HOW TO RECONCILE HOTEL ROOM BLOCKS
Without Losing Your Mind or Your Money
Without Losing Your Mind or Your Money
You’ve done it. Your event is over. Your attendees are home (hopefully with rave reviews), and your room blocks? Fully maximized.
Now comes the real party: room block reconciliation.
Okay, maybe not a party. But it’s the unglamorous, critical step between a successful event and actual revenue in your pocket. Whether that’s in the form of commission, rebates, or sweet, sweet data for your next contract negotiation.
And let’s be honest: it’s slow. Hotels are slower. And no one seems to know who’s supposed to send the invoice.
Let’s fix that.
This article breaks it down into two parts:
Want the TL;DR version? Access the room block reconciliation checklist.
A guide to herding hotels (respectfully)
Reconciliation is a team sport… if your team knows who’s on it. At the hotel contracting stage, ask for three key contacts:
Grab their name, email, and phone number. It saves time, confusion, and those awkward “I think Steve used to handle that?” replies nine months from now.
Get clear, and get it in writing, on how hotels will be invoiced:
Pro tip: some clients give hotels 3 to 7 days to respond. If there’s radio silence? The invoice goes out based on what’s in their housing housing software. Not billed automatically, but invoiced with confidence. At the very least, you’ll get a quick reply back.
Your room block management software will give you an actualized pickup report. Check for any known:
Which brings us to a very important tip…
How you handle changes and cancellations matters a lot.
Some housing managers direct attendees to hotels on the contracted cut-off date (typically 30 days out from arrival). But that leaves a whole month where changes happen at the property – not your housing system. Cue: reconciliation chaos.
A better approach? Require that all changes and cancellations go through your housing system until 24 to 72 hours before arrival. That way, your system and the hotel are nearly identical when reconciliation begins.
Systems like Meetingmax help with this by:
Use your CRM to send templated emails to each hotel:
“Here’s what our system shows for your property. Please confirm or refute within [X] days.”
Include the room pickup data, your contact info, and a reminder of the agreed process. Friendly, yes. But make it clear that if they don’t respond, the invoice will reflect what’s in your system.
Once a hotel confirms (or the deadline passes), forward the invoice to the accounting contact you got up front. No detours, no delays.
💸 Because room block reconciliation isn’t over until the money hits your account
Don’t wait a week. Don’t wait until you “have time.” Send your invoice as soon as the data is confirmed (or the dispute window closes).
Include:
The more buttoned-up your invoice is, the less likely it is to get stuck in Accounts Payable purgatory.
Some clients set firm rules like:
“If your invoice isn’t paid within 30 days, your hotel will be disabled for our next event.”
And guess what? In Meetingmax, you can actually do that. One click, and that hotel’s off the booking page until they settle up. No drama. Just consequences. This works well for Convention & Visitor Bureaus who partner with the same hotels for various events.
Meetingmax clients can manually sort hotels on the booking page, meaning trusted, fast-paying hotels show up first. Attendees are more likely to book those properties, giving your VIP hotels more love and more incentive to stay reliable.
Let performance shape visibility. It’s reconciliation karma.
Some clients reduce reconciliation pain by charging a booking fee upfront. Rather than inflating your hotel rates with rebates (and getting paid post-event), have attendees pay the same nominal fee upfront as a deposit or service fee.
One Meetingmax client flipped the model entirely by collecting full payment for hotel rooms at the time of booking. They have a master account with their hotels and can subtract their rebates & booking fees immediately from the room revenue. No back-and-forth is needed after the event – just clean books and a sigh of relief.
Reconciliation may never be sexy. But it can be simple. With a few clear expectations, strong systems, and a dash of strategic nudging, you’ll spend less time chasing numbers and more time enjoying the results.
So take a deep breath, open that pickup report, and remember: You deserve to get paid.
Want the TL;DR version? Here’s a quick-hit list to keep your reconciliation process on track and your revenue rolling in
