Troubleshooting Property Overbookings and Overlapping reservations in RMS.

Overview

This article provides guidance for troubleshooting common causes of property overbookings and overlapping reservations in RMS.

An overbooking occurs when the total number of active reservations exceeds the physical capacity of a category or property. An overlapping reservation occurs when the same area is allocated to more than one reservation for the same date range, or when a guest holds more than one reservation for the same or overlapping dates.

Overbooking Caused by an Accidentally Departed Reservation

The Availability Chart shows an area or category as available for dates when a guest should still be in-house.

A reservation that was expected to run through future dates has a status of Departed, even though the guest has not yet physically left the property.

See Reservation Departed in Error for further information.

Property Overbooked Despite Protection Settings

The Do Not Overbook Property option is enabled in Property Information, but the total number of reservations at the property still exceeds the physical capacity.

User security permission to override property overbooking

Users with the Security Profile permission Allow Property Overbooking When Property Level Overbook is Disabled are given the option to override the protection when the property reaches capacity.

If a user selects to proceed with a reservation when prompted, the overbooking will have been created by that user.

Troubleshooting

• Review Security Profiles that have the Allow Property Overbooking When Property Level Overbook is Disabled permission enabled.
• Remove the permission from any profiles where it is not required.
• Resolve the existing overbooking by relocating the affected reservation to another area or property.

Category is not set up as Book by Category

The Do Not Overbook Property setting and Category Overbooking features are only available when a category is set up as Book by Category.

If one or more categories are not using this setup, overbooking protection may not apply consistently across all categories.

Troubleshooting

In the side menu of RMS, go to Setup > Category/Area.

• Confirm the Book by Category option is enabled for all accommodation categories.
• Only categories with a Category Class of Accommodation are counted as inventory when determining property capacity.

Negative Availability on the Availability Chart

The Availability Chart displays a negative number in a category row, such as -1 or -2, indicating that more reservations exist in that category than there are physical areas.

A negative value on the Availability Chart is how RMS indicates that Category Overbooking is in use and the number of reservations in the category exceeds the physical area count. Each negative value represents one reservation made beyond the physical capacity of the category.

This may be intentional (as part of an overbooking strategy) or unintentional (caused by a misconfigured overbooking limit or accidental entry).

Troubleshooting:

• Review the Overbooking Limit setting. Confirm whether the limit was intentionally set or is higher than intended.
• If the overbooking was unintentional, reduce the overbooking limit to 0 to prevent further overbookings in that category.
• Review existing reservations in the overbooked category and arrange upgrades or relocations for any guests that cannot be accommodated in their booked category.
• If Do Not Overbook Property is enabled, the total across all categories should not exceed the property's physical capacity — verify this is still the case.

Online Channel Overbookings

Reservations received from an online channel (such as Booking.com, Expedia) have caused the property to exceed its physical capacity, even when Do Not Overbook Property is enabled.

When two or more online reservations are made simultaneously using shared availability - for example, when two guests book the last available room at the same moment - RMS may not be able to prevent both reservations from being confirmed. This is a limitation inherent to how shared availability works across online distribution channels and cannot be fully prevented by the Do Not Overbook Property setting alone.

Other channel-related causes include:

• Using Oversell Allotments in RMS together with a channel's own auto-replenishment feature, which may reopen inventory that is no longer available in RMS.
• Interconnecting room types not blocking associated areas correctly when a booking is received from an online channel.
• Inventory mapping errors between RMS and the channel manager causing incorrect availability to be published.

Troubleshooting:

• Identify the conflicting online reservations using the Booking Chart or Reservation Search.
• Contact the guest for the most recently received reservation and arrange an alternative property or compensation as appropriate.

• Review your channel management setup:

  1. Go to Setup > Channel Management and confirm that inventory mapping is correct for all room types.
  2. If using Oversell Allotments, check whether any channel auto-replenishment features are enabled that may be re-opening inventory. Disable auto-replenishment on the channel side where applicable.
  3. If Interconnecting Categories are involved, verify that sibling areas are being blocked correctly when a reservation is received online.

   

Error: "Property Has Reached Capacity"

When attempting to save a new reservation, RMS displays an error message stating that the property has reached capacity, and the reservation cannot be saved.

This error appears when the Do Not Overbook Property option is enabled and the total number of existing reservations at the property equals the total physical area count. RMS is preventing a new reservation from being created that would exceed the property's capacity.

Troubleshooting

Before attempting to override this restriction, review whether the capacity has genuinely been reached or whether it is the result of an error (such as an accidental departure or a misconfigured reservation).

• Check the Availability Chart and confirm how many areas are occupied on the affected date(s).
• Check for any reservations with an incorrect status - for example, a reservation showing as In House for a guest who has already physically departed. Correct the status if required.
• Check for any Maintenance or Out of Order reservations that may be occupying areas unnecessarily. 
• If the property has genuinely reached capacity and the new reservation must be accepted, a user with the Security Profile permission Allow Property Overbooking When Property Level Overbook is Disabled can proceed past the warning.
  This should only be done intentionally and with a clear plan to accommodate the extra guest.