The most common questions about ALLOCABO

Our FAQs

Find out everything you need to know about ALLOCABO before getting started. Read our frequently asked questions & answers to find out how we can help you find the best hotel for your meeting or event. If you’ve still got a question, feel free to contact us here.

ALLOCABO Hotel Search

• What criteria are taken into consideration when I search for a hotel for my meeting or event?
  Our easy to use intuitive platform considers the following criteria when you’re searching for the ideal hotel for your event: your preferred city (destination), the number of delegates and the star rating of the hotel.
• What should I do if my search comes up with no hotels?

  Sometimes it can happen that a search for a hotel can result in no hotels being shown and there are a couple of reasons why this could happen, such as:

  • there are no hotels available anymore which can provide you with the relevant meeting rooms (sizes) to hold your number of attendees
  • there are no hotels available with the required number of guest rooms you inquired
  • there are no hotels available (or available anymore) in the relevant star rating in your desired meeting destination
  • you’ve chosen a small(er) city where we unfortunately don’t offer any hotels for your meetings or events

  Should this happen to you, we recommend that you amend your search criteria by i.e. selecting more or different star ratings or search for a different meeting destination / city to widen the search.

  If you’re looking for hotels with a larger guest room capacity of i.e. 200 - 400, it might be helpful to split the total number of guest rooms needed over two or more hotels. This way, you can make sure that your desired hotels are able to send you a proposal for your event with the relevant meeting rooms even though your guests may have to sleep in separate hotels.

• Where on the ALLOCABO site can I find further information about each hotel?
  You can access more hotel information by clicking on the ‘details’ button next to each hotel (once you’ve gotten a selection of hotels displayed). There you’ll be able to to see a dedicated page with more information about each hotel including a location map, an image gallery and detailed information about the available meeting and conference rooms and their sizes/ capacity and available guest rooms.

ALLOCABO Hotel Selection

• Can I select multiple hotels from different cities (such as Berlin, Amsterdam & Barcelona) for one inquiry?
  If you don’t know yet whether you would like to host your next meeting or event in Amsterdam, London or Dubai, that’s not a problem.With ALLOCABO you have the chance to select up to 10 hotels (no matter where they are) to add them to your inquiry. But please note that the conditions of your event or meeting have to remain the same (this means you’ll inquiry for the same day / same # of attendees, same number of guest rooms)
• Why should I select as many hotels as I can for my inquiry?
  In order for you to maximise your chance to find the best hotel for your meeting or event we recommend that you select as many hotels as possible, preferably even 10. If your event i.e. takes place at the same time as a large trade show or other event in your prefered city, you’ll have a higher chance to find a suitable hotel that still has availability. It prevents you from having to send several inquiries and saves you valuable time. This way you’ll also get multiple proposals from several hotels for you to review, compare and choose from.

ALLOCABO - Hotel Inquiry

• Does it cost anything to send an inquiry to hotels with ALLOCABO?
  No. All your inquiries at ALLOCABO are free of charge and non-binding. This means that you can send as many inquiries as you’d like to until you’ve found the best hotel for your next meeting or event.
• How many inquiries can I send?
  At ALLOCABO you can send as many inquiries as you like - all free of charge. If you have reached the maximum of 10 hotels in your selection basket and you would like to inquire with even more hotels, simply start a new inquiry. And if you´re i.e. planning more than one event or meeting per year, you´re can easily send an inquiry for each event as early as possible and start the hotel booking process early.
• Can I send an inquiry for two different dates at the same time?
  Yes, you can easily add two additional event dates to your inquiry, which could be very helpful should one day already be fully booked at a hotel. To add additional dates to your inquiry, click on the "Alternative date" field when you’re on the first screen on Event Details > Date. Here you can enter up to two alternative dates in addition to your desired meeting date. Please note that you will receive separate proposals for each alternative date. Adding alternative dates increases your chances to finding the ideal hotel, so we always recommend to add this into any inquiry.
• Are the hotel proposals at ALLOCABO binding?
  No. All the proposals you receive from each hotel are free of charge and without any obligations. If the proposals don’t match one of your event criteria, your budget or your event suddenly changes or gets cancelled or moved to a different date, you are not obliged to book any of the proposals. Should this happen, you can simply start a new inquiry through your personal customer profile with the same hotels and updated event details or cancel a proposal.
• What information should about my event do I need to send an inquiry?

  In order to make sure you get the best and most suitable proposals, you should ideally have the following information on hand before you start your inquiry:

  • the desired city/meeting destination of your event
  • the date of the event (and possible alternative dates)
  • the number of delegates/participants
  • the number of guest rooms needed (if your event goes over multiple days)

  It would even be better if you’d have these on hand as well:

  • numbers and sizes of the required meeting rooms (preferably with preferred seating arrangement)
  • required equipment and technology
  • preferred catering

  Don´t worry if you don´t have all the information on hand yet. You can always amend your inquiry by either sending a new inquiry or talking to your dedicated sales contact at the hotel. Please note though, that the rates of follow-up proposals may differ from the rates of your initial inquiry proposal.

