Every organizer works through the same dozen questions about hotel blocks. Here they are, answered in the shortest form that stays true.
The contract
- What does 80% attrition mean? You promised to fill 80% of the block; below that, unfilled rooms are billed to you — rate times nights.
- Attrition versus cancellation? Attrition prices a shortfall; cancellation prices walking away. Separate schedules, read both.
- What is a wash clause? Your right to shrink the block on a schedule without penalty. Worth more than a rate discount.
- What happens at the cutoff? Unbooked rooms return to the hotel. Your attrition obligation does not — it survives the date.
The sizing
- How many rooms should I block? Travelling attendees, divided by people per room, discounted by the share who book on their own. Then contract under that.
- What is a courtesy block? Held rooms with no guarantee, usually capped around 10 to 20. The right default for small events.
- Too many rooms or too few? Too few, always. Adding rooms is a phone call; empty rooms are an invoice.
The measurement
- Do outside bookings count toward pickup? Usually not — rentals and booking-site reservations are invisible to the block, which is how sold-out weekends still produce attrition bills.
- How do I raise pickup? Put the link where decisions happen — confirmation page, reminder emails — and push hardest in the final month, when most lodging money actually moves.
The pattern underneath all of it: blocks capture the early, official slice of your demand, and the majority books late through the open market. In the event market we measured, roughly 70% of lodging dollars moved in the final 30 days. Contract the slice carefully — and put an offer of your own where the majority is heading, because that half needs no clause at all.
The five-minute self-assessment
Answer four questions and you know which articles above you actually need. One: can you state your travelling-party count within 30%? If not, nothing else matters yet — pull the postcodes first. Two: does your current or proposed contract contain the word guarantee? If yes, read the attrition set; if no, you are in courtesy territory and your only job is placement. Three: did last year produce either an attrition bill or a sellout? Each has a specific fix — basis-and-credits for the bill, layering for the sellout. Four: where does your lodging link live today? If the answer is the travel page only, the timing articles will change your pickup more than any negotiation.
Most organizers discover they have a placement problem wearing a contract costume: the block terms are survivable, but the offer reaches attendees months from when they book. Fix the calendar before the clause — it is cheaper and pays sooner.
If you only do three things
- Size the next block from documented pickup, minus ten percent — never from attendance.
- Win the resell credit and cumulative measurement; they cost one redline each.
- Put a bookable lodging answer on the confirmation page — the channel with no threshold, no cutoff, and no cap.