Post # 1
Member
2 posts
Wannabee
Hi! We have a bride getting married on December 8th, and we are trying to figure out where all of her guests are staying so we can deliver welcome bags. We normally only deliver to guests n the block since we can track them, but her block expires on Tuesday and so far only 1 guest has booked a room. So, we need to figure out how to track down where guests are staying. Invitations are being printed next week, so we can include a line on the response card, but how do you suggest we word it? We don’t want to say “We will be delivering hotel bags so please let us know where you are staying” just in case we don’t deliver to all 100 rooms. Any suggestions? Has anyone done this before? Thanks!
Post # 3
Member
2706 posts
Sugar bee
- Wedding: January 2013 - Harbourfront Grand Hall
Wait I’m confused, invitations haven’t even gone out yet but the block rate is going to expire before guests get their invitations?
Post # 4
Member
1727 posts
Bumble bee
Can she make a new block? That block expires really early.
Post # 5
Member
625 posts
Busy bee
Are the majority of the guests going to be from out of town? If it’s only a small number, calling them and asking after you receive the RVSP could work? I don’t know if this is appropriate due to etiquette, but we are expecting about 10 out of town couples and will speak to them individually as we are close to all of them.
Post # 6
Member
2546 posts
Sugar bee
They probably havent booked a room anywhere. Our block expired 30 days before the wedding, and most guests booked their room 2-3 days before it expired.
Post # 7
Member
2567 posts
Sugar bee
Truth be told, you may not want to go to the hassle of handing out welcome bags in several different hotels, plus the hotel front desk might not be super helpful about passing them along to guests if the guests are not staying in a block. When you have a block, it’s super easy for the front desk agent to put a note in every record for a room in that block saying “hand this guest a bag at check-in.” It is also really easy for the hotel to run you a report on guests in the block so you know just how many bags you need. When there is no block, your desk agent has to access each reservation individually and put that note in the record, assuming of course you have the name under which the booking was made. Plus then you get the fun of running all over town taking bags to 4 or however many different hotels. It may just be something that, logistically, you don’t want to get yourself into.
You can hand out welcome bags at a rehearsal dinner or welcome reception if you’re doing one of those, or consider doing an “all electronic” welcome bag which would have a pretty write-up of the schedule of events and other activities, a little info about the area where the wedding is, and maybe a small gift certificate or discount offer for a local restaurant, guided tour, or whatever.
Post # 8
Member
2 posts
Wannabee
First off, thanks for the responses! I have never posted on Weddingbee, though I use it a ton for finding answers 🙂
Save the dates went out a few months ago with block information, but the bride sent these out before we were working together (I’m one of the planners). They did not include the block expiration date just name and contact info. Normally blocks expire about 30 days out and guests have their invitations before then, but not this time and not with the hotel the bride and groom chose. I tried to book new blocks today at other hotels thinking we could include a 2nd accommodations card in the invitation, but it is too late to do that. The hotels did say they would hand out welcome bags for us if we can just tell them the reservation name so that is why we need to ask everyone where they are staying. We just weren’t sure of the best way to do this. We can try word of mouth/email, but since invitations weren’t out yet we thought we could include something with the response card. It is just figuring out the best wording that is stumping us!
Post # 9
Member
9 posts
Newbee
mine says: If you’re visiting Key West…
When are you arriving?
where will you be staying?