Overbooking Accepting more reservations than total capacity (Kasavanna & Brooks, 1995)

Overbooking can done intentional or unintentionally, however front office management must sanction ALL intentional overbookings.

Scenarios of unintentional overbooking Unintentional overbooking is occasioned by the following: Incompetency of reservation personnel. Mistake of the reservationist. System breakdown (PMS). Communication breakdown between the hotel`s reservation department & the prospective customer.

Putting overbooking into perspective It is a strategy used to help a hotel achieve a 100 per cent occupancy level through selling more than available capacity. The intention is to have a full house at the hotel by covering up the ensuing negative developments:

No-shows. Unexpected early departures. Cancellations.

Hotel management attempt to ensure that as many rooms as possible are occupied. Most hotels practise a 10% overbooking policy which enable them to maximise revenue from room sales. There is however, need for caution as uncontrolled overbooking could result in poor hotel-guest relations and discourage repeat business if all guests turn up.

To properly control overbooking the rooms division manager and the reservation department must monitor room availability and coordinate it to bookings, blockings and cancellation information. By studying the historical trends and data most hotels make a provision of 10 per cent overbooking factor.

Computation of overbooking statistic Elephant Hills Hotel (EHH) in Vic Falls has total capacity of 320 room stock. Calculate an overbooking statistic using a 10 per cent overbooking factor. Answer: .1*320=32 additional reservations or rooms. From the above example, the EHH reservations department can accept 32 more bookings.

Rationale To make up for no shows. To make up for cancellations. To make up for early departures or unexpected departures. To maximise room revenue by having a full house, that is, 100% occupancy. To make up for postponements.

Causes of overbooking Organisational or hotel policy. Bad weather in which guest flights failed to take off resulting in them rebooking at the hotel. Closure of the airport. Delayed flights. Rescheduled flights. Transient business-reputation.

Stay-overs or extended stays. Overflow business from sister hotels. Political instability or strifes. Goodwill gestures. Need for management to have a full house.

Class activity In pairs or small groups explain how each of the outlined factors cause overbooking & report back. 5 minutes. Demonstrate the applicability of the causes of overbooking to Zimbabwean hotels of your choice.

Essay Question Define the concept of overbooking noting its causes and importance from hotel management perspective (25). Identify and explain any ten causes of overbooking in Zimbabwean hotels (25).

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