5 Tips to Make Team Hotel Lodging Easier

• Posted: Aug 24, 2022

Competitive sports almost always require team travel. One of the hardest parts of team travel is figuring out the hotel lodging.

Here are the 5 steps to make your team's hotel experience cheaper and easier:

1. Pick a hotel that’s close to the venue

This may seem obvious but making sure your hotel is close to the venue or at least an easy drive away is key to making your team lodging experience great.

2. Ensure the hotel has great amenities

A big part of team travel is team bonding. Hotels with amenities like a pool or free breakfast create an environment where your team can spend time together outside of your sport.

3. Set up a team room block

A team room block is simply a set of rooms (typically 9+ rooms) that is set aside for each team member to book. This is important to ensure your entire team can stay at the same hotel and usually you can get a lower rate (compared to the standard rates being offered individually.

4. Negotiate planner reward points and other perks

If you're the team manager or coach that is tasked with setting up the team room block make sure to ask about getting planner reward points and other perks such as a comped room or an upgraded room. This will not cost the other parents any money but can make the trouble of spending time contacting hotels worthwhile.

5. Use a team travel software to streamline communication & planning

This is relatively new because just 5 years ago there were no compelling products available. Lucid Travel has a product built for sports team travel that can make the process of selecting a hotel, negotiating terms for room blocks, and communicating to your team members way easier.

You simply sign up for free and get a team page (see example here) that becomes your one-stop shop for all things team travel. You can request team room blocks or book rooms individually from your team page and Lucid's experienced planner will contact hotels, sign the contract and provide a single link that everyone can use to book their room.

The best part is that it's totally free and Lucid shares a portion of the commission earned with the team so that it can be a new way to fundraise. You can also add your team members' emails into the system so that they receive notifications when a team room block is requested, reminders to book, and emails when other team members are booking so that each team member doesn't miss out.

Team travel is easily one of the best parts of youth sports. It gives the athletes time to just have fun with each other and do something other than practice and play.