Skip to content
English
Contact us
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

How to Avoid Overbooking: What You Can Do

Based on three years of data analysed in Q1 2026, about 14% of overbookings are linked to user actions. In this article, we’ll highlight the most common situations and provide clear steps to prevent overbooking.

🙋🏻 Guest modification request accepted from Booking.com without availability

Guests can request date changes via Booking.com, which appear in your Extranet inbox. Approving these requests can override your SabeeApp availability.

Booking.com gives a warning if the requested dates have insufficient availability, giving you two options:

✅ Decline the date change request – keeps your inventory accurate.

❌ Accept the request – forces availability, which may cause overbooking.

💡 Actionable advice

  • Always check SabeeApp availability first before approving any date change.
  • Decline requests if the requested dates are fully booked.
  • If you must accept a request despite 0 availability, immediately upgrade the guest to an available room in your SabeeApp account to prevent other channels from overbooking.

🗺️ Common mapping mistakes

Channel connections can be managed in two ways:

  1. Self-mapping channels – Booking.com, Airbnb, and VRBO can be connected by users via SabeeApp.

🔗 Need step-by-step instructions for connecting Booking.com, Airbnb, or VRBO?

Check our Connection guides for detailed setup instructions and common pitfalls: Booking.com, Airbnb and VRBO.

  1. Account Manager-handled channels – For other OTAs, fill in the connection table in the Distribution/ Channel manager/ Inactive channels with the information found in the OTA’s admin page. The connection itself is then performed by the SabeeApp Account Manager.

Mapping errors are a frequent cause of overbooking. Follow these steps to avoid them:

➡️ Room type connection mismatch

Action: Always map the SabeeApp room type to the exact corresponding OTA room type.

  • Double-check after setup.
  • Incorrect mapping = mismatched availability = potential overbooking.

➡️ New room type connection

Action:

After adding a new room type on your OTA admin page, please make sure to

  • Self-mapping channels: Connect the new room type in SabeeApp immediately.
  • Other channels: Notify your Account Manager to update the mapping.

➡️ Room type configuration changes

Action:

Should there be change within the room type configuration in your SabeeApp account, or any of your connected channels (for example, changing the max occupancy of the room type), make sure to

  • Update SabeeApp mapping for any configuration changes in self-mapped channels.
  • Always notify your SabeeApp Account Manager to perform the necessary mapping modifications, in case of any other non self mapping channel

➡️ OTA login information change

Action:

Some channels - for example Jet2Holiday, TravelRepublic, TatilSepeti or Mr. and Mrs. Smith - it is required to fill in your OTA extranet login ( Username + Password) information in the SabeeApp connection table. Should this information change, please

  1. Update the credentials immediately in SabeeApp (Distribution → Channel Manager → Active Channels).
  2. Notify your Account Manager.

Failing to update credentials in the SabeeApp connection table, the connection will be interrupted, thus channel manager updates will not be sent and reservation from the affected channels will not arrive to your SabeeApp account.

🖐🏻 Manual availability intervention in OTA extranet

Some OTAs allow manual changes despite an active channel manager. Manually increasing availability in the OTA can overwrite SabeeApp availability and cause overbookings.

Action:

  • Do not manually increase availability in the OTA extranet unless absolutely necessary.

✅ Summary – key steps to prevent overbooking

  1. Check availability in SabeeApp before approving guest modifications.
  2. Map rooms accurately in all channels, and keep mappings updated.
  3. Update credentials for OTAs when they change.
  4. Avoid manual availability overrides in OTA extranets.
  5. Notify Account Managers for any changes in channels they handle.

Following these steps consistently will reduce user-action-related overbookings, keeping your inventory accurate across all channels.