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View Full Version : When do the DLR hotels release previously booked rooms?



jrsharp21
09-23-2005, 01:10 PM
When do the DLR Hotels usually release rooms that were previously booked? I am hoping to maybe catch a low room rate on Expedia for the three days we are going in October.

3894
09-24-2005, 09:39 AM
This is the $100,000 question. Does anyone have a clue or maybe some experience?

potzbie
09-24-2005, 09:57 AM
I am no expert in hotel management.

But if a phone call comes in, or e-mail comes in, or a fax comes in, at the hour of, say, 8:01 a.m., then, at my computer terminal, if I were to work for the hotel, at 8:02 a.m., when I click the button that says "cancel reservation," the room is then freed up for anyone with access to the hotel reservation system to re-book.
(As a simultaneous email or letter is generated, automatically, by the computer's "cancellation" script, as triggered by clicking the appropriate button, to be sent out to the guest, with a confirmation number.)

I cannot speak for Disney.
I cannot speak for Expedia.

I don't know whether Expedia or Travelocity or Priceline or the Auto Club, etc., update their records daily, hourly, in five-minute intervals, or whether they have direct and instant access to the computer reservation system.

You might be better off phoning Expedia and asking directly, "When a Disney guest cancels a room, how fast does Expedia pick up on that cancellation for me to grab that room?"

Their answer might not match Travelocity's answer, which might not match AAA's answer, which not match Priceline's answer, .... (etc.).

EXAMPLE:
One travel agency buys in blocks.
So, for this agency, there is no relationship between a given guest's cancellation and the inventory of rooms available, since the guest's room is never a part of the inventory as blocked out by the travel agency's pre-established block of rooms.
Thus, the cancellation is never "seen," as it neither adds nor subtracts from the master roster of lodging for this travel agency.

That is a VERY generic answer.
I have no idea what each company does in real life, nor the private arrangements in reserving blocks of rooms, at fixed rates, for fixed periods.

celinas mommy
09-24-2005, 11:57 AM
It really all depends on the the "style of mangement" that the property has. I work for a Hotel in management.

We can tell by booking patterns, previous year occupancy's when we may or may not be busy. If we think we are going to be busy we sell into what we call the minus (basically over sell the hotel) this way once the cancellations start coming in we will not have to re-sell those rooms again they have already been accounted for. Example : the hotel has 500 rooms we sell to a minus 15 so we have actually sold 515 rooms just waiting for the 15 rooms to cancel.

I know that Expedia, Travelworm, Hotels.com all get a "block" of rooms that are available for them to sell.

I hope that makes since....

wwithers
09-24-2005, 08:44 PM
You also have to take into consideration convention and special event room "blocks" These will give people in the group a certain amount of time to make a reservation. When the rooms that are not eventually reserved are released is based on what is negotiated with the hotel.

I don't know if that helped or not; but I used to work in the sales/catering department of a Hyatt and that's how it worked there.