As a destination wedding expert travel agent, I hang out in all of those fun corners of the internet where engaged couples (and random spectators?) debate whether or not you should use a room block contract for your destination wedding.

I see a LOT of commotion out there about this topic, and I wanted to set the record straight.

Should you use a room block contract for your destination wedding?

Yes, I think most couples should use a room block contract for their destination weddings at all inclusive resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean, as long as they meet a few qualifications:

You should use a room block contract if:

• Your group will definitely have at least 10 rooms (not 10 guests) booked at the resort, AND
• Your group will all be able to stay for a minimum of 3 nights at the resort, AND
• Your group will be able to plan their trip in advance (and seriously, how do you plan a wedding at the last minute?)

You should NOT use a room block contract if:

• Your group will not have at least 10 rooms booked at the resort, and/or
• Your group will not be able to stay at the resort for at least 3 nights

If you fall into the “should get a room block” category, read on!

If you shouldn’t, that’s okay! You can still have a destination wedding, the booking process will just look a little different for your group. Schedule a complimentary consultation call with me HERE to share your wedding vision, group size, and learn what that process will look like for you!

Now let’s talk about why you should use a room block, as told by a destination wedding expert travel agent who works inside of room block contracts every single day. (i.e. I’ve been around the block, and I know what’s what when it comes to room block contracts!)

10 Reasons to Use a Room Block for Your Destination Wedding

1. Reserve as much room inventory as you need for your group, at locked-in rates.

The main purpose of a room block is to hold enough rooms for you and your group. This helps guarantee that your guests will have time to get your invitation, make a decision, and book a room, without worrying about prices increasing or the resort selling out.

In short, Room Blocks make group travel possible.

2. Your guests get to pay over time.

Yep, that’s right! Your destination wedding guests get to pay over time, as long as you start wedding planning well in advance.

This is huge for your guests! Remember, this is your wedding, not theirs, so they need time to plan, save money and PTO, and make payments over time. Room block contracts allow them the flexibility to do so.

For most of my destination wedding groups, there is an initial deposit of $200 per person, and then a final due date. That deposit will serve as your guests’ “RSVP” and then they can pay over time however they wish!

3. The deposit requirement is small, and the money pays for your room!

Most resorts and group sizes will require a $100 per room deposit from the couple, or “Group Leaders” in travel speak, to hold the rooms for your group. So if you needed to hold 25 rooms for your group, you would pay a $2,500 deposit.

While those funds are holding the rooms in your room block, they will also go toward your own reservation.

Your deposit is not paying for anyone else’s room – your guests will pay for their own room.

Your deposit funds are not just going away – they’re paying for YOUR trip.

FAQ about this:  If your personal reservation costs less than the amount of your deposit, those additional funds can either go toward another reservation in your group (your parents, BFFs, etc.), OR can get refunded to you at the final payment due date when everyone else has paid for their rooms. The extra funds don’t disappear.

To follow through with our example of 25 rooms and a $2,500 deposit… if your personal reservation only costs $2,200, those $300 extra dollars could be allocated to someone else in your group, or just come back to you as a refund once your group has paid for their rooms.

Easy peasy!

4. Most resorts will let you swap rooms in the room block as needed

This is a big question I hear from couples who are stressed about trying to figure out every detail in advance. They’re worried we might pick the “wrong” rooms to save in their room block. But the truth is, there is no such thing!

What we will do for your room block contract, is just save some of the most common and popular rooms for your guests, plus whatever room the two of YOU want.

I normally include an entry level room, so younger guests or guests on a budget can definitely be there for you, without breaking the bank. I’ll also include a few mid-level rooms, and a few rooms with great views, to accommodate the full gamut of your group.

Most of your guests will probably choose from those couple of room types. But when a couple of guests want a different room category, we can accommodate their needs in your room block. All they’ll do is make a request, and as long as the room is available at the resort, we can make the change!

