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# Last-minute guests, fixed schedules: How one hotel manages unpredictable demand
- URL: https://www.eingecheckt.de/en/last-minute-hotel-bookings-anders-walsrode/
- Published: 2026-10-08T19:57:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T19:57:19.000Z
- Author: Tina & Michael
- Tags: #pair_anders_hotels, #en, #magazin_en, Hotel Management, Family Hotels, Revenue Management, Hotel Business, Interviews & People

*Families often make travel decisions at short notice, while hotels need to plan staffing, housekeeping and restaurant operations well in advance. ANDERS Hotel Walsrode offers an insight into the challenges this creates, why apparent booking trends are not always supported by the figures, and where flexibility in hotel operations reaches its limits.*

One hundred overnight guests, but only two dinner reservations. What might sound like an unusual exception is a situation that ANDERS Hotel Walsrode knows only too well. Conference guests often arrange their meals in advance, while families and leisure travellers may not decide until later in the day whether they want to eat at the hotel. For the kitchen, this creates a difficult balancing act: having enough food and staff available without knowing how many guests will actually turn up.

For Doreen Garn, Deputy Hotel Director of the independently run property in Germany's Lüneburg Heath, this is just one of the many challenges created by last-minute decisions. Staff schedules have to be finalised, rooms cleaned and additional beds prepared. At the same time, employees need reliable working hours, while guests expect their stay to run smoothly, regardless of the organisational difficulties behind the scenes.

ANDERS Hotel Walsrode is a particularly interesting example because it combines two quite different areas of business. Outside the holiday periods, conferences and seminars account for a significant proportion of its operations. During school holidays, however, the guest mix changes considerably. Families and leisure travellers become more prominent, bringing different routines and expectations to a hotel whose operations cannot be reorganised at a moment's notice.

## Are travellers really booking later and later?

Recent research suggests that holiday planning in Germany is changing. The Holiday Planning Index published by the German Institute for Tourism Research and the German Tourism Association reached 81 points for autumn 2026, compared with a reference value of 100 points in autumn 2025\. Only 55 per cent of respondents were planning at least one holiday between September and November, down from 61 per cent a year earlier.¹

The researchers partly attribute this development to economic uncertainty. Many people are taking longer to decide whether and when to travel, paying closer attention to prices and looking for flexible cancellation policies. However, this does not automatically mean that the time between booking and arrival is consistently getting shorter at every hotel. The index measures travel intentions rather than actual hotel booking lead times.

Doreen Garn makes exactly this distinction when examining her own property. The hotel compared booking patterns from 2025 and 2026 but found no clear evidence that guests were consistently booking closer to their arrival dates. Looking at room nights already booked for travel periods between July and December at comparable reporting points, the hotel was actually ahead of the previous year's figures in 2026\. While this does not indicate what final occupancy will be, it challenges the assumption that guests are necessarily booking later.

Garn therefore distinguishes between the impression of growing spontaneity and a statistically demonstrable change. Short-notice bookings have long been a familiar feature of the hotel's autumn leisure business. Many families combine their stay with visits to the leisure and wildlife parks of the Lüneburg Heath and take the weather forecast into account before making a decision. This dependence on external conditions makes demand harder to predict, even if it does not necessarily indicate a long-term trend.

![Conferences and seminars are an important part of the hotel's business. During school holidays, families and leisure travellers bring a different rhythm to everyday operations. Photo: HSMA](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/eb/d1eb58be-ccd0-43e1-b101-0e16365e0b9f/content/images/2026/10/anders_00005.jpeg)

Conferences and seminars are an important part of the hotel's business. During school holidays, families and leisure travellers bring a different rhythm to everyday operations. Photo: HSMA

## When conference guests give way to family holidaymakers

The figures from ANDERS Hotel Walsrode show just how much a hotel's guest mix can change during school holidays. During the Lower Saxony summer holidays in 2026, almost 32 per cent of the hotel's guests were children and teenagers. Nearly one in three guests was therefore under the age of 18.²

For a property that operates both as a conference hotel and a certified KinderFerienLand family-friendly hotel, this change involves much more than different room occupancy patterns. Business travellers frequently follow fixed schedules. Those attending an event at eight or nine in the morning need to have breakfast relatively early. Families, by contrast, generally have more time and tend to arrive at the restaurant later. Breakfast demand is therefore spread differently across the morning.

