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Avoid settling for the "Block Rate" - Hotel tip

by Seed (RSS feed) on Aug 9th 2010 at 9:07AM

For seven years I worked in every facet of the hotel industry, including serving as an Assistant Manager. The best advice I can give to anyone reserving a room for a wedding or other special event, is to not book it under the "block" of rooms reserved by the bride and groom or the person responsible for planning the special event.

Typically, the corporate rate is what is given to wedding parties and special events, and this rate is higher than other discounted rates. You would be better served to reserve with your AAA membership, AARP membership, or hotel rewards membership.

[Photo Flickr | the_toe_stubber]

Filed under: Hotels and Accommodations, Budget Travel

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Cori Aug 20th 2011 6:59PM

I disagree on this hotel tip. If you book outside of the group block of rooms to attend an event, wedding or whatever you are only hurting the group contact that set up this block of rooms for their event. Most hotels now have attrition clauses in their contracts and when a group planner books a block of rooms at a hotel they are normally responsible for a minimum of 80 - 90% of the room block. So if you and all of the other attendees book outside of the block, the group contact gets socked with a large bill after the event is over because their attendees didn't fulfill the room block.

dianne.m.williamson Nov 19th 2011 9:37PM

I totally agree with Cori, and her explanation is exactly correct. While one might be able to save a few bucks, it could hurt the other guests and cause problems for the bride and groom.

Emily Mar 1st 2012 3:07PM

I've been a hotel sales manager for Marriott, two five star hotels, and now for an independent - and I completly disagree with this article. A group block rate SHOULD always be better than AAA or AARP. If you catch a hotel w/ a better AAA rate then their wedding rate - the organizer of that group should call the hotel out on this. As an example...my hotel is currently selling at $219.00 for this summer. AAA gets 10% off. My wedding groups are at about $149.00 a night - a MUCH better deal.

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