Overbooking  is the Process of selling more seats than are available on an aircraft in order to compensate for No-Show passengers.

Other definition:
Overbooking is a situation in which more room reservations have been accepted by a hotel than the property is able to accommodate. Hotels use historic no-show information to determine what percentage they can over-commit rooms. This practice is intended to enable 100\% occupancy for the hotel.

Hotels that use overbooking as a policy are increasingly being targeted by tour operators and wholesalers in an attempt to better control and minimise the serious adverse marketing effects which overbooking has for all stakeholders.
Other definition:
Overbooking is the practice of selling more airline seats than are available on a specific flight, to make up for no-shows. Usually backfires on the carrier and at times can create much consumer ill-will. Requires passengers to be " bumped " - not always voluntarily. To some extent, happens in the hotel industry as well

Overbooking
Practice of confirming more seats or rooms than are available, in order to protect against no-shows.
Other definition:
Overbooking is the practice by the airlines and hotels of confirming more seats on an aircraft or rooms in a hotel that are actually available. Overbooking is designed to protect the airlines and hotels from no-shows.

Other definition:
Overbooking is the practice common in the airline industry where more seats are sold on a flight than are available. Usually done to account for estimated cancellations. Passengers that want to voluntarily postpone their flight are offered vouchers for future flights.

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