Are fully booked hotels holding back?
Some of the rooms that are “unavailable” in a fully booked hotel could be out of service for whatever reason. I was on a canceled flight out of Dallas one night, and as it was a mechanical issue, they sent an entire planefull of people to a hotel with vouchers. As I got to the head of the line, they said that they were out of rooms, but they were going to put us in rooms that had been marked out of service. Most had something that needed repair, like a broken light fixture, and they asked each of us if the broken thing was acceptable before letting us have the room. I doubt it’s always like that – I’m sure most hotels don’t have rooms with broken crap in them just sitting unoccupied for a long time – but it’s possible.
(Former 4/5 star hotel worker) – Grouse has it. Fully booked – every room promised. Fully occupied – everyone has already shown up. Hotels will overbook to improve their chances of selling out for a night. To safeguard against homeless travelers, hotels in the same class and local area usually phone each other every day to compare occupancy rates and give each other “walk” rates – that is, how much hotel A will charge hotel B to put up their overbooked guests, if they should show. When it becomes appearant there will be more guests than rooms, the front office begins their “walk” strategy. One hotel may choose to check guests in as they arrive, and the midnight-comers will be told there is no room, but a place has been arranged for them in hotel B for a discounted rate. Another hotel may choose “walk candidates” – that is, pick people from the arrivals list that might not mind being bumped – leisure travelers, first time guests – and ask them, when thy arrive, if they wouldn’t mind mov
My sister is a reservations manager at one of the big conference hotels in a major east coast city, and yes, there are always extra rooms in her hotel even if she tells people they are full. For much the reasons spelled out above. They also have deals with some airlines that there’s a special set of rooms reserved for flight crew in the event of delays, overnights, etc; I get the sense these are not especially nice rooms, but they give some flexibility since the hotel can tell the airline on a given night that flight crew should go to the hotel down the street (on her hotel’s dime of course) if they really need to fit extra conference attendees in.
