The Problem
By Charles Tan
The hotel sells more rooms than are actually available, resulting in confirmed bookings that exceed the property’s room inventory.
Causes
Overbooking often occurs due to operational or system issues such as:
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OTA platforms not syncing properly with the PMS (Property Management System)
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Delayed updates from the Channel Manager
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Duplicate manual bookings entered by the Reservation team
Solutions
To prevent overbooking:
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Use a Channel Manager that synchronizes inventory in real time across all booking channels
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Set a safety inventory buffer, keeping 2–3 rooms unavailable to absorb potential system delays
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Review the Daily Pick-up Report every day to closely monitor reservations and room availability
