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How a wedding hotel block works, and how many rooms to hold
A hotel block is a promise between you and a hotel. Count rooms from your guest list, not from a rule of thumb, and choose the kind of block that cannot send you a bill.
The short answer
A hotel block holds rooms at a group rate for your guests, usually from 10 rooms. A courtesy block costs you nothing if rooms stay empty; a contracted block makes you pay for rooms below a minimum, often 75 to 90 percent of the block. Count the parties travelling, not the people, expect about three in four to book, and choose a courtesy block whenever the hotel offers one.
Most advice on hotel blocks stops at "block about half your out-of-town guests". That is a fair first guess, but the number that matters is rooms, and rooms come from households. A couple needs one room, and so does a family of four. This guide counts rooms from a real guest list, shows what an empty room costs under each kind of block, and gives a rule for choosing.
Courtesy block or contracted block
There are two kinds, and the difference is who carries the risk.
- A courtesy block is a set of rooms the hotel takes off general sale and holds for your guests. One IHG hotel's wedding policy puts it plainly: "there is no financial obligation to the performance of the block". If guests do not book, the rooms go back on sale and you owe nothing. Joy says courtesy rates usually run 10 to 20 percent below the regular price.
- A contracted block, sometimes called guaranteed, is a contract. You promise that a share of the rooms will be booked. If fewer are, you pay the difference. This is the attrition clause, and Joy puts the usual minimum at 75 to 90 percent of the block.
Most hotels start a block at 10 rooms. Marriott and Hilton both name 10 or more on their own pages, and Hilton lets you book and confirm up to 25 rooms online.
How many rooms to hold: a worked example
Say you have 120 guests and 50 of them live far enough away to need a hotel for the Friday and Saturday nights. Do not divide 50 by two. Group them the way they will sleep:
| Travelling | People | Rooms |
|---|---|---|
| 15 couples | 30 | 15 |
| 4 families of four | 16 | 4 |
| 4 guests on their own | 4 | 4 |
| Total | 50 | 23 |
So 23 rooms would cover every travelling party. Not all of them will book through your block. Some stay with family, some find a rental, some book with points. Joy's guide expects 70 to 80 percent of out-of-town guests to book through the block. Three in four of 23 parties is about 17 rooms a night.
Check it against the shortcut. Half of 50 travelling guests is 25 rooms, a little above the count by party, as you would expect from a list where most people travel in pairs. When your count and the shortcut disagree, trust the count.
Free toolWedding guest list templatePaste your names and download a guest list for Excel or Google Sheets, already filled in.Make my guest listWhat an empty room costs
The same 17 rooms carry very different risks under the two kinds of block.
Courtesy block of 20 rooms. If only 12 book, the other 8 go back on sale at the cutoff date and you pay nothing. The cost of holding too many is zero, so you can hold a little more than you expect to need.
Contracted block. Joy suggests sizing a contracted block at about 80 percent of what you expect, which is about 14 rooms here. Say the rate is $189 a night. Eighty percent of 14 is 11.2 rooms, so ask how the contract rounds; here it rounds up to a minimum of 12 rooms. The attrition fee is the rooms below the minimum times the group rate, before tax:
| Booked | Short | Fee a night |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | 0 | $0 |
| 12 | 0 | $0 |
| 9 | 3 | $567 |
| 6 | 6 | $1,134 |
If your block covers two nights, ask the hotel whether it counts the minimum for each night separately. If it does, the bottom row is $2,268 for the weekend. Read the clause before you sign; our wedding vendor contract checklist covers what else to look for in any contract.
A rule for choosing
- Ask every hotel for a courtesy block first. Ask two or three near the venue. Many offer one for 10 to 25 rooms.
- If only a contracted block is on offer, size it at about 80 percent of your count, and ask to bring the minimum down. Joy suggests negotiating it to 70 or 75 percent.
- Then work out the worst night. Multiply the minimum by the rate. If that sum would hurt, hold fewer rooms, or split the guests across a courtesy block at a second hotel.
The dates that matter
A block has its own deadlines, and they come before the wedding.
- The cutoff date. On it, every room nobody has booked goes back on general sale. The IHG policy sets it at 30 days before the wedding; Joy says 30 to 60 days is typical. Guests who book after it pay the regular price, if there is a room left.
- A block reduction. Some hotels shrink the block before the cutoff. The same IHG policy cuts the total by 25 percent at 60 days before the wedding. Our 20-room block would hold 15 from then on. Ask every hotel whether it has one.
- When you count. Under a contracted block the hotel counts the rooms booked once the cutoff passes, and bills you for what is short of the minimum.
That gives your guests a real deadline: book before the reduction, not the cutoff. Put the hotel and its booking link on your save-the-dates, and the book-by date on the invitation. If guests travel far, our destination wedding timeline moves the dates earlier, and our guide to when to send wedding invitations sets the reply date.
Yes, I Do
A checklist built around your date
Answer a few questions and every task is dated for your wedding, so each thing lands in the month it belongs to.
Who looks after the block
A hotel block is a guest job, not a vendor job. One of you owns it: picking the hotels, signing the agreement, sharing the booking link and checking the count each week until the cutoff. A few weeks before the reduction, ask the hotel for the names booked so far, compare them with your list, and send a short reminder to the parties who have not booked. Our guide to planning a wedding together covers how to split the rest.
In Yes, I Do, your guest list keeps each guest with their plus-ones, so the parties are easy to count. Add the block reduction and the cutoff as tasks with their own dates, and they sit on the checklist beside everything else due that month. Your partner sees the same list on their phone and can tick them off too.
Questions
How many hotel rooms should I block for a wedding?
Count the parties travelling, not the people: a couple or a family is one room. Then expect about three in four to book through your block. For 50 travelling guests in 23 parties, that is about 17 rooms a night. Hold a little more with a courtesy block, and less with a contracted one.
Do you have to pay for unused rooms in a wedding block?
Not with a courtesy block: unbooked rooms go back on sale at the cutoff date. With a contracted block, yes, if bookings fall below the minimum in the attrition clause. You pay the missing rooms at the group rate, usually before tax.
What is a courtesy room block?
A set of rooms a hotel holds for your guests at a group rate, with no financial obligation if they stay empty. The hotel protects itself with a cutoff date and sometimes a block reduction. Most hotels offer one from about 10 rooms.
When is the cutoff date for a wedding hotel block?
Usually 30 to 60 days before the wedding. After it, unbooked rooms go back on sale and guests pay the regular price. Some hotels also reduce the block earlier, so give guests a book-by date before any reduction.
Is a hotel block cheaper for guests?
Usually. Joy says courtesy rates are about 10 to 20 percent below the regular price, and the rate only holds until the cutoff. A guest who books later may pay more or find the hotel full.
When should you set up a wedding hotel block?
Before you send save-the-dates, so the card or your wedding website can carry the hotel and the booking link. Guests who travel far book early, and a block set up after they have booked holds rooms nobody uses.
Sources
- Staybridge Suites Franklin (IHG): wedding courtesy block policy (PDF), for the definition of a courtesy block, the 10 room minimum, the 25 percent block reduction at 60 days, the 30 day cutoff and what happens to unbooked rooms.
- Joy: what is a courtesy room block, for courtesy and contracted blocks and the 10 to 20 percent discount.
- Joy: what is an attrition clause in a hotel block, for the 75 to 90 percent minimum, how the fee is worked out and when rooms are counted.
- Joy: how many hotel rooms to block for a wedding, 23 July 2026, for the share of out-of-town guests who book, halving the travelling guests as a first guess, and sizing and negotiating a contracted block.
- Hilton: events and group bookings, for blocks from 10 rooms and booking up to 25 rooms online.
- Marriott: SpringHill Suites Chicago Southeast/Munster events, for a wedding block of 10 or more rooms.