Not sure what amenities to expect when you are blocking rooms for a family reunion at a hotel?
Not to worry.
Here is a list of the five most frequently requested amenities compiled by experienced family reunion planners. They range from being free to having to pay a small sum but all are well worth it.
Free Hospitality Suite With A Block Of Rooms
Hospitality suites are extremely important as they provide a place for your family to be able to gather, mingle, catch up, and chat in a private setting. The hospitality suite becomes the go to place at a hotel for all family reunion members instead of one person’s room. It also provides a place to put snacks, and light refreshments. This one amenity is super important so make sure to not only ask that it be free, but also that the hospitality suite be cleaned daily by housekeeping staff. A hotel where you have a room block will generally honor this request.
Free Hotel Rooms For Family Reunion Planner
Hotels will generally give free rooms on the basis of how many actual rooms are reserved by the group. For instance, the hotel may offer you a comp ratio of 1:50 which would mean that for every 50 rooms reserved and used by your family reunion, one room will be free. In most cases, that room goes to the poor soul who organized the family reunion. After all that hard work, they deserve a free hotel room to rest in.
The Internet Was Meant To Be Free.
Free WiFi. There is no negotiating this service as we are bent on getting it for free. Amongst your family reunion attendees, you will have many folks coming in with laptops expecting to be able to connect to the internet. The last thing you want to do is tell them that they will have to pay $10.00 a day to use the internet. It is not only inconvenient to your attendees, it is a charge that does not justify it’s usage.
Breakfast Anyone?
Pick a hotel that offers a free full hot breakfast to all its guests. This alone saves your family members at least $10-$15 per person per day. Depending on the size of your family reunion, that kind of savings can add up to a huge amount. If you insist on blocking rooms at a hotel that charges for its breakfast, then negotiating for it to be free will be a challenge. Only large family reunions will have enough buying power to be able to request free breakfast for all their attendees.
Free Shuttle To Local Shopping/Restaurant
We consider the hotel shuttle to be an extremely important amenity and any accommodations provider that does not provide transportation to/from the airport, train, and bus station is immediately off our list of potential venues.
With that being said, if the hotel does have shuttle service, then maybe they can drop family reunion attendees to a local shopping mall or even a restaurant. Providing transportation for a large group can be expensive and a hotel can save you some serious money by providing this service for little or no cost.
The above five amenities are what is most frequently asked for when blocking hotel rooms for a family reunion. Should you know of any others and would like them added to this list, please email us at john@hotelscouter.com. As always, suggestions and comments are always welcome.
What should you do next?
Since you’re looking for a hotel for a family reunion, learn more about how to block rooms.