Hotel room blocks explained: courtesy vs. contracted, attrition and cut-off dates

A room block is a set of hotel rooms held for your guests at a group rate until a cut-off date. The one decision that matters most is whether the block is courtesy or contracted, because that decides who pays if rooms go empty.

Courtesy blocks

With a courtesy block, the hotel holds rooms until the cut-off date. Rooms nobody books go back to the hotel, and the organizer owes nothing.

The trade-offs:

• The discount is usually smaller than a contracted rate.
• Blocks tend to be smaller, often 10 to 20 rooms per night.
• Some hotels won't offer courtesy blocks on busy dates, like graduation weekends or big local events.

Courtesy blocks suit weddings, reunions and any event where guests book on their own schedule and you can't predict how many will come.

Contracted blocks

With a contracted block, the organizer signs an agreement to fill a share of the rooms, often 80 percent or more of the block. In return the hotel usually gives a better rate, more rooms and extras like a free hospitality suite or meeting space.

The risk is attrition.

What attrition means

Attrition is the gap between the rooms you promised to fill and the rooms guests actually booked. If a contract allows 20 percent attrition on a 50-room block, you need at least 40 rooms booked. Every room below that can be billed to the organizer at the group rate.

Before signing a contracted block, check:

• The attrition percentage and how it's measured, per night or across the whole stay
• Whether rooms guests book outside the block count toward your total
• Whether you can reduce the block without penalty by a certain date

The cut-off date

The cut-off date is the last day guests can book at the group rate. After that, unbooked rooms return to the hotel and guests pay whatever the hotel charges that day. Cut-offs often fall about 30 days before arrival, sometimes 21 or 45.

Put the cut-off date on every invitation, and send a reminder two weeks before it.

How to size a block

Hotels think in room nights, not headcount. A tournament with 40 families might need 10 rooms Thursday, 40 Friday, 40 Saturday and none Sunday, which is 90 room nights. Asking for 40 rooms all four nights would mean 160 room nights, and a contracted block that size would be hard to fill.

Start with your busiest night, then step down for the nights before and after. Our room block request lets you enter rooms night by night so the hotel sees the real shape of your stay.

One link for every guest

Once the block is set, the hotel issues a booking link or group code. Guests reserve and pay for their own rooms. Pickup reports from the hotel show how many rooms are booked, so you can adjust before the cut-off.

For event-specific advice, see room blocks for sports tournaments and wedding hotel room blocks.