How to book wedding hotel blocks your guests will love

Dreaming of a destination wedding? Picture yourself with your love and your favourite people in a tropical paradise, celebrating your day in style. Amid the planning, one practical question always comes up: “Where will everyone actually stay when they arrive?”

That’s where your sun-drenched vision of a destination wedding meets one critical detail: accommodation.

At Easy Weddings, our Destination Weddings team specialises in helping couples craft seamless, joy-filled celebrations abroad. One of the most thoughtful things you can do for your guests is book smart hotel blocks. Here’s how we guide our couples through it.

1. Start early!

When you’ve set your date and venue, lock in your accommodation strategy straight away. Couples who leave it to the last minute often end up with disappointed guests and dashed visions. The earlier you secure a block, the more choice you have.

We help couples choose from our global partner resorts in Bali, Fiji, Thailand and Vietnam (and beyond), and we negotiate exclusive room-rate deals for you.

Pro tip: Treat your hotel block like you treat your venue hire. You wouldn’t leave the venue to chance, so don’t leave guest sleep spaces to chance either.

2. Give your guests options

Your guest list will include the enthusiastic jet-set friend, the budget-stay aunt and the sibling who must stay in a hotel with a gym. Offer a block, or a couple of blocks, spanning a range of needs and budgets.

Here’s how we approach it: Pick one “premium” option as well as a more affordable choice. Ensure both are in the same general area so that guests feel part of the group.

It’s about hospitality. Having guests stay together makes day-of logistics easier (especially transport) and helps create a built-in guest-experience community.

Pro tip: When we negotiate accommodation for our couples, we also ask for a mix of room types (king/double, upgrade options). When everyone stays together, you’ll get a better vibe.

3. Location, location, location

You want your hotel block to feel like part of the wedding weekend, not a separate trip. For destination weddings, this means ideally under 15 to 20 minutes from your venue or main events space.

Whenever possible, book within the same resort or resort complex so that guests can bump into each other, share drinks, and make memories. Choose a place with amenities your guests will actually use, such as a pool, bar, breakfast and local transport.

Your guests have made the travel commitment, and you want to give them a space they enjoy.

Pro tip: Ask the resort for local transport tips and a list of nearby cafés and markets. Then put that on your wedding website. Little touches like this turn “oh, we had to stay in that hotel” into “we had so much fun staying at that hotel”.  

4. Understand the contract

Hotel blocks aren’t just “we set aside some rooms”. There are key terms to understand, and we always walk our couples through them carefully.

Look at:

• Cut-off date: when guests must book in the block. After that, rooms are released or rates may rise.
• Attrition: if you commit to 30 rooms, the hotel may require you to guarantee 80 per cent or more. If you don’t hit it, you could pay for empty rooms.
• Rate inclusions: check whether breakfast, resort fees and taxes are included.
• Release of unused rooms: confirm how many unsold rooms the hotel releases back to inventory.
• Special perks: welcome drinks, spa discounts or airport transfers make guests feel appreciated.

At Easy Weddings, our Destination Weddings team negotiates these details on your behalf so you’re not stuck deciphering hotel contracts at midnight.

Pro tip: Ask the hotel, “what happens if fewer than X rooms book by the cut-off?” If the answer is “we’ll release the rooms and no penalty”, you’re in a safe spot.

6. Think guest experience

Your hotel block isn’t just where your guests turn in for the night. It’s part of the wedding weekend story. You want your guests feeling cared for, included and excited.

Ideas from our Destination Weddings playbook:

• Welcome baskets in rooms with local treats, resort cocktail menus and your wedding schedule.
• Group activity suggestions for early arrivals or late stayers.
• A post-wedding brunch at the hotel or nearby café.Transport coordination for events.
• Extended block rates for guests wanting a longer stay.

At Easy Weddings, we’ve seen guests say the accommodation made all the difference in how they experienced the destination wedding.

We’re here to make your destination wedding feel as easy as it looks on Instagram. Choosing the right hotel block is one of those small moves that quietly make everything click: your guests feel looked after, the weekend flows, and all that’s left to do is enjoy it.