Potential reasons overbookings can occur and how to handle and prevent them.
Overbookings occur when the total number of rooms booked is greater than the number of rooms you have available. If you have received a booking when your property is full, learn how to manage overbookings, and how to prevent them in future.
Potential reasons for overbookings
Overbookings can happen for many different reasons, such as because:
Room rates were not mapped to the channel.
Room rates were mapped to the incorrect channel rate.
Availability was incorrect.
The channel rate or entire channel was disabled.
Walk in reservations were not added, causing incorrect availability.
Two bookings were made via different channels at the same time (within 5 minutes). Availability can take up to five minutes to be updated across your channels.
What to do if you get an overbooking
If you receive an overbooking:
Contact the channel directly. We are unable to contact the channel on your behalf.
Check your availability on all your channels.
Fix any channel rates or channels that are disabled.
⚠️ If a channel rate or entire channel is disabled, no inventory updates will be sent to the channel, which increases the risk for overbookings. If a channel rate or channel has become disabled due to an error, resolve the error, then re-enable the channel or channel rate.
How to prevent overbookings
Here are some ways you can reduce the risk of overbookings:
Regularly check that your availability is correct.
Ensure all required room rates are mapped to your channels correctly.
If you only have one room left and you know it is likely you’ll get a booking for this room, you could place a stop sell on low-performing channels, and only offer the last room to your high-performing channels.
Monitor and fix any channel rates or channels that may have become disabled.