This shift can even create advantages when planning staff schedules. Garn recalls an employee who, because of her young children, could not start work until eight o'clock. During the regular conference season, this was difficult for breakfast service because much of the work had already been completed by then. During school holidays, however, the same working hours suited demand particularly well.

The facilities also need to reflect the changing guest mix. More highchairs and small stools are required so that children can reach the breakfast buffet, although the food itself changes relatively little. According to the hotel, the greater challenges arise in housekeeping and the additional work involved when rooms are occupied by families.The property has 75 rooms. According to the hotel, 21 are equipped with a sofa bed for two children, while another eleven have a chair that converts into a bed for one child. When a family books at short notice, it is therefore not enough simply to check how many rooms remain available. The size of the family, the children's ages and the availability of suitable additional beds all have to be considered.²

![Breakfast at ANDERS Hotel Walsrode. While conference guests often eat early in the morning, families tend to arrive later and spend more time at the table. Photo: Eike Johann Schulze](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/eb/d1eb58be-ccd0-43e1-b101-0e16365e0b9f/content/images/2026/10/anders_00004-1.jpeg)

Breakfast at ANDERS Hotel Walsrode. While conference guests often eat early in the morning, families tend to arrive later and spend more time at the table. Photo: Eike Johann Schulze

## Flexibility begins with the staff

At ANDERS Hotel Walsrode, staff rosters are prepared at least two weeks in advance. Days off are generally scheduled in advance so that employees can plan their personal lives. At the same time, everyone understands that additional bookings may still change the actual workload. In housekeeping, the hotel benefits from a workforce made up predominantly of part-time employees, allowing it to respond more flexibly to fluctuations in demand.

During school holidays, management often schedules one or two more employees than the current booking figures would strictly require. If demand turns out to be lower than expected, someone may be able to finish early or take additional time off. According to Garn, a completely unexpected surge in bookings that requires additional staff to be called in at short notice is relatively rare.

This approach only works, however, if employees' individual circumstances are taken into account. Not everyone is willing or able to change their working hours spontaneously. Some prefer a predictable schedule, while others appreciate more flexibility. Garn therefore considers it part of management's responsibility to find solutions together with employees, rather than treating flexibility as an obligation that applies only to them.

In restaurant service, this kind of planning is more difficult because fewer employees work part-time. The hotel uses working-time accounts, allowing additional hours and shortfalls to be balanced out. Department heads are responsible for ensuring that the balance can be restored in the following month. During particularly busy periods, employees from different departments also help one another. Qualified hotel professionals may assist housekeeping after breakfast, stripping and making beds or vacuuming rooms. Even senior management lends a hand when necessary.

There are nevertheless limits to what such arrangements can achieve. If too many rooms need to be prepared at the same time, it is not always possible to have every room ready by the guaranteed check-in time. In those situations, the hotel tries to prioritise housekeeping according to known arrival times or make the wait more pleasant for guests by offering a drink.

Garn is open about the effort this flexibility requires: "You can manage these fluctuations organisationally, but you can't simply plan them away."

![Doreen Garn, Deputy Hotel Director at ANDERS Hotel Walsrode, discusses the operational and financial challenges of managing a hotel with changing guest requirements. Photo: ANDERS Hotel Walsrode](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/eb/d1eb58be-ccd0-43e1-b101-0e16365e0b9f/content/images/2026/10/anders_00003.jpeg)

Doreen Garn, Deputy Hotel Director at ANDERS Hotel Walsrode, discusses the operational and financial challenges of managing a hotel with changing guest requirements. Photo: ANDERS Hotel Walsrode

## When bed linen becomes a bottleneck

While staffing arrangements provide at least some scope for flexibility, housekeeping occasionally faces problems that are much harder to solve at short notice. Bed linen is one example.

When more families arrive, additional sofa beds and chair beds have to be prepared. This increases the amount of linen required without necessarily increasing the number of rooms sold. ANDERS Hotel Walsrode works with an external laundry provider and consequently depends on timely deliveries of clean linen.

If a delivery is delayed, room preparation can be seriously affected. The hotel keeps spare linen, but matching sets still need to be available for each room. Some items also have to be taken out of use because they are stained or damaged. What guests understandably regard as a basic requirement — a fully prepared room with freshly made beds — can become a considerable organisational challenge under these circumstances.

