room block question

[michael's mom]

My sister just booked her DFTW and is now waiting for the contract so she can get things going.

As a family, (and with her wishes of course) we have decided to turn her wedding into our family vacation as well. We all plan on arriving a few days before her wedding and staying for a week afterwards.

Will she be able to offer anyone interested in doing this her wedding discount or do they only offer room blocks for a specific number of days before/after her wedding?

With the size of her wedding, she's required to guarantee 25 nights. If we are allowed to use her room block and discount for our whole stay, it's a total of somewhere near 75 room nights. And that's only with the ones that we know will be staying for a vacation following. So our thinking is that aside from the 16 people we know for a fact are vacationing at the time, there will be another 10 or so nights booked at least (unless others decide to turn the trip into a vacation like we are).

Any comments on similar experiences is greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

 

[lurkyloo]

The basic room block configuration includes just a few days on either side of the actual wedding, but you can customize it. We extended our dates to include some almost a week after our wedding so we could use the room block discount to stay at the Contemporary. So you would just have to be sure the resorts you want and the dates you want are included in her block.

However, you may not want to actually block more than a few rooms for each date/resort combo you want, because you'll be required to fill 80% of the number you set aside. Any number of people can still get the wedding discount at the resort at that time, you just don't need to set aside that many rooms. As long as people book early enough and there is still availability, they'll get the discount. If that makes sense....

Your sister's wedding consultant can help her set up the room block in a way that suits your family's needs.

 

[michael's mom]

The basic room block configuration includes just a few days on either side of the actual wedding, but you can customize it. We extended our dates to include some almost a week after our wedding so we could use the room block discount to stay at the Contemporary. So you would just have to be sure the resorts you want and the dates you want are included in her block.

However, you may not want to actually block more than a few rooms for each date/resort combo you want, because you'll be required to fill 80% of the number you set aside. Any number of people can still get the wedding discount at the resort at that time, you just don't need to set aside that many rooms. As long as people book early enough and there is still availability, they'll get the discount. If that makes sense....

Your sister's wedding consultant can help her set up the room block in a way that suits your family's needs.

Thanks! She won't be booking too many rooms at Pop or GF because those are only set aside for any guests that want them. Those vacationing will be staying at CB the entire time. That's where she wants to be able to make sure that the room block and discount is still available.

So if I'm reading correctly, if she blocks 30 nights and they all get filled, and someone decides they want to come to the wedding, they can still get her discount, even if she doesn't have that room blocked? Is the discount only available at the 3 resorts she reserved a block or could they use her discount at another resort? For example, the WP recommended that she block out rooms at GF because that's where her wedding is. She did that, CB and Pop. Would our aunt be able to book a night at AK using the discount? Sis doesn't really mind either way. We're just trying to get our heads around this whole thing.

 

[lurkyloo]

So if I'm reading correctly, if she blocks 30 nights and they all get filled, and someone decides they want to come to the wedding, they can still get her discount, even if she doesn't have that room blocked?

Yes, as long as rooms are still available at that resort.

Is the discount only available at the 3 resorts she reserved a block or could they use her discount at another resort?

Correct—the discount is only available at the resorts in the block. However, you are allowed to block up to 4 resorts, so you could add AKL to the block for the nights her aunt wants and keep it on the downlow (if you don't want other guests booking there for logistical/transportation reasons!).

 

[michael's mom]

Yes, as long as rooms are still available at that resort.




Correct—the discount is only available at the resorts in the block. However, you are allowed to block up to 4 resorts, so you could add AKL to the block for the nights her aunt wants and keep it on the downlow (if you don't want other guests booking there for logistical/transportation reasons!).

Thanks for the info. I don't think the AKL v. GF will be an issue. I'm pretty sure that everyone will stay at either CBR or Pop because we'll be there at Easter and those rooms are expensive enough. My aunt may even choose to stay at CBR because that's where we'll be. But, it's good to know what her options are.