Madinah hotel allotments for Umrah groups: tracking them night by night

Housing teams know that managing Madinah hotel allotments differs a little from Makkah. Many programmes spend fewer nights in Madinah, and groups arrive from Makkah or straight from Madinah airport, so any change at the previous stage shows up here. This guide adds to the release date routine, focusing on what is specific to Madinah.

Why do Madinah allotments need special care?

Some practical reasons:

• Sequence: leaving Makkah late can mean paying for a Madinah night nobody used.
• Direction: some groups start in Madinah, so check-in depends on the flight rather than a coach.
• Short stays: a room free for two nights is harder to sell than one free for a week.
• Tied to visits: arrival time affects the ziyarah programme and Rawdah permits.

What to review each morning

One table per hotel is enough if its columns are right. The figures below are a made-up sample for illustration only:

A sample with made-up figures. The real question is: what is the release date for night 3, and what will you do with its 20 rooms before then?

The decision before the release date

Knowing rooms are free is not enough. Make a decision well before the date:

1. Identify the nights closest to release, and rank them by value.
2. Check the holds: will they confirm or free their rooms?
3. Offer free rooms to agents at a clear price and for a set time, through one channel.
4. Move a group into those nights if its programme is flexible and its contract allows.
5. Return the rest on time, and record what went back so the hotel’s bill stays clear.

The contract before the allotment

Before any of this, the rooms must sit on a valid contract. According to reports of the ministry’s direction, a visa depends on a documented housing contract with a licensed facility, as the housing contracts guide explains. When moving a group to another Madinah hotel, apply the same check to the new hotel.

When the group comes from Makkah

What most confuses a Madinah allotment is the night between the two cities. If a group leaves Makkah in the afternoon and arrives in the evening, check-out in Makkah and check-in in Madinah must agree with the journey between them. If departure slips by hours, the Madinah room can sit reserved and empty at the start of the night, and the hotel may ask about the group before it arrives.

So give each group one line that joins the two stages: its last night in Makkah, its means of travel, and its first night in Madinah. Any change to that line reaches the housing and transport teams together.

Three programme patterns and their effect

What you watch depends on the programme’s shape. These common patterns are for illustration:

What to get from the hotel in writing

A clear contract avoids many disputes at billing time. The most important points to write down are:

• The number of rooms per type and per night or period, not only a total.
• Release dates and how to give notice, and who receives it at the hotel.
• What is charged for a no-show or a smaller group.
• Check-in and check-out times, and what happens on early or late arrival.
• Meals included in the rate, if they are part of the agreement.

How Umrah Link handles Madinah allotments

In Housing, transport & field, a room block sits on the housing contract, with room types and rates night by night. Every hold and reservation comes off that night’s allotment, so you cannot sell more than you contracted. You see each block’s health and what is due back before its deadline.

To offer free rooms to agents, price lists and offers reach them through the agent portal. The nights used become supplier bills in Finance.

See hotel allotments in the system

Common questions