What is a cutoff (release) date?
The cutoff date is the day the hotel stops holding the unbooked rooms in your block and returns them to general sale. It is counted back from arrival and written in the contract: a 21-day cutoff means 21 days before arrival. After it, adding rooms is up to the hotel.
For the other terms on this page see the room block glossary. For the basics, what a rooming list is.
Cutoff date calculator
Enter the arrival date and the number of days from your contract. The calculator shows each deadline and its weekday, and for a weekend date it names the last working day. You can download them all as a calendar file. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
| Deadline | Date |
|---|---|
| Other deadline | Tuesday, 9 February 2027 |
| Cutoff (release) | Thursday, 18 February 2027 |
| Rooming list due | Thursday, 25 February 2027 |
Dates are counted in calendar days from the arrival date. Check how your contract counts (business days, time zone, hotel local time) before relying on them.
What happens after the cutoff
- Unbooked rooms are released. The hotel can sell them to someone else; the same rate and availability are not guaranteed if you add them later.
- Changes are at the hotel’s discretion. Adding a name or changing the room count after the cutoff depends on what your contract allows.
- Shortfall is counted. What you owe for unused room nights follows the attrition clause; see the attrition guide.
How many days should it be?
There is no standard. It varies by hotel, season and block size, and it is often negotiated. Planners and hotels tend to ask for different numbers: one hotel sales employee wrote that 30 days is standard at their property and that 21 is sometimes allowed. Read that as one data point; your contract decides.
Terms planners often raise before signing: a phased release (let some rooms go first and the rest later), the right to drop rooms after the cutoff, and credit for guests who book outside the block. These are points you can put on the table, not advice that they will be granted.
Cutoff dates in Excel
With the arrival date in A2 and the number of days in B2, the cutoff date is:
=A2-B2To move a weekend date back to the last working day:
=WORKDAY(A2-B2+1, -1)Before the cutoff, check the hotel’s returned list against yours with the rooming list comparison tool.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up the cutoff and the rooming list deadline. They are two dates and the contract states them separately.
- Missing a weekend date. If the hotel’s sales office is closed the answer arrives on Monday; the last working day is Friday.
- Ignoring the time zone. The contract often states a closing time in the hotel’s local time.
- Counting from one arrival only. For groups that arrive on different days, check whether the period runs from the first night or from each group.