I don't think you should agree to that. If I were a guest and was suddenly told a different rate than what I was originally told, I'd be pretty put off.
There are many other hotels that you won't have to guarantee anything. We blocked at the Four Points Sheraton in Plainview, and can block up to 10 rooms each night with NO guarantee.
As for letting your guests know, Four Points gave us cards with the reservation info and directions for our guests. Or you could have your own insert made for your invite. We also put it all on our website.
gonzalezm3
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
Posted by Marianne13
I think I have it narrowed down. I'll probably block rooms at the Best Western Woodbury Inn. It's walking distance to my RH and it has a free shuttle. I stayed at the hotel before and thought it was nice and clean.
They told me that if I block 10 rooms, 7 have to get filled. If less than 7 get filled, then the guests who blocked the room have to pay the regular rate. Has anyone heard of this? I think it's about $20 more per night. I feel bad if it ends up happening.
Second question...How do you generally tell guests about the hotel block? Does the hotel give you cards with the rate on it?
We booked at Best Western for our hotel blocks. I didn't like the min room guarantee but we went with them because of the free shuttle. They gave us cards to give out to guests (but only up to 75) with the rate information.
allsmiles830
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
Posted by Lsorrent
Sorry, but I don't think you should agree to that. If I were a guest and was suddenly told a different rate than what I was originally told, I'd be pretty put off.
There are many other hotels that you won't have to guarantee anything. We blocked at the Four Points Sheraton in Plainview, and can block up to 10 rooms each night with NO guarantee.
As for letting your guests know, Four Points gave us cards with the reservation info and directions for our guests. Or you could have your own insert made for your invite. We also put it all on our website.
I agree with LSorrent... We didn't have to guarantee the rooms and we're blocked at the Hyatt Regency. I added Hotel Accomodations to the Direction Card insert of our invites. Good luck!
Lisalana
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
I have to guarentee 60%, but if I'm below the minimum, I have to pay for the difference. The room rate for guests does not change.
Soon2bMrsH
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
i called a bunch of hotels and there was no minimum guarantee. all the ones i called said if any rooms were not booked, they were released with no financial obligation to us or our guests. Some hotels offered things like money off the suite or a free shuttle depending on how many rooms were booked.
we are telling people when it gets closer what hotel and the rate, but we are also including a hotel accomodation card in our invitation.
Bellissimartinez
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
I used to work at a busy hotel on LI and I was the person in charge of wedding blocks. I've never heard of the price going up if you dont get enough rooms. The rate in the contract is the rate. Any unused rooms like someone said before are just released by a certain date and there aren't (or shouldn't be) any penalties to you or your guests whether its 2 rooms or 10 or whatever. Good luck!
Thanks girls. I called up the Best Western and they said they can work on the minimum and guarantee the rate as long as 5 rooms are booked. So hopefully that won't be a problem. It's 0.7 miles from my RH. There is going to be a shuttle going back and forth between 6 -6:30 and 12:30 -1 AM. My reception is from 6:30-12:30.
MrsCM
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
We blocked two nights at Danfords, ten rooms each night with no guarantee. I've heard of others without a guarantee as well. I thought we were going to have more guests opting to stay than we did (some are staying with friends or family that we definitely thought would need a room) so in the end I'm glad I didn't have to guarantee it.
I would honestly keep looking.
jcreilly
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
The hotel gave me cards and I sent them with STD- ( just so they know) and with the invites I will let them know where accommodation can be made with the address , phone # and let them know about the free shuttle -its twenty min away from my Rh
greeneyed bride
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
There is no way I would book with a hotel that required a guarantee and defiantly not one that thought changing a rate for a wedding guest is acceptable. Im using a holiday Inn express, great rate ,shuttle included. Rooms will be released by a certain date......easy .
Thanks for the advice. It s*cks b/c if we have less than 5 people block rooms, then they raise the rate to the regular rate. But the other hotels in that area (Woodbury/Plainview) charge a fee for the shuttle. The Four Points charges $425.. that's fine but if only 3 people block rooms it's a big fee to shuffle 3 people to the wedding and back. It would be cheaper for us to pay the difference in rates to the Best Western and have them charge the guests the block rate no matter what. Best Western also has a good AAA rate so I'll tell whoever books a room to keep that in mind just in case.
halfbaked
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Re: Two questions about hotel blocks
Posted by Lsorrent
Sorry, but I don't think you should agree to that. If I were a guest and was suddenly told a different rate than what I was originally told, I'd be pretty put off.
There are many other hotels that you won't have to guarantee anything. We blocked at the Four Points Sheraton in Plainview, and can block up to 10 rooms each night with NO guarantee.
As for letting your guests know, Four Points gave us cards with the reservation info and directions for our guests. Or you could have your own insert made for your invite. We also put it all on our website.
At this point, I wouldn't make the guests pay, but rather I'd pay for the difference myself. Unfortunately every single decent hotel in Queens (that isn't next to JFK or LaGuardia) that I have called has this policy.
