Planning a destination wedding at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico can be exciting! Until you dive into those room block contract details and suddenly, you’re hit with deposits, attritions, drop dates, and room category information, and you’re like, “wait, what the heck does any of this actually mean?”
You’re not alone. Nearly every couple we work with has the same questions about their room block details. And it makes total sense, because in what area of your life have you ever had to deal with this before? The truth is that room blocks and their contracts can be a bit confusing, but once you understand how they work, the entire process feels much smoother, and you can avoid surprises along the way.
In this Q&A style resource, we’ll break down the most common questions couples ask us about their room block contracts, so you’ll feel confident knowing exactly what you’re signing up for.
Room Blocks 101: Answers to Questions Every Couple Asks:
Do We Get Discounted Rooms if We Have a Wedding Room Block Contract?
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t count on it. Gone are the days of big 10 and 20 percent discounts just for signing a room block contract. That went away with COVID and low occupancies. But now, most all-inclusive resorts in Mexico have much higher occupancies than before and do not need to discount rooms, even for groups. While we might still be seeing a few resorts where the rates are a couple of dollars lower than booking an individual room directly, it’s not the norm across the board.
Now, the resorts “stop the rate”. This means that they take the room rates from when you sign your contract, and they stop the rate where it’s at for a period of time (usually until five to six months prior to the wedding, depending on the resort). That means you and your guests can all have the convenience of getting that same rate as long as they reserve a room in your room block within the booking window.
Additionally, resorts may offer some perks in exchange for contracting a room block, like free room upgrades and free welcome parties or private events (more on that later).
The Room Block Deposit (Where Does This Money Go?):
The couple typically pays an initial deposit for the room block contract, which is usually $100 X the number of rooms that you want to hold in your room block, depending on the resort and the size of the room block. For large room blocks, resorts may ask for an even larger deposit of a certain percentage of the total estimated room block value.
This initial room block deposit is used as a good-faith deposit and is then credited in full towards the couple’s room when they make their reservation within the room block. It does not have an impact on guest rooms and/or their payments, as guests will make their own individual reservations within the room block, pay their own deposits, and make their own final payments.
What Happens If the Couple Pays a Larger Deposit Than the Total Cost of Their Room?
The total room block deposit is initially credited in full towards the payment of the couple’s reservation. If there is an overage, the additional funds can be used in one of two ways: the couple can credit the additional funds towards another room within their room block (like a parent’s room), or the couple can receive a refund of the overage once they travel. If this is the couple’s choice, then the overage paid would be credited back to the credit card that the couple used to make the initial deposit once they begin travel.
What Happens If There Are Fewer Rooms Booked Within the Room Block Than Initially Expected or Reserved in the Contract?
Usually nothing. The initial deposit has already been credited in full towards the couple’s room, and that is where the funds stay. If you release non-booked rooms on your attrition/drop/or release date (all mean about the same thing – it’s the last day you can release rooms back to your resort without a penalty) and have met your resort’s minimum requirement for rooms booked within your contract, the non-booked rooms are simply released to the resort and there is no loss of the initial room block deposit.
How Many Rooms Should We Request?
The resort will usually base the number of rooms that they will allow you to have in your initial room block on the number of guests that you tell them you will have. Resorts will then request that you hold approximately 50% of your total guest count in rooms. For example, if you have an anticipated guest count of 50 guests, you’ll be allowed to hold 25 rooms in your initial room block contract.
You can always reduce your room count up to your drop/attrition date, which can vary by resort, but is typically approximately five to six months before your wedding.
What Is a Drop Date (Attrition)?
Your room block contract will contain what is known as a “drop date” or an “attrition date”. This is defined within the attrition and cancellation section of your room block contract and is the date that allows you to release all non-booked rooms back to the resort without penalty, as long as you have met your contract minimum requirement of rooms for your chosen resort.
For example, if you started your room block contract with 20 rooms, have a contract minimum requirement of 10 rooms, and only 15 rooms have been reserved in your room block on your contract drop date, you can release the five non-booked rooms with no penalty, since you have met your contract minimum of 10 rooms.
What Happens If We Have Not Met Our Required Room Contract Minimum?
