Next month I have a trip planned to the States that I have organised and have booked 40 rooms.
I booked these rooms 8 months ago and basically contacted every hotel in the area with the following
*Dates
*Room Configs
*What we expected in terms of free Wifi etc
*Any special offers they could offer
Once the quotes started coming in, I looked up reviews of all of them and then started to narrow down.
For example.
One hotel charged the same price is there was 2, 3 or 4 people in one room. The other hotel charged an extra rate per night for the plus 3 and 4. This can add up if children are involved and they are a family.
Also had to keep an eye on taxes and resort fees
Then I played about 3 off against each other to get the lowest rate with the best inclusions. When booking and paying for this many rooms in advance, and being the sole guarantee on the booking..I didn't want to get stuck with the cost.
Look over any contracts carefully and delegate one person to collect payments way in advance. If you change the rooms you have booked..in most cases you will have to pay for them in lost revenue to them.