Overbooking - Distribution Hub Restrictions

Contents

1. Threshold Closure + Overbooking 

2. Closure By Rate + Overbooking 

3. Price Variance + Overbooking

4. Ceilings + Overbooking

5. Room Blocks + Overbooking 

1. Threshold Closures + Overbooking

Threshold closures allow you to place a limit on either hotel availability or specific room type availability.  

Room type - Inventory Count 

This threshold closure affects the availability that is distributed to channels.  

In the below example, I have specified a room type inventory count threshold closure for my ACC_DOUBLE room type that specifies when I have 1 ACC_DOUBLE room to sell, close this room type on the DBM. 

 

As I have 6 ACC_DOUBLE rooms available to sell on this day, this displays in Rooms Per Day as 5 ACC_DOUBLE rooms available for the DBM (as the threshold closure is only applied to the DBM, other channels will still have 6 ACC_DOUBLE rooms available).  

 

Because this type of threshold closure is activated by remaining availability, defining an overbooking value against the room type will increase the availability by the overbooking value.  

 

So, I have 6 ACC_DOUBLE rooms, with a room type overbooking of 2, making a total of 8 ACC_DOUBLE rooms to sell without any threshold closures applied. With the threshold closure applied, I will only advertise 7 ACC_DOUBLE rooms on the DBM (as the threshold closure says to Close when availability of ACC_DOUBLE reaches 1). Hotel overbooking values will have no effect on room type inventory count threshold closures.  

 

Room type – Percentage 

This threshold closure affects the availability that is distributed to channels. 

IMPORTANT – Percentage threshold closures are triggered when the AVAILABILITY reaches that percentage, e.g. when my room type reaches 10% availability, the threshold closure should be triggered.  

Hotel overbooking values will have no effect on room type percentage threshold closures.  

Hotel – Inventory   

This threshold closure affects the point at which the whole hotel will close, irrespective of what may still be available to sell on room types.
In the below example, I have specified a hotel inventory count threshold closure for my hotel that specifies when the hotel availability reaches 1, close the hotel on the DBM  

When hotel availability reaches 1, Close restrictions will be triggered for all room types and rates to the DBM.  

Because this type of threshold closure is activated by remaining hotel availability, defining an overbooking value against the hotel will increase the hotel availability by the overbooking value. So, if I have 100 rooms available: 

• No hotel overbooking: The hotel will close when 99 rooms have been sold 
• Hotel overbooking of 5: The hotel will close when 104 rooms have been sold 

IMPORTANT – Room type overbooking values do not affect hotel threshold closures in any way. Room type overbooking values do not in any way increase hotel availability. If you want to allow the hotel to remain open longer, you must define hotel overbooking values. Once hotel availability hits the close threshold, everything will be closed no matter what room type overbooking values are defined.  

 

Hotel – Percentage 

This threshold closures affects the percentage of availability at which the hotel will close. 

IMPORTANT – Percentage threshold closures are triggered when the AVAILABILITY reaches that percentage, e.g. when my hotel reaches 5% availability, the threshold closure should be triggered.  

Because this type of threshold closure is activated by remaining hotel availability, defining an overbooking value against the hotel will increase the hotel availability by the overbooking value. So, if I have 100 rooms available: 

• No hotel overbooking: The hotel will close when 99 rooms have been sold 
• Hotel overbooking of 5: The hotel will close when 104 rooms have been sold 

IMPORTANT – Room type overbooking values do not affect hotel threshold closures in any way. Room type overbooking values do not in any way increase hotel availability. If you want to allow the hotel to remain open longer, you must define hotel overbooking values. Once hotel availability hits the close threshold, everything will be closed no matter what room type overbooking values are defined.  

 

2. Closure By Rate + Overbooking 

Closure by Rate allows the property to open and close rates based on the occupancy of the hotel.  

In the below example, I have defined a Closure by Rate for my rate plan BAR_BB: 

In plain English, this Closure by rate expressed that BAR_BB should remain open while the occupancy is between 0% and 50%, and this should apply for the next 14 days. (The days are a rolling window, meaning that tomorrow it will still apply for the next 14 days from tomorrow). It further expresses that once occupancy reaches 50%, close BAR_BB for the DBM.

