Nearly full, do guest need to change room?

Don’t you love it when you have problems because your hostel is too full? :) Actually, you probably don’t if you don’t own the hostel. :(

If there is no way to arrange the bookings so that no one has to move, then the best solution is to find the way which requires the least number of moves for the least number of guests.

This is a really unpleasant thing for a guest to find out when they arrive. To reduce the headaches this situation can cause it’s really helpful to contact the guest before they get to the hostel to let them know in advance that they will need to change rooms during their stay. If they walk in the door already expecting to move, then in theory your job becomes that much easier. Of course this might also result in a cancellation. In that case you just hope that you can resell the beds and that the new reservations will fit more easily into your open spots.

Another option is to upgrade someone to a different room category before they arrive so that no one has to move. If you’re almost full, then this option would cost you the difference between the room categories for each night since you can no longer sell that bed at the higher price. Because of this, it’s beneficial to move a person with a short stay to unblock the longer reservation.

If none of those options work, then hopefully you have a good connection with at least one person in that full room category. If someone has to move, then appealing to a friend to do you a favor might help things go more smoothly.

Offering them a free drink or some other token might also help to smooth over the inconvenience of moving a guest in the middle of their stay.