Help - blocking out rooms

[jamie0201]

hey guys... i am so confused with this whole blocking rooms thing! i received the paperwork yesterday and like i said, im sooo confused! the guaranteeing of the rooms scares me. i was told i have to guarantee a certain number of rooms, and if my guarantee is not met, then we have to pay for those rooms.... and obviously i dont want to do that! but, i was also told if i guarantee 50, then i can only block out 60, and if i guarantee 75 i can block out 90. how the heck am i suppose to know how many people are going to come, and how many nights they are going to want to stay???? my wedding is next March and it is easter weekend and everyone invited is going to have to travel from somewhere. we are inviting 135, hoping for no more then 100 to show. but i just dont know how many are going to come.

can anyone give me some good advice about all of this!!!!!!!!

 

[ahutton]

We sat down and made 3 lists, taking into consideration some family members and friends we thought would share rooms, and also what we planned on using. One was "for sure" going and for how many nights. Then "probably will go" and figured 4 nights for them, we had a Friday wedding (that gave them Thurs-Sunday nights). Then "might go" and figured 1 night for them. I took that total and blocked it. We actually met our minimum nights between us, the wedding party, our parents and grandparents. That didn't count the aunts, uncles and cousins who came...

 

[jamie0201]

thanks so much.. thats a great way to do it!!!

ay more advice on anything would be appreciated too

 

[pouncingpluto]

Isn't it true that they will honor the block rate for rooms above and beyond what you've blocked out as long as they aren't sold out?

So if you guarantee 50, block out 60, but end up with 70, those extra 10 room nights will be at the same discounted price, as long as the rooms will be available?

 

[jamie0201]

Yes that is true.. From what they say they will honor the price i available. I dont know if that means they only have so many rooms at that price or as long as theres rooms open. But thats a good question, so I will give him a call or email him tomorrow and find out, Ill let you know. If you have any more info on this that would be great. It is just so hard guessing how may rooms and on which night to block them out..

Any suggestions would be helpful!

Thanks
Jamie

 

[chipscinderelly]

Jamie - did your SM give you a suggested number? We were originally told we had to guarantee 50 nights but I talked them back to 35.... which probably made our rates a bit higher. We would have met the 50 nights. And if not would have asked for help from other DISers or DMers.

 

[marn913]

To simplify things and give all of our guests the best rate - we blocked all of our rooms at the same hotel (All Star Movies). This worked well for us and kept most of our guests in one spot at the cheapest rate possible. We figured that if others really wanted to stay at a more expensive hotel, then they could spend the money, but we chose to give the maximum availability to the cheapest rate. We had 25 nights to block and spread them out pretty evenly around our wedding date. Don't worry too much about meeting the minimums (if some of your guests book separately your EM can still count their nights towards your minimum -- also your room/honeymoon stay will count too!) And if your guests make reservations using the number provided on your save the dates they will get the reduced rate if they arrive early or stay later than your room block as long as the hotel has rooms available. Don't worry too much about it, you will probably have more than enough nights when the day finally arrives!

Marne
06-16-03
WP/LS

 

[jamie0201]

thanks so much