If this minimum is not met with guest room reservations by your first drop date, the couple is financially responsible for meeting the required minimum rooms.
Some resorts will allow you to “fall out of contract,” and then they will charge you the “best available rate” at the time of the drop date, and this rate will be applied to your current booked rooms. This means that if you do not meet your required room minimum, instead of being financially responsible for the remaining rooms, the resort will change the rate of your booked rooms to the current room rate at the resort. This allows you to continue to hold your wedding at your resort and keep your reservations in place, but it does not allow you to keep the previously “contracted” rate since you were not able to honor the whole contract.
Can A Guest Reserve a Room That is Not Listed in Our Room Block?
Yes. If a guest wishes to reserve a room category that is not within your room block, our team will connect with the resort to make the request, and as long as the resort has the room availability, it will be added to their reservation and your room block.
However, (AND THIS PART IS REALLY IMPORTANT) only room categories that are listed in your room block contract will have guaranteed pricing within the room block. This means that if a guest requests a room category that is not within your original room block contract, the room rate will be whatever the room rate is at the resort at the time of request. Due to this, it’s imperative to have a mix of the most popular room category types in your initial room block contract since room rates usually rise over time, making it a pricey situation for your guest if you didn’t hold a category they may want in your room block contract.
Some food for thought: It is extremely rare for 100% of your guests to only book one room category type. That’s just not the reality of how guests book rooms. Our team has managed nearly one thousand weddings, and we’ve never had it happen – not even once. So, when we have couples send over room block requests of “20 Garden Suites” and no other room category, we know that the resort is likely to reject this request and ask us to come back with a more logical and thoughtful room block contract request made up of at least three of their most booked categories.
Our team will always give you a recommendation of what ACTUAL past room blocks that have been booked, so you can have this as a base to start with when building your own room block mix.
If We Need More Rooms, Can Additional Rooms Be Added to Our Room Block?
Yes, as long as the resort has the room available at the time of request, rooms can be added to your room block at any time.
Will the Room Rate Be the Same If We Add Rooms to Our Room Block?
That depends on the resort and several factors. Contractually, the resort does not have to add rooms to your room block at the same price as your contracted rate once they have fulfilled your initial contracted number of rooms. Palladium, TRS, and Majestic resorts, for example, do not often honor the original contracted price for rooms, so if a couple must choose one of these resorts for their wedding, we always advise holding as many rooms in your initial room block request as you think you will reasonably need for your group.
Notes on Earned Room Upgrades:
Couples are often surprised to find that the resorts no longer automatically upgrade the couple’s room! In fact, we find that maybe only three or four out of 10 of our couples get a room upgrade, sadly. This changed with COVID, and I don’t see it changing back any time soon.
While you often get potential room upgrades in your room block, they ONLY apply to the lowest room category that is booked within your room block, and our couples rarely book the lowest room category. Plus, room upgrades are never guaranteed.
The resort offers to upgrade a certain number of rooms to the next category up from the lowest category booked, only if this next category is available at check-in. Since the room category upgrade is never guaranteed, we think it’s a best practice not to promise this upgrade to your guests, as you never know for sure if they will receive it or not. Making it a surprise for the guest is always better than if they are expecting an upgrade and, unfortunately, do not receive it due to a lack of availability at the resort at their time of check-in.
How Are Room Upgrades Earned?
Each room block contract will list the total number of rooms that need to be reserved in your room block in order to qualify for a room upgrade. For example, if your room block contract states that you receive one complimentary room upgrade for every 10 rooms, that means that you must have 10 full rooms paid in full within your room block to qualify for an 11th room to be upgraded. If only 10 rooms are reserved in the room block, no upgrade has been earned.
Additional examples (using the 10 rooms to receive an upgrade scenario) – if 10 rooms are paid, then no upgrade has been earned. If 11 rooms are paid for, then one room upgrade is earned. If 15 rooms are paid for, then one room upgrade is earned. If 24 rooms are paid, then two total room upgrades are earned.
One important caveat for room upgrades is that the rooms must have a minimum three-night travel window as the rest of the group to qualify. If the rooms do not share at least three common nights, they will not be eligible for a room upgrade.
