Guaranteed Room Bookings

[Trevor Fountain]

Just wondering why these even exist. I mean for what reason does any cruise line feel the need to offer Guaranteed status instead of just allocating at the time of booking.

[Lookingforfacts]

Overbooking is one reason. Allows holding connecting cabins, cabins that can sleep more then 3 and even HA cabins until later in the booking cycle. Customer may get a lower fare and possibly of an upgrade. Not every customer obsesses over cabin location.

[Keith1010]

Overbooking is definitely one reason as mentioned. Sometimes if it is a long cruise and has some mini voyages that is done as well.

 

For me I want to know the room we are in so we don't go with a Guarantee.

 

Keith

[paul929207]

It helps the cruise lines maximize their revenues.

[navybankerteacher]

A lot of passengers do not particularly care about location, but are enticed by the chance (however slim) that they might get a higher category than the one they are paying for.

 

It also helps the cruise line maximize revenue by keeping as many specific cabins available for passengers which might want them.

[AdGuyMG]

There are a few reasons but here are 2 that come to mind.

 

REVENUE ENHANCEMENT

With a flexible pool of passengers booked at Guarantee Rates the cruise lines have an easier and clearer path to pricing and offering upsells and paid upgrades to people who are in chosen and assigned cabins. Once the upsells those are done, the people in the Guarantee Pool can then be put anywhere and used to fill in as needed.

 

PRICE PROTECTION

It allows cruise lines to offer lower pricing for undersold Meta Categories ( Interior/OV/ Balcony/ Suite) at an attractive price and makes it impossible for someone in an already assigned cabin to price match.

 

For example, say that at the time you booked, you took advantage of a promotion for "Free Gratuities and $100 OnBoard Credit" for booking a balcony cabin. You then go ahead and book a specific assigned balcony cabin (Room 9520) on a specific deck (Deck 9 Midship) in a specific category (BA) because that's where you want to be. And you paid $999 per person.

 

The cruise line may see an abundance of unsold balconies in a variety of different categories (BA,BB,BC,BD,BE etc) and in an effort to fill them will offer a "Balcony Guarantee" rate (BX) at $799 per person.

 

Should you want Price Protection to price match to the $799 Guarantee rate and called the cruise line for an adjustment to your $999 per person price to the $799 Guarantee, you will most like be told by the agent:

"If you care to do that, you will give up your current BA Deck 9 midship cabin and be assigned a new cabin that can be anywhere on the ship, you will lose the Free Prepaid Gratuity offer and you will lose your $100 OBC offered during the Super Duper Sale. Would you like for me to go ahead and make that change, sir?"

 

Your answer would be ??

[sanger727]

Agreeing that overbooking is a big part of it. Plus it allows them to fill rooms that might otherwise go unselected due to poor locations. And it gives them a buffer to fill higher level rooms that go unsold.

 

My understanding is algorithms are used to determine pricing as rooms sell. They also know that on average a certain percentage of bookings will cancel prior to sailing but they have no way of knowing what room levels those will be at. So the algorthims use guarantees to create a buffer to make sure every room sails full.

 

Then if they get to a few weeks before sailing and a few high level suits are still open, they will try and get someone in a low level suite or balcony to pay extra to upgrade to the higher suite. Then they may try to get someone in an oceanview to upgrade to that balcony that upspld to the suite. And on and on. So the guarantee bookings are used as last minute fill ins to fill whichever rooms that can't otherwise fill since they agreed to take any room.

 

 

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[biker@sea]

Just wondering why these even exist. I mean for what reason does any cruise line feel the need to offer Guaranteed status instead of just allocating at the time of booking.

 

Hurricane's are a great for last minute deal's.

 

We have bought 3 cruise's into storm's as other's cancel.:evilsmile: