Amenitiz keeps your availability in sync across your booking engine and every connected channel, but a booking can still arrive for a room that was already full. When that happens, the booking shows an overbooking banner in its details and appears as Overbooked on your calendar.
This article explains why it happens, how to find the cause, and what to send us if you can't.
Why it happens
A channel confirmed the booking before your availability reached it. Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb and other channels confirm a booking on their side first, then send it to Amenitiz. There is always a short delay between a room filling up in Amenitiz and the channel showing it as full. If a guest books in that gap, the booking still arrives, and Amenitiz cannot refuse it.
A calendar is connected by iCal. iCal is not instant: Amenitiz imports blocked dates from an iCal link about once an hour, and the other platform reads yours on its own schedule. A booking made on one side during that time is not yet visible on the other.
The overbooking safeguard is turned off. By default, Amenitiz never offers more rooms than you have free. If that safeguard has been switched off, your availability can be set higher than your real capacity, and every channel can sell it.
The booking was created manually. You or your team can create a booking manually on dates that are full. Amenitiz shows an overbooking warning first, and the booking is created once it is confirmed. Manual bookings also don't apply restrictions such as Min stay, Close arrival or Close room; those only limit what guests can book online.
A room and a cottage share space but are not linked. If a cottage is made up of rooms you also sell separately, each of those rooms must be linked to the cottage. Without the link, booking the cottage does not block the rooms, and the other way round.
Step by step
Open the booking and go to the
Summarytab.Note the
Sourceand when the booking was made.Find the other booking on the same room and dates in your
Calendar, and note its source and booking time too.Follow the section below that matches the source of the newer booking.
If the booking came from a channel
Compare the two booking times. If they are minutes apart, the channel most likely confirmed the booking before your updated availability reached it.
If the channel is connected by iCal, a gap of up to a few hours is expected.
If the bookings are hours apart on a channel connected through the
Channel Manager, check inRoom & Rate Mappingthat the channel's room is linked to the right Amenitiz room.
If the booking came from your website
Go to
Booking engine→Settingsand open theOptionstab.In the Danger zone section, check that Limit the number of possible bookings to the number of rooms in the category is set to Yes. To change it, see How to allow overbooking on your calendar.
If the room is part of a cottage, go to
Accommodation, open the room and check that Link to a cottage points to the right cottage.
If the booking was created manually
Someone on your team confirmed the overbooking warning when creating it. No setting needs to change. Move one of the bookings to a free room in your calendar, or contact the guest to agree on new dates.
FAQs
Can Amenitiz refuse a booking from a channel when the room is full?
Can Amenitiz refuse a booking from a channel when the room is full?
No. The channel has already confirmed the booking to the guest before sending it, so Amenitiz records it and flags it as an overbooking. You then decide how to rehouse the guest.
Will I be notified about an overbooking?
Will I be notified about an overbooking?
There is no email. The booking shows an overbooking banner when you open it, and it appears as Overbooked on your calendar.
I can't find the cause. What should I send support?
I can't find the cause. What should I send support?
Contact us with these details for both bookings: the booking ID, when it was made (date and time), the check-in and check-out dates, the source, and the room. If either booking came from a channel, add a screenshot of it from the channel's extranet so we can compare what the channel sent with what Amenitiz received.