Whose Room Will Potentially Receive the Room Upgrade?
This is up to the couple and is based on who rented the lowest category rooms. Approximately 45 days before travel, the resort will send a list of who has qualified for a potential room upgrade, and the couple will get to choose who potentially receives the upgrade based on this list.
Can the Room Upgrades Be Stacked?
No, each room that qualifies for the potential upgrade can only be upgraded to one room category level above its current room category level.
Is the Couple’s Room Automatically Upgraded?
No. The potential room upgrades only apply to the lowest category level that is paid within the room block, so the couple’s room would only be upgraded if they reserved the lowest category room available at their chosen resort. Sometimes the resort will also upgrade the couple’s room as well, as a courtesy, but this is never guaranteed and is based on the resort’s occupancy at the time of stay. For this reason, we always recommend that the couple reserve the room category that they would be most happy with for the duration of their stay in case they are not upgraded. Due to the high occupancy levels of most resorts in the area, we are currently only seeing about 30% to 40% of our couples receive a room upgrade.
Complimentary Welcome Cocktail Party and Other Complimentary Earned Events:
Some room block contracts earn complimentary events, like welcome cocktail parties or private/semi-private group dinners. The cocktail parties are typically one-hour events held in a private or semi-private location at the resort, featuring an open bar only (no food) with staffing, as well as basic tables, chairs, and linens. They are typically held the day before the wedding in a location chosen by the resort and are often immediately following the ceremony rehearsal. Sometimes, the resort may offer you options for locations within the last 30–60 days before your wedding, depending on location availability. However, most of the time, this location is chosen for you. You will have the option to add items to this event – passed appetizers, food stations, additional hours, audiovisual, etc. It is entirely up to you whether you decide to keep this event in its offered form or to make additions to it for the extra fees.
The private or semi-private group dinners will be assigned to a restaurant based on the resort’s availability during your time of travel and need to be reserved with your wedding coordinator at least two to four weeks prior to arrival, in most cases.
One Last Note on This Subject (and Comps in General):
ONLY rooms that are reserved and paid for in your room block will be applied towards the calculation of upgrades, comped event hours, etc. If a guest books a room at your resort any other way than through your room block, the resort will not count that guest’s room towards your perks, and that person will not be included in any comp event perks earned. That means that you may have to pay extra for any guest who does not book within your room block to attend your earned cocktail party or your complimentary reception event hours.
Deposits and Contracts to Expect in the Planning Process:
In the initial planning phases, you can expect two contracts within the first few weeks – your room block contract and your wedding contract. You will have a deposit due for both, and the amount will be dependent on the resort that you choose. You can expect to pay additional deposits leading up to your wedding for each additional vendor that you add to your wedding, and the final payment for all wedding purchases is normally due in the last 30 – 60 days prior to your wedding.
If you choose in-house vendors (from your resort’s preferred vendor list), the resort will generally keep a running invoice for all in-house vendor purchases, and you’ll pay for these additions in accordance with your contract’s payment due dates.
You can also choose to pay for each vendor in full when you add their services, if you prefer, or you can make lump payments in advance of the actual due date at any time by asking the resort to send you an invoice payment link for the total amount that you would like to pay.
If you choose to hire an off-site vendor, you will typically need to sign an individual contract with this vendor directly, pay an initial deposit, and follow that vendor’s contract terms for when all payments are due. You will also owe the resort an off-site vendor fee, in accordance with your resort’s off-site vendor fee policy.
Cheryl’s Final Room Block Thoughts
At the end of the day, your room block isn’t a pile of papers with fine print. It’s the backbone of your destination wedding in Mexico. Understanding how deposits are applied, what attrition means, and how perks like room upgrades are earned will save you a lot of upset over unfounded expectations.
My best advice? Don’t try to figure this all out on your own. Room blocks can be complex; every resort does things a bit differently, and couples often overlook key contract details in their excitement to get it all booked! That’s where we come in. At Yellow Umbrella Events, we live and breathe this every day. Let my team help you navigate this so you can spend your energy on what matters – enjoying your engagement and planning your wedding.
If you’re ready to take the guesswork out of your room block, let’s talk. Connect with my team here to get started.
