What Is an Allotment? | TraveleXe Glossary

What is an allotment?

Also called: room allotment · allocation · hotel allotment

Definition

An allotment is a fixed number of rooms (or seats) that a hotel or supplier reserves for a travel company to sell, usually at contracted rates, until an agreed release date. Unsold rooms return to the hotel after the release date, so the travel company is not normally liable for them.

Allotment, free sale and stop sale

With an allotment, the seller can confirm bookings instantly from its reserved rooms. Under a free-sale agreement, the seller may sell without a fixed number until the hotel says otherwise. A stop sale is the hotel’s instruction to stop selling a room type or date, overriding both.

Release periods

Contracts state a release period — for example 14 days before arrival. Rooms not booked by then are released back to the hotel. Tracking allotments and release dates across hundreds of hotels is a core job of inventory management software.

Example

A DMC holds 10 rooms per night at a Goa beach resort with a 21-day release. On 1 December it has sold 7 rooms for 22 December; the 3 unsold rooms return to the hotel that day.

How TraveleXe handles allotment

Invento manages contracts, rate plans, seasons and blackouts, and controls allotments, free sale and stop sale.

Explore Invento

Last reviewed 25 October 2026 by the TraveleXe product team.

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