You can book more than a departure has left: seats, a package's units, a limited add-on's stock, or, with Resources on, the van, boat or room the trip needs. Samba warns you first and lets you decide. Travelers booking online can never go past what is available.
Where you can overbook
From | What happens |
The booking wizard | The Participants step warns you, and the warning is repeated on the Payment step, above Create. The departure list includes full dates. |
Edit booking | The editor warns you before you click Apply. |
Change departure | The dialog warns you before you move the booking. |
Each warning names what you are going past, for example "Only 1 seat left on this departure — booking 3 will overbook it.", "Private room has 0 left on this departure, and this booking needs 1. Saving will overbook it." or "The Minibus is already taken at this time. Booking anyway will put it over capacity." You can go ahead or change the booking.
Add-on rules still apply: an add-on limited to certain packages, or not offered on fixed departures, still can't be added.
What you see afterwards
The departure page keeps the real count on its Fill chip, in red, with Overbooked by N. The departure shows as Sold out to travelers.
In the departure's Inventory section, an overbooked package's Left column reads Overbooked by N, and an overbooked add-on's Stock left goes below zero. Travelers see that package or add-on as sold out until enough frees up.
A departure booked past its resources shows Over capacity in its Resources section and a red flag on the departures list and calendar, and the booking's History records "Booked over resource capacity". See How resources limit what a departure sells.
Canceling a confirmed booking gives back exactly the seats, units and stock it took, and its share of any resource used per participant. A resource used for the whole departure is only released once the departure has no bookings or seat holds left. Raising the departure's capacity reopens a date whose seats are full. Raising a package's units or an add-on's stock in its Inventory section makes that package or add-on available again, but adds no seats.
Example. A departure has a capacity of 8 and 7 confirmed seats. You book a family of 3 from the wizard. The warning reads "Only 1 seat left on this departure — booking 3 will overbook it." You click Create. The departure shows 10 / 8 and Overbooked by 2, and the date is sold out online.
When Samba refuses to save
If availability changed between the moment the page loaded and your save — a traveler took the last seat meanwhile — and no warning was shown, the save is refused: "Availability changed since this page loaded, and saving would now overbook. Review the warnings, then save again to overbook on purpose." The new warnings appear. Save again to go ahead.
A booking that is already over a limit can still be edited without a warning, as long as the edit does not add people or add-ons.
Does a booking paid by link later overbook too?
Does a booking paid by link later overbook too?
Yes. A booking you create with Collect payment with Samba is confirmed when the customer pays, even if the departure has filled up since. The warnings you saw in the wizard are the only check.
Can a traveler overbook?
Can a traveler overbook?
No. Checkout, booking requests and GetYourGuide stop at the last seat, unit, item in stock or resource.