• What should I do if I don´t have all the necessary information available yet - can I still send an inquiry?
  Not having all the necessary information on hand yet for your event, shouldn´t keep you from sending an inquiry. If at all, it’ll help you to start the ball rolling and get in early with the hotels. And we’re here to help you make a pre-selection of suitable hotels and each of the proposals you’ll receive will give you a first impression on the availability of the hotels, their meeting room and guest room capacity and availability as well as their rates. and Once you’ve got that you can always amend your inquiry and tailor it towards your needs by talking directly to the hotel Please note, that any quotes sent to you once you’ve made some adjustments may differ from the initial quote and proposal you’ve received The most important information for the hotel to send you an initial quote and check their availability,, are the date of your event, the number of delegates and a rough idea of the number and style of the required meeting rooms and guest rooms
• Can I adjust the event details once I’ve sent the inquiry and received the first proposals?
  Yes, even after having sent the inquiry, you´re still able to make adjustments to your event details and inquiry with the dedicated contact person at the hotel and they’ll provide you with an updated quote for you to review. If for any reason, you’d like to cancel an inquiry you can easily do this in through your personal ALLOCABO account.
• Once I’ve sent an inquiry, can I still add more hotels to my selection?
  Unfortunately you’re not able to add any more hotels to an inquiry that’s been sent. However, you can easily restart the inquiry process, select all the additional hotels, copy your previous inquiry details from your ALLOCABO customer profile and send a new inquiry.
• What do I need to consider, if I am planning a meeting for several days and need different meeting rooms, number of guest rooms and catering for each day?
  Our platform allows you to easily send an inquiry for an event or meeting which takes place over several days with different requirements each day. Once you start the inquiry process you can add and edit all this information to the ‘Event Details’. You can enter all the relevant details for each er day individually, which means you can inquire different numbers of guest rooms, meeting rooms different equipment and set up for each day as well as different catering options. Please just make sure you enter the correct event dates.

ALLOCABO Hotel Proposal

• How and when do I receive the proposals from the hotel?
  All proposals are visible in your personal ALLOCABO customer profile and will be additionally sent to you via email. Usually, the first proposals will already come in within the first 24 hours, so make sure to check your emails regularly and sign into your customer profile to get a detailed overview of the proposals and easily compare each one.
• Why do I not receive proposals from all of the hotels I requested?
  Sometimes it may happen that some of the hotels can´t send you a proposal due to no availability or capacity. This mostly happens during busy months when a lot of events or trade shows are taking place around the same time and the hotels are already fully booked (often months ahead). It could also be because the requested hotels only have partial capacities (i.e. they could only offer you half of the guest rooms you need) and therefore have to cancel. For this reason, we highly recommend to start the planning and inquiry process for larger events and conferences as early as possible and be aware of large trade shows which may take place at the same time. Please also consider that major at the same time can have an influence on the room rates and swapping the date of your event or the city may give you better results.
• How can I compare, change or cancel my inquiry?
  All incoming proposals can be compared in your personal ALLOCABO account. Once logged in, click on "requests/ proposals" and you´ll get a clear overview of all proposals you´ve received, an overview of all the inquired hotels that haven´t responded yet and also of the ones which declined. If you are happy with one proposal but would like to adjust some criteria i.e. the number of hotel rooms, the equipment of the meeting room or the type of catering, just discuss this directly with the hotel which will send you an amended proposal. If you notice that you accidently sent a false inquiry (i.e. wrong date) or have to move the date of your planned event / meeting or need to cancel it for unforeseeable reasons you can also do this all online in your personal account. Just click on the red button located on the right above the overview of all proposals.
• Will the hotel be able to hold the space for me until I make a decision or do I need to decide as soon as I receive the proposal?
  At ALLOCABO, each proposal comes with a certain timeframe in which you can review, compare, adjust and make decisions internally. The period the hotel will hold the space for you could be i.e. 2 weeks and you’ll be informed this within each proposal (it should give you a deadline, which is the day the offer from the hotel runs out and they’ll release the rooms back to the public). Until this time runs out the hotel will hold the required rooms exclusively for you and no other customer can book those in that given time frame. This is a free service from the hotels and allows you to make a better informed decision and review all proposals. Depending on the lead time between your inquiry and the event date, this timeframe can last from 1 to 30 days. If your time (sometimes called ‘option’) runs out and you still haven’t decided, you can ask the hotel for a further extension - all through your ALLOCABO account. To do this, go to the overview of your proposals and click on "Request the extension of your option". Please note, that you can only request an extension 3 days prior to the given expiry (deadline) date. But don’t worry, we’ll send you a reminder via email as well so you won’t lose out on finding and booking the best hotel.
• What shall I do if the time the hotel holds the room(s) for me runs out and I haven’t decided yet?
  We know that sometimes decisions can take longer, especially if you are planning a larger event with several stakeholders and decision makers involved. Again, just ask the hotel for an extension of the timeframe they’ve given you in which they’ll hold the room(s) for you. Sign in to your ALLOCABO account, head over to the overview of all proposals and click on "Request the extension of your option". Remember, you can only request an extension 3 days prior to day the hotel releases the rooms back to the public (you’ll be given a deadline with each proposal)
• Is it possible to do a site visit to check out the hotel, rooms and facilities before I decide to book?
  We encourage everyone, especially if it’s a larger event they’re planning, to arrange a site visit with the hotel directly and check out their meeting room and conference room facilities to better help you plan the event. This way you can directly discuss the requirements with the hotel and manage expectations. To arrange a site visit and location check, please liaise with your contact at the hotel arrange. If you arrange this during the time they’re keeping the space for you, you’ll be able to plan things quicker and secure the best deal.