 

Neither room type overbooking values, nor hotel overbooking values will have any effect on Closure by Rate restrictions. However, there are a few things to bear in mind: 

• With overbooking values, hotel occupancy can now go above 100%. This means you will need to account for this in your Closure by rate restrictions, i.e. if you have any Closure by rates where the Close Occupancy % is 100%, if you want those rates to remain open for your overbooking values, you will need to increase this percentage as appropriate to account for these 
• Traditionally, Closure by Rate restrictions are used by properties for opening and closing different BAR levels. If you would like to sell another rate when Occupancy % is above 100%, then you will need to add these as new Closure by Rate records 

IMPORTANT – For properties using Closure by Rate to manage their Advance Purchase rates, you should not need to complete any changes for these rates specifically. A change was recently made to increase the Open and Close % values from 100% to 200%, so this particular Closure by Rate will continue to apply when occupancy is above 100%. 

 

3. Price Variances + Overbooking

Price variances allow the property to adjust the prices they are selling online based on rooms sold or occupancy percentage.  

In the below example, I have defined a Price Variance for my rate plan BAR_RO for BedBooker: 

This price variance is performing the following actions: 

• While the number of rooms sold is less than 30, sell at the standard rate with no variances applied 
• While the number of rooms sold is between 30 and 60 (inclusive), add a price variance to my ACC_DOUBLE room of £25.00 
• Apply this price variance for the next 14 days (again, this is a rolling timeframe, so from tomorrow it will still be 14 days from tomorrow) 

Price variances can be configured to apply: 

• When the hotel reaches a certain number of rooms sold 
• When the hotel reaches a certain occupancy % 

Price variances can be configured to apply to selected room types on the rate by increasing the price of the room type(s) by: 

• Value 
• Percentage 

Neither room type overbooking values, nor hotel overbooking values will have any effect on Price Variances. However, there are a few things to bear in mind: 

• With overbooking values, hotel rooms sold can now go above the physical stock value. This means you will need to account for this in your Price Variances, i.e. assuming you have an hotel with 100 rooms total room stock, if you have any Price Variances where the Inventory Count ‘To’ value is 100, if you want the price variance to continue to apply for your overbooking values, you will need to increase this value as appropriate to account for these. 
• With overbooking values, hotel occupancy can now go above 100%. This means you will need to account for this in your Price Variances, i.e. if you have any Price Variances where the Percentage ‘To’ value is 100%, if you want those price variances to continue to apply for your overbooking values, you will need to increase this percentage as appropriate to account for these 
• If you would like to sell a different rate value when Occupancy % is above 100% or when Rooms Sold is greater than Physical Stock, then you will need to add these as additional Price variances 

 

IMPORTANT – For properties using Closure by Rate to manage their Advance Purchase rates, you should not need to complete any changes for these rates specifically. A change was recently made to increase the Open and Close % values from 100% to 200%, so this particular Closure by Rate will continue to apply when occupancy is above 100%.  

 

4. Ceilings + Overbookings

Rate ceilings allow the property to limit the number of rooms that can be booked on a rate plan for a specified date. The ceilings are defined in Rezlynx, which communicates them to Distribution Hub. Ceilings can be set at room type + rate plan level, or hotel + rate plan level.  

• Room type + Rate Plan – once the defined number of rooms of this room type have been sold on this rate plan, close the room type for this rate plan 
• Hotel + Rate Plan – once the defined number of rooms have been sold on this rate plan, close the rate plan for all room types 

Neither room type overbooking values, nor hotel overbooking values, will have any effect on defined ceilings. Only the ceiling value will be available for sale for the specified rate plan(s). 

 

5. Room Blocks + Overbooking

Room Blocks are a way to control an allocation of availability to be sold on a specific channel(s). Room Blocks and created in Rezlynx, and can be exposed to Distribution Hub by selecting the channel(s) the Room Block is for.  

In Distribution Hub you can define how you wish to sell the Room Block on that channel. These options are: 

• Block values + Freesale: When this option is selected for your room block, the values blocked on the Room Block, and the remaining availability of the hotel are sent to the channel in the Availability update.  
   
  Room type overbooking values will affect the availability sent to channels when this option is selected. The overbooking value will be added to the Block values + Freesale values, e.g.  
  My block has 5 remaining DOUBLE rooms 
  My hotel has 10 remaining DOUBLE rooms 
  A room type overbooking value of 5 is added to my DOUBLE room 
  This will send an availability of 20 DOUBLE rooms to my channel  
   
  Hotel overbooking values will have no affect on the availability sent to channels, however once hotel availability reaches 0, the whole hotel will be closed irrespective of what may still be available to sell on specific room types or on the Room Block.  
   
• Block values only: When this option is selected for your room block, the values blocked on the Room Block will be all that will be available for sale on the specified channel(s), i.e. if you block 5 DOUBLE rooms, but still have 20 DOUBLE rooms available at the hotel level, the channel will only be able to book 5 DOUBLE rooms 
   
  Neither room type overbooking values nor hotel overbooking values will have any affect on Room Blocks configured as ‘Block values only’.