Blocking Off Hotel Rooms

One of the many wedding-related things we’ve accomplished over the past couples weeks is blocking over a dozen hotel rooms at a Hilton Garden Inn located near the Berkeley.

Blocking off hotels rooms is one of those wedding tasks that many of you may not have to worry about. Obviously, if all of your guests live near by there’s no need to block off rooms. And even if you do have out-of-town guests, you may not want to bother blocking off rooms since Toronto has so many hotels available at a wide range of price points.

We decided to block off a dozen rooms because we will likely have a few out-of-town guests who are not at all familiar with Toronto. That, combined with our wedding date (August 7, a busy time for Toronto hotels, especially reasonably priced ones) and the fact that our venue is located in a bit of a sketchy area, lead us to decide that blocking off rooms made sense for us.

We went with a Hilton Garden Inn because it is the Berkeley’s hotel of choice and they have an arrangement with it to offer blocking off rooms at a reasonable price and on reasonable terms. If you want to block off rooms, start by asking your venue if they have any pre-existing relationships with local hotels.

If not, hit up Expedia and Trip Advisor and create a short list of hotels that are located near your venue that would meet the needs and price-point of your guests. If, like me, you’re going to have a few guests who have never been to Toronto and are a bit uncertain about cites, make sure you’re selecting a hotel that looks “safe” (so secure, underground parking, well-staffed lobby, etc.). Many people prefer chain hotels because they offer that sense of safety as well as a sense of familiarity so that’s something you might want to consider.

Any hotel you pick should have some sort of blocking-off-rooms contract. Of course you should read any contract thoroughly but it’s especially important to do that with this one so that you don’t end up on the hook for hundreds or even thousands of dollars in unused rooms.

Some hotels will charge you the cost of unbooked rooms if you don’t “release” them by a certain date. This is a bad step up. Instead, the rooms should automatically be released by the hotel though it’s still a good idea to call the hotel on the release date and make it clear that yep, the hotel can start offering those rooms again.

The contract should also specify the price of the room and the type of room that’s being offered to your guest. This can help avoid disappointments and other negative feelings that might pop up when Aunt Betty realizes she’s paying the same price for her twin-bed that cousin Flora’s paying for her Jacuzzi sweet.