Hotel room blocks for sports tournaments and travel teams

Hotels near popular tournament venues can sell out months ahead, so the team that sets up its block first gets the closest rooms and the best rate. Here's how team managers and tournament directors handle it without collecting a single credit card.

Start as soon as the schedule is posted

Book the block the week the tournament dates are confirmed. For big events, that can be six months or more ahead. Waiting until the bracket is out often means a 25-minute drive to the fields.

Pick hotels that work for families

The cheapest rate isn't always the best choice for a team. What families tend to care about:

• Drive time to the venue. Ask for the distance from the fields, not from downtown.
• Free breakfast. Early games and hotel breakfast go together.
• Room type. Two queens fit a player, a sibling and two parents.
• Parking. A paid parking fee adds up across a weekend.

For larger clubs, blocks at two hotels at different price points let families choose.

Size the block by night

Teams rarely need the same number of rooms every night. A typical weekend tournament might need a handful of rooms Thursday for early arrivals, the full count Friday and Saturday, and a few Sunday for families staying after the final. Start with your peak night and step down. Our request form takes rooms night by night for exactly this reason.

Courtesy or contracted?

Tournament attendance is easier to predict than most events, because rosters are set and teams register by a deadline. That makes a contracted block a reasonable option for larger clubs that want a better rate. For a single team, or when families tend to book elsewhere, a courtesy block keeps the risk off the club. Hotel room blocks explained covers the difference and what attrition means.

Stay-to-play events

Some tournaments require teams to book through approved hotels, often called stay-to-play. Check the tournament's housing rules before you set up your own block, or your team could lose its spot.

Share one link

Families book and pay for their own rooms through the group link or code. Send it with the schedule, put the cut-off date in bold, and send one reminder two weeks before. If you play several away tournaments, set up blocks for the whole season at once. Request a tournament room block and we'll look for hotels near your venue.