Help me understand Princess inventory!

[A.Emgee]

I have been watching the December 28, 2014 sailing of the Pacific Princess for quite some months.

 

Initially there were many cabins available, and then as it got closer to final payment the limited number of inside and oceanview cabins categories became sold out. As Pacific Princess has the majority of its staterooms as balcony cabins, those and mini-suites were still available.

 

On final payment date, many new cabins were released in every category as people who reserved did not make payment and cancelled. Over the next few days, the limited insides and oceanviews disappeared, leaving balcony and mini-suite cabins. Using that German website that "scans the seas" I counted 30+ specific balcony cabins available last Wednesday, and in fact I had one on hold through Friday.

 

So on Thursday evening there were 30+ cabins available (that's about 10% of the ship). On Friday morning, the ship showed as sold out on Princess.com. This includes the cabin I had on hold until the end of Thursday. Now every category is waitlist only.

 

So what happened to all that inventory that had been sitting unmoved for several weeks? Did it really get sold off suddenly literally overnight? Or does the inventory get sold to a consolidator? Anyone care to educate me?

[Pythian]

You know, this is an excellent post. It is a mystery that has some reasonable answers, but, without the facts, it might be just one of those deep secret processes.

 

As for the change in open cabins pre to post 75 day sailing, some are often held by re-sellers and then released right before full payment, and some are pulled in by groups once the “pre” sale ends. Others become “open” or taken due to Princess upgrades (free or reduced price).

 

Just my hunch on how or why. Bottom line? Princess does not want to sail with a single cabin open, so they work really hard to move people up to higher level cabins (if they can) and/or place open cabins on the block for last minute purchase – as do some larger groups and TA’s.

 

I pick the cabin I want, early if possible – and feel good about having it without an ‘upgrade’. But, I’m always open to an upgrade to leave my “nice’ cabin for a discounter!

Edited November 14, 2014 by Pythian
spelling - duh!

[geoherb]

Another possibility is that Princess finally made cabin assignments to people with guarantees--or at least had a majority of them sold. The cabins looked as if they were available--and they were since they had not been assigned. But once Princess reached a certain threshold of sales, it knew that they did not want anyone to choose one of those cabins and removed them from the available inventory. They may or may not have assigned them yet.

[Loonbeam]

This is all handled by the mystery that is yield management software. This is very complex and expensive software that solely exists to maximize the value of every room. As part of that, rooms are constantly shuffled, repriced, moved to different sales channels and sometime even removed from sale until later based on predicted demand curves.

 

The formulae behind these systems and the factors that they use are closely guarded secrets. Anyone who says they know how things are determined is either fibbing or facing a very large NDA violation suit.

 

Just understand that any room/class/category can change at any time.

[A.Emgee]

Princess does not want to sail with a single cabin open, so they work really hard to move people up to higher level cabins (if they can) and/or place open cabins on the block for last minute purchase – as do some larger groups and TA’s.

This is what I thought too as I have seen it happen on other less full sailings. However, if people in insides and oceanviews got upgraded to higher level cabins, then those insides and oceanviews should have been vacated and available for general sale, which in fact has not happened.

 

Another possibility is that Princess finally made cabin assignments to people with guarantees--or at least had a majority of them sold. The cabins looked as if they were available--and they were since they had not been assigned. But once Princess reached a certain threshold of sales, it knew that they did not want anyone to choose one of those cabins and removed them from the available inventory. They may or may not have assigned them yet.

An interesting possibility, but that would mean that the ship was already full despite showing available cabins, therefore meaning that Princess was running the risk of overselling the available inventory?

Edited November 14, 2014 by A.Emgee

[Loonbeam]

This happens, if the YMS guesses wrong, which is what results in move-over offers.

 

Another option is putting blocks of cabins out for sale to consolidators, which will show them as sold on the Princess site even though they are not technically assigned to anyone yet.

 

 

An interesting possibility, but that would mean that the ship was already full despite showing available cabins, therefore meaning that Princess was running the risk of overselling the available inventory?

[A.Emgee]

Another option is putting blocks of cabins out for sale to consolidators, which will show them as sold on the Princess site even though they are not technically assigned to anyone yet.

How does one find these cabins then?

[Loonbeam]

You buy from those consolidators and agencies (often advertised as some variation of 'Last Minute...'

 

It's the same concept as Priceline started out, etc.

 

How does one find these cabins then?

[MSH from Norway]

Using that German website that "scans the seas" I counted 30+ specific balcony cabins available last Wednesday, and in fact I had one on hold through Friday.

Anyone care to educate me?

 

.....did you use the good old kreuzfahrtbe.......?

 

They show ONLY free cabins for germany and middle europe.

 

I booked in october a cabin on CP from the norwegian Princess-site and there were no OW-cabins left.

 

Here on CC there were a thread about americans that Princess were giving this OW-cabins as free upgrades to.

 

Even if Princess say no;

The same cabins is not always free for booking at princess.uk, princess.germany, princess.au or princess.no at the same time.

Edited November 14, 2014 by MSH from Norway

[jak378]

If anyone can figure out the arcane system that they use for yield management, maybe you could then take a shot at figuring out the airline system.

[Loonbeam]

Oh there are people who know it. They just are not and will never be on here.

 

If anyone can figure out the arcane system that they use for yield management, maybe you could then take a shot at figuring out the airline system.

[lake5298]

Whilst my business is land based, we may have some allocation process similarities.

 

Where we take a booking for a specific accommodation unit, it is removed from the available choices.

 

However, if we have 100 available units, and 90 bookings for non-specified accommodation, we will continue to show all 100 available - as some customers still like to choose (and pay extra for the privilege) either because the specific accommodation is to their liking - or they have stayed in the same unit previously.

 

Once the number of available units drops to match the number of non-specific bookings, availability drops to zero.

 

If this does not occur by 5 days before the holiday start date (when we allocate accommodation) the available units will drop to those that are not allocated.

 

Hope this helps…..

Edited November 14, 2014 by lake5298

[joybook]

Yes, I agree that this post brings about some very frustrating situations. I received in the mail from Princess, information hot off the press, regarding the 2016 (yes 2016) Circle Pacific cruise of 75 nights. As this was a roundtrip from Sydney it interested me greatly so I got onto the Princess site straightaway that same day only to find that all inside cabins were already SOLD OUT. I really don't believe that. An added frustration is that for a round trip like this you really don't need a travel agent and you should be able to book through Princess which I have done in the past.

[RickEk]

Yes, I agree that this post brings about some very frustrating situations. I received in the mail from Princess, information hot off the press, regarding the 2016 (yes 2016) Circle Pacific cruise of 75 nights. As this was a roundtrip from Sydney it interested me greatly so I got onto the Princess site straightaway that same day only to find that all inside cabins were already SOLD OUT. I really don't believe that. An added frustration is that for a round trip like this you really don't need a travel agent and you should be able to book through Princess which I have done in the past.

 

The problem with that sailing is that it is being sold as many different sailings and cabins are allocated to each. I would certainly consider waitlisting since you know many people will cancel at final payment...

[Loonbeam]

Also, agencies may have jumped in a put holds for their clients, which will shake out over time..

 

Yes, I agree that this post brings about some very frustrating situations. I received in the mail from Princess, information hot off the press, regarding the 2016 (yes 2016) Circle Pacific cruise of 75 nights. As this was a roundtrip from Sydney it interested me greatly so I got onto the Princess site straightaway that same day only to find that all inside cabins were already SOLD OUT. I really don't believe that. An added frustration is that for a round trip like this you really don't need a travel agent and you should be able to book through Princess which I have done in the past.