Post # 1
Member
10 posts
Newbee
I am having issues finding hotels with room blocks that you do not have to prepay for.. Every hotel wants the price of all the rooms up front, and with everything else we are having to pay for while planning a wedding, we definitely do not have the money for that right now! Everyone I’ve talked to who has done blocks, said that the hotel will just block off a certain number of rooms so people can book them, and if they aren’t booked by a certain time, they release the rooms so others can rent them. Can you tell me your experiences with this? Is it normal to have to prepay? Thank you!!
Post # 2
Member
3846 posts
Honey bee
- Wedding: April 2017 - City, State
I set up room blocks that didn’t require any prepayment, and there is zero benefit to prepaying for hotel blocks because you just don’t know who will want to stay where.
I used Jetaport to set up my room blocks. You basically input your room block requirements and they find you the best matches. There are similar sites out there that do the same thing. Sometimes if you’re getting married in a big city that may have a lot of tourists or conventions, they like to push the prepay option, but there are usually hotels around that don’t require it.
Post # 3
Member
1350 posts
Bumble bee
Post # 4
Member
1167 posts
Bumble bee
It might be your location that’s causing this. All the hotels in my area ask for some form of payment too 🙁 I did, however, find one that just asked for a deposit. All I can say is keep looking, or suggest you pay a deposit.
Post # 5
Member
573 posts
Busy bee
Part of the private nature of the venue said that they would keep the rooms for guests who referenced our wedding/names up until two weeks before the wedding. It was part of their wedding package. It also wasn’t a very big hotel, so I just put in local hotel reccomendations at a range of prices in with the wedding invitation, along with a map etc
Post # 6
Member
247 posts
Helper bee
We set aside rooms at a hotel in Vegas and they only required a deposit.
Post # 7
Member
47413 posts
Honey Beekeeper
If you can’t get a courtesy block (meaning you are not liable for unbooked rooms), don’t do a room block. Your guests are adults and full capable of booking their own accommodations. You can include some suggestions on a card or a link to your website.
Post # 8
Member
129 posts
Blushing bee
Yes, I think the key here to to specifically ask for a courtesy block. 🙂 Best of luck to you!
Post # 9
Member
851 posts
Busy bee
tahoebride630 : Ask for a courtesy room block. Most hotels will do this, but it normally means less rooms are blocked and at a higher price.
Post # 10
Member
1009 posts
Bumble bee
- Wedding: The Retreat at Bradley\'s Pond
Yeah this must be location/date specific because they should give you a listed number of rooms at a specific price and you don’t owe anything… the guests put down their cards and are charge at check-out like any other vacation you do. You MAY owe money for rooms not booked but held (attrition) but that would be it.
I guess we need more details on WHY they are wanting you to pay up front and in full for the rooms? Where is this wedding and when (holiday weekend?).
Post # 11
Member
2617 posts
Sugar bee
We did not have to pre-pay for anything. We just blocked off some rooms, and if they weren’t booked a month out, they got release for the general public.
I wouldn’t pre-pay. You really don’t know how many people will use the block….
Post # 12
Member
1066 posts
Bumble bee
tahoebride630 : We originally planned on getting married in Tahoe and that was a big problem for us too. They basically said they don’t do them at all between Memorial and Labor Day 🙁 The only way they were willing to do a block was if we pre pay or hosted an event at the hotel there i.e. rehersal dinner. It was way out of our budget. It was one of many reasons we ended up moving the wedding closer to home. Good luck bee!
Post # 13
Member
10 posts
Newbee
Thank you so much for all the responses! Okay, I am going to keep looking. We are getting married in South Lake Tahoe in June, which is their big wedding season and kind of a touristy city, so maybe that is why? Most of the hotels didn’t even ask me for the date of the wedding though before they told me I would have to prepay. Seems kind of ridiculous. I definitely don’t want to pay for rooms that we may not even be able to find people to rent out. I figure we could just have everyone book their own rooms if we had to, but it would be nice to have at least the wedding party in kind of a central location.
Post # 14
Member
470 posts
Helper bee
The same thing happened to me, and I just negotiated that they do a group rate discount. So, no rooms were saved, but guests were given the same rate as they would have in a room block. I just put on the website that the rooms wouldn’t be reserved, and to book ASAP. Because we aren’t doing a shuttle or anything, we just left it to the guests’ devices.
Post # 15
Member
274 posts
Helper bee
I wouldn’t prepay for the rooms, if you can’t find a courtesy block I just wouldn’t do a room block. I ran into the same thing this week, the three hotels closest to my venue don’t do courtesy blocks, we’d have to sign a contract and pay for unused rooms. So we just aren’t doing one.