This example illustrates why short-notice demand cannot be assessed solely by looking at room occupancy. The number of overnight guests, the number of children and the specific requirements of each booking can have very different effects on the workload. A busy hotel is not necessarily easier to organise than one with fewer occupied rooms.

## One hundred overnight guests and two dinner reservations

The uncertainty becomes even more pronounced in the restaurant's evening business. ANDERS Hotel Walsrode uses a weekly event and catering overview, updated daily for the following 14 days. It records the number of expected breakfast and dinner guests, among other information. During school holidays, an additional overview includes all overnight guests, including children. If an unusually large number of last-minute bookings arrives, reception informs the other departments through the hotel's internal communication system.

According to Garn, this system works reasonably well for breakfast. The required number of bread rolls is calculated using the latest guest figures and a table of historical consumption data developed over many years. Around midday, the hotel places its order with the local bakery for the following morning. If the quantity is exceptionally insufficient, additional rolls can be baked or collected from the bakery.

Dinner is considerably harder to predict because the crucial information is often missing. Conference guests usually book their meals in advance, whereas leisure travellers make their decisions much more spontaneously. Some families spend the entire day at a theme park, others eat while they are out, and some only decide where to dine that evening.

"There are certainly times when we have 100 overnight guests in the hotel but initially only two dinner reservations," Garn explains.

![The restaurant at ANDERS Hotel Walsrode. While conference catering can usually be planned in advance, leisure guests frequently make their dining decisions at short notice. Photo: Alexander Rudolph](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/eb/d1eb58be-ccd0-43e1-b101-0e16365e0b9f/content/images/2026/10/anders_00001.jpeg)

The restaurant at ANDERS Hotel Walsrode. While conference catering can usually be planned in advance, leisure guests frequently make their dining decisions at short notice.Photo: Alexander Rudolph

For the kitchen, this is a difficult starting point. It must keep sufficient ingredients and prepared dishes available to serve guests who arrive without a reservation. At the same time, it needs to avoid unnecessary leftovers. Preparing too much food creates additional costs and potentially avoidable food waste. Preparing too little can leave the kitchen unable to respond adequately to unexpected demand.

The hotel has already examined this issue in considerable detail. Since 2019, its kitchen has used the cook-and-chill method, in which food is prepared, rapidly cooled and finished as needed. This allows part of the production risk to be reduced, although it cannot eliminate uncertainty about actual demand.³

Garn openly acknowledges that the hotel has not yet found a perfect solution. Figures are updated regularly, and reception, kitchen and restaurant staff coordinate their plans, but evening dining demand among leisure guests remains substantially less predictable than catering for conferences. High room occupancy therefore does not automatically provide the restaurant with the same degree of planning certainty.

## Why empty rooms do not automatically become cheaper

ANDERS Hotel Walsrode also follows a relatively clear approach to room pricing. When demand is weak shortly before an arrival date, the hotel does not automatically reduce its rates. Prices are based on historical booking data, seasonal patterns and observations of the competitive market. According to Garn, room rates generally become more expensive as the arrival date approaches.

When larger gaps appear in the booking calendar, the hotel instead uses existing packages or targeted offers for previous guests and newsletter subscribers. Examples include "4 for 3" or "3 for 2" night packages, which are not eligible for free cancellation. The aim is to generate additional demand without undermining the hotel's overall pricing structure.

The hotel's regular booking conditions also distinguish between price and flexibility. Depending on the rate selected, guests booking directly can cancel free of charge up to one day before arrival. For bookings made through other channels, the free cancellation period ends no later than two days before arrival, according to the hotel.

The economic challenge is that flexible booking conditions inevitably transfer a certain amount of risk to the hotel. Even a date that was originally fully booked may end up with vacant rooms following last-minute cancellations. If those rooms cannot be resold, the hotel potentially loses revenue not only from accommodation but also from breakfast and restaurant services.

"For us, the economic limit is reached when flexibility becomes one-sided," Garn explains.

The hotel therefore charges the agreed fees when guests fail to arrive without cancelling. According to the Deputy Hotel Director, goodwill arrangements are possible in exceptional circumstances, sometimes in the form of a voucher. Bad weather alone, however, is not considered a sufficient reason to waive the agreed cancellation conditions.

