Reunion Hotel and Lodging Tips: Room Blocks, Host Homes and Everything Between

Grove Team·October 12, 2026·5 min read

In this article

Ask a relative why they skipped the last reunion and the answer is often not the date or the price of the meal. It is the trip. Where am I going to stay, what will it cost, and is anyone else from my side going to be there?

Lodging is the part of reunion planning most organizers leave until late, and it is the part that gets more expensive and more limited every week you wait. This guide covers the three ways families usually handle it (a hotel room block, host homes and everyone on their own) and how to run each one without surprises.

Start with a lodging count, not a hotel

Before you call a single hotel, find out roughly how many households will need a place to stay. Local relatives will drive home each night. Some out-of-town families will stay with a sibling or a cousin. The rest need a room.

A quick question in your first save the date message is enough: "Are you likely to need a hotel room, a place with family, or are you set?" You are not asking for a commitment yet, only a rough number. That number decides whether a room block makes sense at all and how big it should be.

Ask early, too, about anyone who needs a ground floor room, an accessible room or a room close to the event. Elders and relatives with mobility needs should get first pick, not whatever is left.

How a hotel room block works

A room block is a set of rooms a hotel holds for your group at a group rate until a cutoff date. Relatives book their own rooms with a group code or a booking link and pay the hotel directly. After the cutoff, any unbooked rooms go back to the hotel and the rate may no longer be available.

There are two kinds of blocks, and the difference matters:

  • Courtesy block: the hotel holds the rooms and releases what is not booked by the cutoff. If the family does not fill it, nobody owes anything.
  • Contracted block: you sign an agreement that the group will fill a set share of the rooms. If the family books fewer, the person who signed can owe the difference. This is called attrition.

For most family reunions, a courtesy block is the safer choice. If a hotel only offers a contracted block, start small. You can usually ask to add rooms later if they fill, but you cannot shrink a contract without paying for it.

Questions to ask before you sign anything

Get the answers in writing, in an email or on the contract itself:

  • Is this a courtesy block or a contracted block? If contracted, what is the attrition percentage and how is it calculated?
  • What is the group rate, and does it include taxes and fees? Is parking extra?
  • What is the cutoff date for booking at the group rate?
  • Can the rate apply a day or two before and after the reunion for families who travel far?
  • How do relatives book: a code, a link or a phone number?
  • Does the hotel need a list of names, or does each person book themselves?
  • Is breakfast included? Is there a room where the family can gather in the evening?
  • How many accessible rooms are in the block?
  • Can you get a weekly pickup report showing how many rooms are booked?

That last question is the one most organizers forget. A pickup report tells you whether the block is filling before the cutoff, while there is still time to remind people.

Pick the hotel around the reunion, not the other way around

Choose the venue first, then look for lodging nearby. A great rate 30 minutes away costs the family in gas, parking and missed time together. If you can, pick a hotel within a short drive of the main event, with free parking and a lobby or patio where people can gather after the program ends. Some of the best reunion moments happen at 10 at night in a hotel lobby.

If the reunion is in a smaller town with limited rooms, consider two blocks at two price levels. Families on a tight budget will thank you. Our guide to picking a family reunion venue covers the venue side of this decision.

Host homes: the family's own lodging

In many families, local relatives open their homes to cousins from out of town. It saves money, and it is often how the closest bonds form. It also needs a little organizing so nobody ends up with eight guests and one bathroom.

  • Ask local relatives early how many people they can host and for which nights.
  • Match guests and hosts by branch, by kids' ages or by who already knows each other.
  • Confirm the arrival and departure dates with both sides a week before.
  • Share any allergies to pets and any stairs or accessibility needs before anyone arrives.
  • Thank your hosts publicly at the reunion. They are giving up their homes for the weekend.

Keep the lodging list in one place

By the month before the reunion you will be tracking several things at once: who needs a room, who is staying with family, which hotel each household booked, and when each one arrives. Keep it all in one list, not across five text threads.

In Grove, when a relative RSVPs from their own link, the RSVP asks whether they need a place to stay (a hotel, a host family or their own arrangements) and when they arrive and leave. The organizer's Lodging page keeps your hotel blocks with their rate, code, rooms and book-by date, and lets you assign each person who needs a place to a hotel block or a host relative. Grove does not book rooms; the family still books with the hotel directly.

Send the lodging details more than once

Put the hotel name, address, group code, booking link and cutoff date in the first invitation, again in your reminder a month before the cutoff, and again two weeks before. Most people book in the last few days, and the ones who miss the cutoff will ask you to fix it. Give them every chance not to.

For families coming from far away, a short welcome note with the hotel, parking, the nearest grocery store and the schedule for the first evening goes a long way. See our guide to putting together a family reunion welcome packet for what else to include, and planning a family reunion from out of state if you are the one doing the traveling.

Lodging fits into the first decisions

Lodging is really part of choosing where the reunion happens. If you have not settled the team, the date, the place, the budget and the price yet, start with the first 5 decisions every reunion organizer has to make, then come back to this list.

When you are ready to track who needs a room and who is staying with family in one place, you can start your reunion on Grove for free and send the first RSVP links today.

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