Wedding guest lodging: blocks, group rates and everyone who books elsewhere

Most wedding guests do not book inside the block. That is normal, it is not a failure, and it is the part of the weekend nobody plans for.

Room block attrition calculatorEnter your block, your clause and your pickup. See exactly what an unfilled room costs you.Free, no sign-up →Room block size calculatorWork out how many rooms to contract for — and how many nights your attendees will book somewhere else.Free, no sign-up →

Two different agreements with the same name

A courtesy block holds rooms at an agreed rate with no financial guarantee from you: unbooked rooms simply return to the hotel at the cutoff. A contracted block holds rooms in exchange for a promise that a share of them will be paid for, and that promise is what an attrition clause enforces.

The distinction matters more at a wedding than almost anywhere else, because wedding headcounts move late and in both directions. If a venue offers you a block, the first question is which of the two it is, and the second is what happens at the cutoff.

Sizing it without signing for a risk you do not need

Work from travelling guests rather than the guest list. Take the guests who are coming from far enough to need a bed, divide by realistic people per room — couples share, families share differently — and you have the rooms your weekend genuinely creates. Only a portion of those will use your block at all.

Contract slightly under that portion. Adding rooms to a block that is filling fast is a phone call; unfilled rooms in a contracted block are an invoice. The block size calculator lands deliberately below expected pickup for that reason.

The guests who book somewhere else

Some of your guests will want a house for the family, a rental near the venue, or somewhere that takes a dog. Some will use points at a hotel you did not pick. Some will simply book late and find the block closed. None of that reflects badly on the block, and all of it is invisible in the pickup report you are judged on.

It is also, collectively, most of the lodging spend the wedding generates. If the couple or the venue is thinking about guest experience, that group is the one currently receiving no help at all.

For the venue rather than the couple

A wedding venue answers the same question dozens of times a year, and almost always by email, for free. A page that lists real places to stay near the venue on the relevant dates saves that work and can earn on it: bookings carry a 15 to 20% commission and there is no inventory to hold and no contract to sign.

It also improves the thing venues actually compete on. The couple choosing between two venues is comparing how easy each one makes the weekend, and lodging is the largest logistical problem on their list.

Common questions

What is a courtesy room block?

A courtesy block holds a set number of rooms at an agreed rate until a cutoff date without asking you to guarantee that any of them are filled. Unbooked rooms go back to the hotel and you owe nothing. It is the low-risk version of a block and it is worth asking for by name.

How many rooms should we block for a wedding?

Base it on guests travelling from out of town, divided by realistic occupancy per room, then contract for somewhat less than the share you expect to book inside the block. Under-contracting is recoverable with a phone call; over-contracting is billed.

What is the difference between a room block and a group rate?

A block holds specific rooms for your guests. A group rate is a price. You can have a rate without any rooms held, which means late guests get the discount only if the hotel still has availability.

Should we worry that guests are booking outside the block?

Not for its own sake, though it does affect whether you hit an attrition threshold. It is worth knowing that most of your guests' lodging spend happens outside the block, because it changes what the block is for: a convenience for some guests rather than a measure of the weekend.