This approach reflects a fundamental question for the hotel industry: how much flexibility can guests reasonably be offered when most of the associated financial risk remains with the property? ANDERS addresses this not by offering unrestricted cancellation rights but by providing different rates and conditions from which guests can choose according to their priorities.

WANT TO CHECK IN YOURSELF? 

### ANDERS Hotel Walsrode

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[Book directly with the hotel ↗ ](https://onepagebooking.com/walsrode?bookingcode=DIREKT&ref=eingecheckt.de) 

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## What other hotels can learn from these experiences

Garn herself emphasises that no single solution will work for every property. A conference hotel with a large restaurant has different operational possibilities from a small holiday hotel or an urban property. Nevertheless, the experience in Walsrode provides several useful starting points.

One concerns communication before arrival. Asking guests about their expected arrival time makes it easier for housekeeping to prioritise rooms. ANDERS also tries to encourage overnight guests to make restaurant reservations in advance. So far, however, the response has been limited.

Another possibility would be to make half-board more attractive during the room-booking process. If more guests decide on dinner in advance, the kitchen would have a more reliable basis for planning. Whether such offers will actually lead to more pre-booked evening meals remains to be seen. The hotel is still considering the approach, and it would be premature to describe it as an established success.

Garn also attaches particular importance to regular discussions with employees and fellow hoteliers. Issues such as housekeeping, working hours, additional services and booking conditions affect many properties. In her view, there is no universally correct solution. What matters is reviewing operational processes, explaining decisions clearly and considering the interests of both guests and employees.

## Demand cannot be predicted perfectly — but it can be managed

The experiences of ANDERS Hotel Walsrode demonstrate how differently the same booking can be viewed by individual departments. For room sales, a last-minute family booking is welcome additional business. For housekeeping, it may mean preparing extra beds; for reception, more coordination; and for the restaurant, potential demand that still cannot be reliably estimated.

What makes the hotel's experience especially interesting is its willingness to question the widely repeated assumption that guests are booking later and later. Its own figures do not currently provide clear evidence of such a trend. Yet the operational challenges remain, because even the normal fluctuations between conference and leisure business require considerable adjustments.

Garn therefore describes hotel management not as a search for the perfect forecast but as an ongoing balancing act. Guests expect reliable service and flexible offers. Employees need predictable working hours and fair conditions. At the same time, the hotel must remain financially sustainable and cover its rising operating costs.

The most important lesson from Walsrode is therefore less about a new booking trend than about dealing with a familiar problem. Demand can never be predicted with complete certainty, and the resulting uncertainty cannot simply be passed on to guests or employees. What matters is how well a hotel prepares for the unpredictability that remains.

Sources

This article is based on original editorial interviews, official press information from ANDERS Hotel Walsrode and current tourism research. 

1. [German Tourism Association (2026) ](https://www.deutschertourismusverband.de/presse/detail/urlaubsplanungsindex-weniger-deutsche-planen-eine-herbstreise-als-vor-einem-jahr?ref=eingecheckt.de)  
*Holiday Planning Index: Fewer Germans planning an autumn holiday than a year earlier.*  
Press release published on 24 September 2026\. Research conducted by the German Institute for Tourism Research in cooperation with the German Tourism Association. Original publication in German.
2. [ANDERS Hotel Walsrode (2026) ](https://www.lifepr.de/pressemitteilung/anders-hotel-walsrode/herbstferien-in-sicht-warum-familien-ihren-urlaub-immer-kurzfristiger-planen/boxid/1074209?ref=eingecheckt.de)  
*Autumn holidays approaching: Why families are increasingly planning their holidays at short notice.*  
Press release published on 7 October 2026\. Information on guest demographics, family accommodation and room facilities. Original publication in German.
3. [ANDERS Hotel Walsrode (2026) ](https://www.lifepr.de/pressemitteilung/anders-hotel-walsrode/zwischen-erfahrungswert-und-blick-in-die-glaskugel-wie-eine-hotelkche-lebensmittel-plant/boxid/1074208?ref=eingecheckt.de)  
*Between experience and uncertainty: How a hotel kitchen plans its food production.*  
Press release published on 28 September 2026\. Kitchen operations, food planning and the cook-and-chill method. Original publication in German.

**Original editorial source:**Written interview with Doreen Garn, Deputy Hotel Director at ANDERS Hotel Walsrode, October 2026\. Interview responses and quotations translated from German into English by the eingecheckt editorial team.