Rooming lists for Umrah groups in Makkah hotels: steps that prevent arrival-day errors
How a housing team builds a list that reaches the hotel correct, and stays correct when the group changes hours before arrival.
A rooming list is the document a hotel receives a group by: who sleeps in which room, on which nights. In Makkah hotels, where many groups arrive at once, one error in the list means waiting in a lobby after a long journey. This guide is for Umrah company housing teams, and covers how to prepare, check and update the list.
Where does a correct list start?
It starts from confirmed rooms, not a list of names. Before placing anyone you need to know what you actually reserved: the hotel, the nights and how many of each room type. Those figures come from the hotel’s allotment and its reservations, which rest on a housing contract documented on Nusuk Masar.
Then you need the group’s data: gender, family links, the room type sold on each booking, and any special need such as accessibility. A missing detail here becomes an improvised decision at the hotel door.
Steps to prepare the list
This is a practical order a housing team can follow for each group:
- Match the confirmed room count to what each booking was sold, and resolve any gap before placing anyone.
- Place families and linked travellers first, then those who need accessible rooms, then the rest of the group.
- Review who is left without a bed and why, and do not send the list until every case is settled.
- Send the list to the hotel in the format it accepts, and record the time sent and the version number.
- Enter the room numbers as soon as the hotel provides them, so supervisors and pilgrim cards show them.
- Open the list on arrival day to confirm check-in, and record a partial arrival with its reason.
Checks before it goes to the hotel
Most arrival-day problems can be caught in a short review:
| Check | What it prevents |
|---|---|
| Each room’s capacity | An extra bed the hotel never agreed to |
| Family links | Splitting a family, or a child away from their parents |
| Room type sold | A complaint from someone who paid for a double and got a quad |
| Each pilgrim’s dates | An extra night charged to you, or a missing night with no room |
| Latest version | A hotel working from one version and a supervisor from another |
What if the group changes after sending?
Groups always change: a visa not issued, a late traveller, a family asking for adjoining rooms. The danger is not the change itself, but carrying it out in a WhatsApp message the rest of the team never sees. Give each change one path: record it on the list, issue a new version, and make sure the hotel and supervisor know its number.
If the arrival time moves, review the transport with it. The hotel expects the group at the time set by your transport plan from Jeddah airport, not the original flight time.
The cases here are illustrative. The hotel’s rules on check-in, check-out and extra beds are set by your contract with it.
Example: a group that changes a day before arrival
This is an illustration with made-up figures. A group of 45 pilgrims has 12 confirmed rooms in a Makkah hotel. A day before arrival, two pilgrims from one family withdraw, and the agent asks to move an elderly woman to a room nearer the lift. Do not edit the old file or send a photo of it: remove the two from the list with the reason, move her to a suitable bed, and review the room now holding an empty bed. Does it stay empty, or can someone move into it without breaking family and gender rules?
Then issue a new version and tell the hotel and supervisor its number. Tell finance too if the room count changes, because that may change what you bill the agent and what you pay the hotel.
Group requests during the stay
The list does not end at check-in. Record each request with its decision:
- Early check-in and late check-out, whether the hotel agreed and at what cost.
- Extensions, and whether the allotment has room for the extra nights.
- Room changes, with the room’s label updated for the supervisor and hotel.
- Accessibility needs that appear after arrival.
How Umrah Link handles the rooming list
In Housing, transport & field, the list starts from the confirmed rooms of the booking or group, with one list per group and hotel stay. Automatic allocation proposes placements that keep related travellers together and prefers accessible rooms where needed, and shows each unplaced traveller with the reason before anything is saved.
- A pilgrim can’t hold two beds on one night, and a bed can’t hold two pilgrims on one night.
- Gender and capacity rules can’t be overridden. Family and sold-basis exceptions need a permission and a recorded reason.
- The list moves through clear stages: draft, allocated, sent, checked in, checked out.
- Hotel room numbers are entered by hand or from a CSV file, and a file with an invalid row is refused whole, with each error listed.
Common questions
What is the difference between an allotment and a rooming list?
An allotment is how many rooms the hotel holds for you each night. A rooming list places a specific group’s members in rooms you reserved from that allotment.
When should I send the list to the hotel?
By the time your contract or arrangement with the hotel sets. It should arrive early enough for rooms to be prepared, with any updates following as a clear new version.
Does the system upload the list to Nusuk?
No. Umrah Link manages the list inside your company and your team sends it to the hotel. Anything that must be entered on Nusuk Masar is done there by your team.
Sources
- Ministry of Hajj and Umrah
- Okaz: the ministry tells Umrah companies and overseas agents to document housing contracts (11 June 2025, in Arabic)
This guide is general information. The rules and dates are the named authorities’ to set, so check their own pages before acting.
