overbook

[oh-ver-book]

verb (used with object)

1. to accept reservations for in excess of the number that can be accommodated.

   The airline routinely overbooks its flights so as to fill its planes even if there are last-minute cancellations.

verb (used without object)

1. to accept reservations in excess of the number that can be accommodated.

   If the hotel has overbooked, some of the conventioners won't have a place to stay.

overbook

/ ˈəʊvəˌbuːk /

verb

1. (tr) to make more reservations than there are places, tickets, hotel rooms, etc, available

Word History and Origins

Origin of overbook¹

1900–05; over- + book (v.)

Example Sentences

To tackle this problem, Delta has said it now plans to overbook flights even more.

Read more on Reuters

“We could have sold more tickets, but people were slow to come back to events. People are also purchasing their tickets closer to the event to see how they feel and are trying not to overbook.”

Read more on New York Times

Indiana Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said last week that the wait for an appointment could be extended from three weeks to six weeks or more to ensure the system does not overbook.

Read more on Seattle Times

“When passengers had to pay change fees and rebooking fees, the airlines were somewhat reluctant to overbook because most passengers would show up for their flight,” she said.

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“You can’t just fill up every room. You don’t want to overbook; you want to parallel schedules of cleaning and bringing people in. If we don’t have a clean and safe environment and if we don’t follow many guidelines we would put everyone at risk.”

Read more on New York Times