5. You get to hold room inventory for a long, LONG time

Most couples planning a destination wedding aim to give their guests around one year’s notice. Giving this long period of time between sending an invitation and actually traveling gives your guests the ability to make plans, take time off, and save and pay for their trip.

But giving advance notice requires you to have details locked in place way, way in advance.

That’s where the room block contract comes in!

Not only do you get to hold rooms at set rates (see #1), but you get to hold that inventory for a VERY long time. That is something only afforded to groups with contracts, not random travelers who will “hopefully, probably, maybe” be bringing a group to the property.

(This is another great reason to work with an experienced destination wedding travel agent who understands room block contracts and has a good reputation for upholding their end of contracts with resorts).

6. Room blocks help the resort understand your needs & protect your group

If you’ve ever gone on a trip with friends without a room block, you probably just booked a couple of rooms individually and traveled at the same time. The resort did not consider you a “group” even if you considered yourselves that!

But when you sign a room block contract, you get all the group-facing benefits of saving rooms at locked in rates. And you also get the resort-facing benefits of them fully understanding your group’s needs.

When you book rooms in a room block, a resort considers your wedding party a “group” and treats you as such. Sometimes this means getting preferential room locations. (Versus individual rooms booked last-minute, who might get stuck in the corner room with no view). Sometimes this means getting fun discounts on spa services or other resort “extras.”

But one of the biggest things is that they’ll protect your group above individual reservations. For instance, if the resort is somehow overbooked and they have to “bump” someone to another property – guests booked in your room block will NOT be included. They know your group is there for a wedding and must remain together.

7. Room block contracts are “the enforcer” that helps you get $h!t done for your destination wedding!

When you’re planning a destination wedding, you make most of the “little” decisions at the end of the process – in the last couple of months before you travel. You’ll decide things like colors, flowers, decor, music, menu, etc.

The reason you do this so late is that you already know your guest count, and can make informed decisions based on that number.

How do you know your guest count? Your guests have already paid in full by this point in the process!

It may feel a little weird to ask your destination wedding guests to pay for their rooms so far in advance, but it really helps you when it comes to wedding planning. Can you imagine waiting until the week before your wedding to make ALL of those choices? Or making choices “blindly” without knowing how many tables, chairs, and guests to plan for?

Even worse, can you imagine having wedding guests book their rooms outside of the block “because they can cancel until the last minute”… and then they actually DO cancel at the last minute, after you’ve already paid for their table, chairs, meals, drinks, and more!?!

Instead, your room block contract ensures your guest list is locked in. It serves as “the enforcer” who requires the payments in advance so your guest list is locked in. And you get to remain the “good cop.” 😉

8. No crazy or unattainable requirements for booking as a “group”

I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about timeshare “groups” that require a huge number of rooms to be considered a group. These so-called “groups” will ask you to get a huge number of guests to travel for the same 5-7 nights. When is the last time ALL your friends and family could get together for the same 5-7 nights?! Try never.

Instead of that nightmare, a room block contract offers your guests a flexible window of dates, and attainable numbers of rooms and nights.

Almost all resorts I work with just have a 10 room minimum, and a 3 night minimum length of stay. This is great! As long as you end up with 10 rooms booked, and each of those rooms booked for 3 nights, you’re good to go!

This means no crazy curveballs! You two won’t get stuck paying some crazy penalty if you can’t book 50 rooms for 7 nights (or whatever scary stuff you’ve heard online).

Easy requirements.

Simple rules.

And one travel agent taking care of you!

9. Your wedding guests have flexibility to book within a window of dates

Like I said, its incredibly rare for a destination wedding group to have every single person traveling on the same dates. Life just doesn’t work that way. (ask my family about the time we had “Christmas” in January, becuase that’s the only time we were all free!)

Having a room block contract for your destination wedding provides your guests the luxury of choice!

Your guests get to choose whether they want to spend 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or more nights at the resort!

They get to decide when they check-in and check-out.

