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Making Extra Availability by Moving Women to Female Dorm

Front Desk Operations

Josh started this discussion 14 years 4 months ago

This is a fairly common thing that happens in high season:

There is one female dorm left in the hostel.
A male guest shows up as a walk-in.
Hostel tells walk-in that the hostel is full.

An easy work-around is to find a booking for a female guest in a co-ed dorm and move the booking into the empty female bed. That frees up a spot in a co-ed dorm for the walk-in guest.

I've seen hostel front desks say, "sorry, we only have one female dorm available."

Knowing that the bed will fill up either way, the hostel could just tell the guest there is no availability, but there's also a chance to make a very happy guest who might otherwise not know where else to go... :)

The only possible drawbacks:

There is a chance that the female guest wants a co-ed dorm.
There is a chance that the guest is male, but has a name that sounds female in your language. E.g., "Aki" is commonly a Japanese girl, but can also be a guy.
There is a chance the name has a typo in it. E.g., the guy said "Paule: P-A-U-L-E" on the phone and the front desk typed "Paula" into the booking.
There is a chance that the female is traveling with friends and moving the booking will split her group... which is a good reason to always mark people who book together as a group so they don't accidentally get split.
You prefer not to book the last bed(s) to accommodate extensions or emergencies.

I would typically do it. Is there anyone who thinks it isn't a good idea? Any other tips for rearranging guests in high season?

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uktrail

14 years

If the hostel has chosen to make a given room female-only, they are stuck with it. If the female dorm currently has no bookings, just call it a mixed dorm for that night.

YHA hostels have traditionally been very strictly male/female separate, and they would have a notice on the door during closed hours: Beds available tonight for females. I thought the main reason why independent hostels had mixed dorms was so they could fill any beds without having to face the problem described above.

I have heard of cases on aircraft where someone is invited to move to a different seat eg "so that this person can sit with her friend" or "because this person needs to get out quickly". I would be very uncomfortable if I was asked this, because if I stay put, I will feel I am being selfish, but on the other hand I will have paid a lot for the flight and a good view out the window is very important to me, and I will have taken pains to choose as good a seat as possible.

So DONT move someone to another dorm, unless: a) That person has not yet arrived, AND b) You are 100% certain that they did not ask specifically for the room they are in, such as being with their friend.

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Josh Hostels

14 years

I meant moving bookings that haven't arrived yet, not inhouse guests. I wouldn't move inhouse guests...

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Plakian

14 years

You say that this is "fairy common". However, to me, it just a sign of bad management if what you say is true.

I operate 1 female dorm, 1 male dorm and 4 mixed dorms. However, on the booking engines I only show availability for the mixed dorms. In this way I have maximum flexibility.

In general single females and single males are put in single sex dorms. Many times I am thanked by single females who where expecting guys in the room when they booked.

The only problem that I occasionally face is when we get over say 65% guys and it could be that 3 rooms are all male and then I have to carefully try to return two of them to mixed.

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Josh Hostels

14 years

The only problem that I occasionally face is when we get over say 65% guys and it could be that 3 rooms are all male and then I have to carefully try to return two of them to mixed.

That reminds me of another topic I wanted to start a thread about :)
http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forums/do-you-encourage-hostel-front-desk-play-matchmaker.html

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KrazyBackoffice...

14 years

I often practice this. Usually an email follows to the customer. With 113 rooms and 550+ beds I sometimes get in such situations where it is logical to do so. In our case though what I usually practice is an upgrade of more bedded female dorm to less bedded female one. Let's say there is a lady that booked 8 bedded female and she is the only one that stays in the room while for the very same dates I have one bed left in 4 bedded female. I will put her there without a second thought. As a matter of fact this is more convenient management wise to do so: the cleared room will be either empty or used for groups or other guests; cleaners will not be bothered for one bed in 8 bedded dorm; lady is upgraded FOC and stays with other girls in the room.

There are some cases though where I move ladies from mixed dorm to female in order to make up some space. This does happen in big hostels as well. But very rarely though.

IMHO there is nothing wrong with it as long as you:
1) Have no other choice
2) If possible upgrade the customer to less bedded dorm
3) Do it FOC
4) Let the customer know

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gordo

14 years

I definitely shift reservations around like that - the biggest problem I find is that when people book online it often doesnt include the gender of the guests. So yes, I may have a booking for Paula Sonso but if its for 3 people, I've no idea if all three pax are female or if its mixed. So single reservations get moved around - and upgraded - all the time; be it to fill rooms, free up mixed beds or whatever. Often I'll upgrade people just to fill a room and avoid having just 1 person in an 8 bed dorm (for example). make a bit of a song and dance about the fact theyre getting a free upgrade and people are usually really happy.

On a related note; I have encountered a few bookings in my time that were made for female only dorms by guys when there was no other availability. Furious. Generally if i see people have done that and i think its deliberate (you can usually tell pretty quickly as soon as you say 'hmm, sorry barry but it looks like you've booked a female only dorm') then theyre out the door. Sorry mate, no refunds, no nothing. Cheeky farkers...

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Bocciardi

14 years

Yes, here at ARH I've done this several times on the beggining of the summer season...

Than I start seeing that having a female dorm during high season isn't good, because I'll loose some money with this. It happened one night that I was full house and just have 4beds at a female dorm. Everyone was checked in already and 4 guys walk-in... I just told them that it was impossible to do it...

During low season is ok, because it is a chance to do some extra money as we have plenty of beds to occupy...

it also happens to move inhouse guests, we have a family walking in and one person only in a 6 mixed dorm. We ask the girl if she could move to a 8 mixed dorm and she even thank us because she would like to spent the night with someone more in the room, not just alone in a big dorm... ;-) Mission accomplished...

In september I'll open my female dorm again...

cheers

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Fabster67

14 years

Is possible to change the dorms configuration at booking online websites?

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flaviopezzini

14 years

I honestly cannot believe we still have female-only dorms. It just makes nonsense at all. It's like women never ever leaving their houses because there might be a rapist on the streets :D

When I open my small hostel, it will certainly only have mixed dorm rooms.

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soi1david

14 years

@flaviopezzini

You are making a mistake and it will cost you guest. Many women prefer a woman only dorm for female reasons, as a male you are not understanding. for example., Some want to undress/dress in the room and not in the presence of men whereas they don't mind as much with other females.
Also Some nationalities (i.e.Japanese females) rarely book a mixed dorm.

@Fabster67 Yes details should be listed on the site you are using. Or ask your hostelbuddy for details.

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