Booking sites quietly cap out around three rooms. Past that it stops being a transaction and starts being an arrangement.
A block is a set of rooms held under one name, at one agreed rate, until an agreed date. Guests book against it individually — their own name, their own bill — but they all get the same rate and they all end up in the same building. The organiser holds the rooms without paying for them.
Nearly everything that goes wrong with a group booking comes down to which of these two you agreed to, so it is worth being clear about the difference before anyone signs anything.
If someone puts a contract in front of you, the clause to find is the one that says what happens if the block does not fill. If nobody has mentioned attrition, ask.
How many rooms, roughly when, and the town. That is enough. Exact names and exact dates can follow — most blocks are arranged well before the guest list is final, and holding the rooms early is usually the part that saves the money.
Whether a property will hold eight rooms, at what rate, with what cut-off date and whether they will do it without attrition, depends on what else is in their calendar that week. None of that is exposed to a booking engine on either side. It is a short conversation with the front desk or the sales office, and we would rather have it eleven times than have you do it once.
One invoice to a company, split billing per guest, a purchase order number on the folio, or a card belonging to someone who is not travelling. All routine for a hotel, all awkward to express in a checkout flow. Tell us and we will set it up.
A room block is a set of rooms a hotel holds under one name, at an agreed rate, until an agreed release date. Guests book against it individually — each person calls or follows a link, gives their own name and pays their own bill — but they all get the same rate and end up in the same building. The organiser reserves the rooms without paying for them all.
You agree a number of rooms, a rate and a cut-off date with the property. The hotel holds those rooms out of general sale. Guests book their own room against the block up to the cut-off, usually two to four weeks before arrival. Anything unbooked at the cut-off goes back on general sale, and on a courtesy block that is the end of it — you owe nothing for the rooms nobody took.
Setting one up is normally free. There is no fee to reserve a block of rooms at most hotels, and no deposit on a small courtesy block. What can cost money is a contracted block with an attrition clause, where you have guaranteed a minimum number of rooms and owe the difference if your guests do not book them. That is a question to settle before signing, not after.
It depends entirely on which kind of block you agreed. On a courtesy block, nothing — the unbooked rooms return to general sale at the cut-off date and you owe nothing. On a contracted block with an attrition clause, you have committed to a percentage of the rooms, often 80 to 90 per cent, and you pay for the shortfall whether or not anyone slept in them. This is where group bookings go wrong, and it is almost always avoidable by taking the courtesy block.
Ten is the usual threshold at chain hotels, though many independents will hold five, and some will hold three if the dates are quiet. Below that the block adds nothing over booking the rooms individually — which is worth saying, because a lot of the industry will happily contract you into a block you did not need.
Usually a little, but the discount is not the main reason to do it. A block typically saves a modest amount against the public rate. What it actually buys is certainty: the rooms exist, they are in one place, they are at one rate, and they do not sell out while your guests are deciding. For a wedding weekend in a small town that is worth considerably more than the per-night saving.
Three to nine months for a wedding, sooner if the date collides with anything the town prices for — a college graduation, a race weekend, a conference, a football home game. For work crews the useful pattern is different: book the first rotation early and ask whether the same block can repeat, because a property that knows a crew is coming back monthly prices it differently.
Yes, under the property's own cancellation terms, exactly as with any other booking — the block does not lock individual guests in. What varies is the organiser's side: on a contracted block, a cancelled room may still count against your guaranteed minimum. Another reason the courtesy block is the right default for most groups.
A crew staying weeks rather than nights? Monthly and weekly rates are priced on a different basis and usually beat a block. Reserving without paying up front? Hotel reservations.
Search and confirm it yourself in a minute — or say it out loud and we’ll do the rest.