Booking At The Last Minute: Why Is It A Bad Idea?

Booking at the last minute when it comes to your team’s accommodation is something we’re all guilty of. Here’s why it’s a bad idea:

What Counts As Booking At The Last Minute

Many of our clients leave their accommodation until the last minute. This is often because they don’t yet know what dates they’ll need the accommodation for, or how many people. Last minute in this case is often the same day as the booking is for and sometimes as late as after midnight.

Why It's A Bad Idea

To begin with, the biggest reason this can go wrong is that many hotels stop taking reservations for that evening after midnight. Sometimes this is an official cut-off time and other times it’s because they stop taking bookings on the phone and their online booking has already moved on to the next day.

Another problem is availability and prices. At that time we are looking through the few hotels still available and just hoping something will be in budget and fit your requirements. This late we often have to ask clients if they will accept something over budget in order to meet their requirements. If they’d put their booking request in even a few days earlier, the choice would have been much better.

How You Can Fix It

If you are late to put in your booking request because you aren’t sure of the dates, you can always request a flexible/refundable booking. They cost a little more but it is usually still less than the price at the last minute. If you aren’t sure about how many people, you can have us book the rooms you are sure about and sort out the rest later!

If your team is responsible for putting in their own booking requests, and are often ‘lastminute.com’, then it might be an idea to set up an automatic email to remind them or implement a deadline of sorts. It might be worth pointing out to them exactly how much money they lose by booking on the day.

When To Put In Your Booking Request

As soon as you know where, have a good idea of the dates (even if it’s not perfect), know if you need parking, etc., and an approximation of how many people. So long as you book on flexible/refundable rates, we can edit your booking later on. If you aren’t yet a Rapid client, you can get started by booking an online appointment.