How do you do this?
We would like to book a block of rooms for our wedding in the Hotel we are having the wedding. Unfortunately rooms run about $350 a night minimum *with our group booking discount* so we would like to contribute to the guests room without them knowing but the problem is what if we book 20 rooms that the guests would only have to pay say $70 a night. But 30 people call to reserve then you have 10 rooms being paid for $350. understand? I am not describing this well I know.
If we hold 50 rooms we have to guarantee they will be filled or we pay the balance which wouldn’t be good if only 10 rooms get booked haha.
Also, On the Reception card on the bottom we were going to put something along the lines of
For reservations please call 212 XXX XXXX mention you are with the Smith and Jones wedding for a discounted rate
but my fiance said it sounds tacky… what is a better way to word it?
Fizzy:
I thought that too. But from the way it was explained to me because I am getting married in NYC during the busiest month they will not hold you any rooms without the guarantee of them being filled (I guess they don’t want to miss any tourist that would be booking months before their trips)
I checked with a hotel across the street (with slightly lower rates) and this was their policy also.
In short business in NYC (especially midtown, tourist city) are just jerks. period. haha
Caffeinated Content
That sounds fine. That way they know to mention your wedding as they are booking rooms so they don’t get totally different rooms and have to pay the full price. It’s hard to say it any other way.
I would not put it on the invitations but would have a close family member, parent or grandparent, let people know you have blocked off a certain number of rooms.
I think that is a very generous idea. The hotel should be able to give you a time frame as to when you have to cancel rooms. I would have the date on the reception card required back before the deadline of the hotels deadline. Most hotels let you cancel 24-48 hrs prior to the date of arrival. Since you are having a wedding in their hotel see if you can work with them. Congratulations!!
I have not heard of you having to pay the balance for unreserved rooms. I thought that was why the special rate had an expiration date, because they opened the rooms to the general public and you are not accountable for those rooms.
Anyway, a hotel of this caliber should be able to work with you on this. I assume you are in contact with one person at the hotel, not just whoever is running the front desk. Surely you can tell them, that each room which is reserved, you will put down x amount on the room.
Sorry this is long! I would write:
Reservations
212-xxx-xxxx
Kindly refer to the Smith-Jones wedding for a special rate until (date here).
**Oh.. well it sounds like you have exhausted all your options then. Perhaps youll have to book extra rooms and risk losing money on unreserved rooms, or scrap the idea altogether. I dont know about your guests, but I think 350 for a five-star hotel is still a bargain and would gladly jump on that discount, even if you were not paying part of it.
First of all when we “blocked” our rooms, in our case only 10, we weren’t required to put down a deposit. We were told that if the rooms weren’t reserved by a certain date (2 weeks prior to the wedding) that they would be released. The hotel is offering a discount of approx. 75.00/room to all the guests who reserve and we have told the hotel that any guests who do book using the rooms reserved are to be given an additional $50.00 discount which will be billed to us. They will contact us at that 2 week cut off and let us know how many rooms have been booked, and at that time we will pay them. I would double check with the hotel, because for you to be billed for any unused rooms is highly unusual.
As for the reception wording…eh… we sent out “Save the date” magnets and with it a note with all of the hotel info and how to get the discounted room rate. Also because our wedding is booked on a holiday weekend.
It doesn’t sound like you have any choices:( Unfortunately, I think the only you can do to get a better handle on the situation is to e-mail all your guests or call them and try to get a rough headcount on who will be staying. You don’t want to end up with too many empty rooms, but you also don’t want to pay $350 for each additional room!!
I would put a separate enclosure about the hotel, not on the reception card. Make it sound urgent that they book their rooms as soon as possible use the word “limited”.
“There are limited rooms available at this rate, so please make sure you call as soon as possible.”
Reception card could read: If you would like to reserve a room in advance, please mention you are with the Smith & Jones wedding when making your reservation.
For the blocking of the rooms, tell the hotel you want X amount of rooms with the actual amount to be verified two weeks before the date. They will do this but you need to speak with the Front Desk Manager not just the front desk.
All hotels keep a percentage of rooms available every day but it is not a known public fact.