Group bookings should always have a separate policy and be treated in a completely different way every time. Sure, a 20-room request for a 30-room hotel may sound appealing but whether this will be a plus or minus for your income depends on many things. First of all, the demand on these certain dates should tell us if we really should want the group or not. The duration of the requested booking and whether it would “block” the reservations flow before and after the dates are important things to take under consideration when deciding to give an offer or reject a group request.
Furthermore, a professional reservations team needs to know how prepared the cleaning staff is to treat arrivals and departures of a large group, as it would be quite a challenge compared to regular housekeeping days. One must never bargain the hotel’s service level for more profit, as this will only result in bad guest experiences and problems that will hurt the hotel’s reputation. On the other hand, many group bookings may bring overall profit to a hotel with more departments such as restaurants, bars, spas etc, since group guests may be better spenders than regular guests – mostly depending on the guests’ visit purpose.