They don’t have to arrive the same nights as you to get the group rate and be part of your room block.

Your guests can do what works for them, their schedules, and their budgets.

This means more guests at your destination wedding. And more memories with your favorite people.

10. Room block for your destination wedding = the wedding couple gets PERKS! (that’s you!)

That’s right! One of the top reasons to use a room block for your destination wedding is the perks that you’ll receive as the wedding couple. In travel speak, you’re the “Group Leaders” – or at least that’s what it will say on the contract.

Either way, it means you two will be the happy recipients of the fabulous perks the resort provides you for bringing a group to their resort!

Every resort offers different perks, or different amounts of their perks, based on the time of year and the size of your group. Here are some of the most common perks I see in room block contracts for destination weddings.

Free Cocktail Hour, Welcome Party or Dinner

Usually the resort will offer you a free event – be it a cocktail hour, welcome party, or dinner, for up to 30 or 40 guests. (If you want to invite more guests than the number that’s included, you can talk to the resort’s wedding coordinator and find out how much it costs per additional guest).

This event, and any other events that are given to you via your Room Block Contract are completely separate from, and in addition to any events provided via your Wedding Contract. (Yay!!)

Discounts on Spa Services

Another fun perk that some resorts provide is a blanket discount for each destination wedding guest booked in your room block! Usually these discounts are something like 10% or 15%. And typically it can be used once per trip.

This is a super fun and luxurious surprise you can “gift” your wedding guests, without lifting a finger or paying anything elxtra!

Upgraded Rooms

Almost all room block contracts for destination weddings will offer some number of room upgrades.

This is a fun way to surprise and delight your VIP wedding guests, like your parents, BFFS, maid / matron of honor, best man, best friend, that kind of person.

You’ll get a certain number of upgrades available to your group, based on the number of rooms and nights booked within your room block. A week or two before you travel, the resort will let us know how many. We’ll tell them who our VIP guests are. Then when those guests check in, they’ll get a surprise upgrade if it’s available.

This is super fun and free for you! But be aware of their strict rules.

Your room block contract will contain the exact rules and policies for your specific situation.

Normally you’ll hear things like this: Only one level upgrade per room. Cannot upgrade suites. That kind of thing. Also, these upgrades are always based on availability at the time of check in.

For this reason, I encourage my wedding couples to book the actual room category they want for themselves, and not rely on a possible upgrade.

I also encourage wedding couples to keep these possible upgrades to themselves, and NOT tell their VIP guests about them. After all, you don’t want to disappoint someone by dangling a possible upgrade in their faces, and then have that upgraded room be unavailable.

Again, upgrades are a surprise and delight type of move. Mum’s the word. 🤫

Are you ready for the best perk of all? This is my personal favorite reason to use a room block for your destination wedding (aside from the logistics, that is!)

Cash back for the wedding couple

Yep! You get cash back for bringing a group to the resort!

The way your room block contract words this is.. well, frankly it’s stupid.

They’ll say something like, “For every 10 rooms booked, get an 11th room free!” with some specific stipulations attached.

What they actually mean is, “for every 10 rooms booked, you will receive the monetary value of an imaginary 11th room.”

Basically, the more rooms you book inside your room block, the more money you’ll get!

You’ll receive that money in the form of a refund, to the same credit card you paid the initial $100 per room deposit on the room block contract in the first place, after you travel.

Super simple. Super awesome.

Ready to start planning your destination wedding?

Well you’re in the right place! I’m a certified Destination Wedding Expert travel agent, and I would love to help you plan your dream destination wedding! I work inside room block contracts every single day. I absolutely love helping my couples choose the perfect destination and resort, and then take advantage of the fabulous perks inside their room blocks.

If you’re ready to get started, or just want to chat and see what destination weddings and Tailored Travel Experiences are all about, just click the button below to schedule your own complimentary consultation call.

I can’t wait to hear about your destination wedding dreams!