Overbooking

This is a cry for help to all Revenue and Reservation Managers: Please, do not exagerate with overbooking!!!

Do you know this situation when you start your shift and you see -3,4,5 or even more rooms on the "available rooms" screen. All of us hope that the guests will arrive late of course, so that the Night Manager will have to deal with them. Guess what the Night Manager hopes for...

Let me tell you about 3 situations that occurred to me.

The first one happened on December 31st. Yes, New Years Eve. You plan your trip with your girlfriend (or boyfriend) taking care even of the smallest detail... Oh, it will be so very special! You don't know how right you are!

When I started my shift that day it was already busy at the reception. Early check ins of course! So while answering questions, handing out city maps and verifying the cashier I managed to have a glance at the occupation for the day. -25. What??? There must be a mistake? That was not the same situation as yeasterday. Not even close!

Someone forgot to block the dates on a few booking sites... And as you can imagine the city was full on that day. So where should we send them?At 6pm we already ran out of rooms. I went back to the Front Office Manager as new clients approached and he just looked at me and asked "What do you want me to do?".

My memories of the final part of my shift are only a blur. I remember calling all possible hotels in the area, sending people out to a nearby residence , calling taxis and paying them. I remember a lady coming back crying and screaming at us that we ruined what should have become the best day of her life. I also remember a couple who turned out to be also working in a hotel and living nearby. They understood the situation, went back home and left us their room. I could have kissed them!

I don't know how we managed, but we found a bed for everyone.

When my shift ended I went out, had a few drinks and went to bed exhausted. I was so happy that I didn't have to check into a hotel!

The second situation happened while I was doing my nightshift. I heared the elevator coming up from the parking and a few seconds later a tired businessman was standing in front of me. It was 1.15 am and of course we were fully fully booked.

I started the standard procedure of avoiding the clients eyes, clearing my throat and deciding which was the best excuse to use. Of course OUR hotel is NEVER overbooked! A family with a sick kid had to stay one night longer, the heating stopped working on a whole floor late in the evening, a bad witch made a floor disappear. But we never, ever overbook our rooms!

The funny part was of course that the states bigges fair was being held in that period and the only room I could propose was about 120 km from our hotel (and if the guest didn't have his own car we would have had to pay for the taxi...). I prepared myself for the worst verbal aggression. But nothing came. I was baffled and relieved and felt really sorry for this client.

By the way, this guest became a regular and every time he arrived late in the evening. I made sure we always had a room for him!

On a different occasion a lady refused to leave the hotel. So we borrowed a roll-away bed from the hotel next to us and put it into a conference room. This room was on the groundfloor, streetside, had glass walls and only an almost transparrent curtain to block the view. The shower was... in the fitnessroom. So the guest had only to walk through all of the gallery and take the elevator downstairs. But she was happy and slept for free!

So, dear Revenue and Reservation Managers: Please do not exagerate with the overbooking. Or one day we will revolt and t5hrow you into the angry mob of guests waiting for alternative accomodation.