ALLOCABO - Hotel Booking

• When do you suggest should I decide to book to secure the hotel and offer?
  Ideally you’d make a decision to book a hotel within the time they’re holding the space for you - which can be up to 30 days. This way you won’t lose out on the best deals and available hotels. If you need more time to decide you can ask the hotel to hold the space for you longer (via an extension which you can request through your ALLOCABO account). If you can’t decide in the given timeframe, the hotel can’t guarantee you the same rooms at the same conditions and you may lose out and have to start your inquiry process all over again.
• How does the ALLOCABO booking process actually work?
  ALLOCABO is a request-for-proposal platform, which means you’ll receive individual proposal for free from each hotel - based on your inquiry. You’ll then have the chance to review and compare them in your own time or require any additional changes or add ons directly with the hotel. Once and if you’re happy to proceed with securing a hotel and wish to book it, you can request a contract from the hotel through your ALLOCABO account (go to ‘detailed offer’ and click on “details and reservation > "Book offer".) This way you’ve secured the price and room facilities at the hotel which will send you a contract to finalise the booking. You’re under no obligations to proceed with the booking of the hotel until you’ve received and signed the contract directly with the hotel. For the contract to be valid, both parties (you and the hotel) will need to have signed the agreement.
• I’ve booked a hotel - how and when do I pay for it?
  Please note that you don’t have to enter any payment details at ALLOCABO - all payments are made directly with the hotel and the payment method and date of payment may be different at each hotel but this is something to discuss directly with the hotel.
  
  In most cases, you will receive an invoice after the event, however, depending on the size of the event and the lead time of the event, the hotel may request a deposit to guarantee a booking. Most hotels accept corporate credit cards or travel centre cards provided they have sufficient limits. We advise you to read the payment and cancellation terms carefully and discuss them with the hotel directly if you’re unsure or have any questions.
• Why do I have to sign a contract with the hotel to secure the booking?
  In order to make sure that all rooms, facilities and services for your event are contractually guaranteed by the hotel, most hotels will ask you to sign a contract for the event to guarantee the final booking. The contract serves as a guarantee that the hotel will provide you with the required meeting rooms / guest rooms and set up at the agreed date. The contract includes the agreed services, the terms of payment and cancellation as well as the general terms and conditions of the hotel. Please review it carefully.
• What happens if I already booked a hotel but then need to cancel it for unforeseeable reasons?
  If you have to cancel the event at short notice but have already signed the contract with the hotel, the contractual cancellation policies will apply. Make sure to review these carefully before you sign as they’ll often provide you with cut off days for cancellations.
• How does ALLOCABO guarantee the best prices?
  Booking through ALLOCABO can guarantee you the best prices for the following reasons: as soon as you sent your inquiry to multiple hotels, the hotels will be able to see that you’ve inquired with multiple hotels thus it’s in their own interest to offer you the best and most attractive deal in order to secure your booking and win you as a customer.

ALLOCABO - Customer Account

• Why do I need a customer account with ALLOCABO?

  Having a personal ALLOCABO customer account, gives you a range of benefits:

  • all incoming hotel proposals will be added to your account
  • you will be able to easily review all inquiries you´ve sent
  • you will be able to easily review all proposals and cancellations from hotels
  • you will be able to easily compare all the proposals, adjust or cancel them
  • you will be able to easily manage your current inquiries and request an extension of the timeframe the hotel holds the space for you you will be able easily request to book a hotel

  Your personal ALLOCABO account also makes the finding and booking of any hotels for future events and meeting easier. Since you’ve already registered you can simply start new inquiries using your existing customer profile.

• How do I login to my account?
  Each time a proposal comes in you will be alerted via email with a direct link to your personal account. Alternatively you can login via our login page. Your personal login data will be sent to you in your t welcome email.
• What do I do if I forgot my login details?
  If you’ve forgotten your username or password for your personal account, you can easily request a new username and password on the ALLOCABO login page. Just click on ‘forgotten your password?" and follow the screen instructions.

Further questions?

If you have any further questions, please contact the ALLOCABO customer support via support@allocabo.com or call us on +49 (40) 60 777 3 888 (Mo - Fr, 9am - 6pm).

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