Some data on booking ahead on the CF at Rabanal del Camino

[EricJR]

I've done a small data collection project, that some people might find interesting. My motivation was that I prefer to book my accommodation in advance (I'm slow, and like to take my time and know where I'm stopping). Ideally, I'd like to just book one day ahead, but this has not always been possible. I've spent the last 6 weeks checking Booking dot com availability at Rabanal del Camino, and taking some notes. I thought I'd put up a couple of graphs showing how the availability of rooms varied over the September rush in 2023. I think, fortunately, I just started collecting data before the rush arrived.

Notes on method:
- Other booking methods exist, but taking notes from booking.com once a day was quick and easy.
- I chose to look at Rabanal de Camino because (1) I had problems reserving anywhere to stay around there, as it is a bottleneck, and popular; and (2) I reckon that the ease or difficulty of reserving ahead at Rabanal del Camino is probably representative of how empty or busy the CF is in general around that time (bearing in mind walking speeds).

Data:





Conclusions:
1. The September rush seemed to arrive at Rabanal del Camino around 13 Sept 2023, and lasted until 5 October.
2. Outside the rush, it is nearly always possible to make a reservation for the next night.
3. Within the rush, there's a sharp transition to needing to reserve 7 days ahead, if you want to reserve.

I hope that is interesting to someone!

 

[J Willhaus]

Our fallback has been El Ganso. Not many people stop there, but it is quick cab ride back from either Rabanal or Foncebadon. Nice albergue, too.

 

[CarolamS]

Interesting graph, thank you. I was in Rabanal on 21st September and stayed at the Refugio Guacelmo a donativo run by the Confraternity of St James. You cannot book this ahead. There were spare beds available in the dorm and they said they'd not been full all season.

Mostly I did book ahead and can confirm that I needed to book a week ahead to avoid the "Completo" response. My Spanish is just good enough to phone a booking request, so I was not only reliant on Booking.com. I think the wave had caught up with me as earlier on in my Camino I could book a day or two ahead. I was walking 20km on average and no more that 25km. I started on Aug 23rd from SJPP.

 

[C clearly]

I hope that is interesting to someone!

Yes, very interesting! Thank you!

 

[Tincatinker]

It would be interesting, of interest, to plot the occupation at Refugio Guacelmo into @EricJR ’s excellent research.
My thesis; that the modern trend to pre-book leaves many a bed unoccupied might stand or fall on that little bit of extra data

 

[J Willhaus]

It would be interesting, of interest, to plot the occupation at Refugio Guacelmo into @EricJR ’s excellent research.
My thesis; that the modern trend to pre-book leaves many a bed unoccupied might stand or fall on that little bit of extra data

You also have to throw into the mix the bag transport issue. You really must book if you are transferring bags so you know where your bag will be. It is almost like a parallel Caminos. I ran into that myself this summer when we had to make a switch from "winging it" to "booking for bag transfer." Never had trouble finding anyplace when winging it. More headaches with booking and bag transfers, however, I am a newbie to the bag transfer thing so maybe it gets easier.

 

[Kitsambler]

I heard that one could send to the municipal, and then retrieve bag from there, without having a booking (there or elsewhere). Never tried it myself, but would love some comment on this theory.

 

[trecile]

I heard that one could send to the municipal, and then retrieve bag from there, without having a booking (there or elsewhere). Never tried it myself, but would love some comment on this theory.

Many (maybe most) municipals don't accept bag transfer. Even if they did, I think this is a bad idea because it puts the burden on a volunteer or municipal employee to be responsible for your bag when you have no intention to stay there.

In my opinion, if you are having your bag transfered you should have a reservation at the place where you plan to have it sent to.

 

[Theatregal]

It would be interesting, of interest, to plot the occupation at Refugio Guacelmo into @EricJR ’s excellent research.
My thesis; that the modern trend to pre-book leaves many a bed unoccupied might stand or fall on that little bit of extra data

Yes, absolutely.

We have to keep in mind that Booking dot com does not reflect the actual number of beds or rooms that are available in any accommodation.

I walked along different parts of the Frances Sept 7th - Oct. 6th, staying mostly in municipal and private albergues and never had trouble finding a bed. Most weren't completo at the end of the day. The night I stayed at Refugio Guacelmo in Rabanal del Camino, there were still 9 beds available. The hospitalero told me they were rarely full.

When I stayed at the (private) Albergue Camino Real in Calzadilla de la Cueza, the hospitalero told me that he had 10 beds listed on Booking dot com that always went quickly, but the albergue was never full. He tells pilgrims to spread the word in the community that unavailability on Booking dot com does not mean that there are no beds available. He recommends that people call or email the accommodation directly.

 

[J Willhaus]

I heard that one could send to the municipal, and then retrieve bag from there, without having a booking (there or elsewhere). Never tried it myself, but would love some comment on this theory.

I am also a volunteer hospitalera and we don't accept bag transfers at the donativo albergues where I work.
Edit: we also don't accept reservations. I prefer to walk without reservations unless I know I am going to stay in a special specific hotel in a specific town where I might take a rest day. I know that is stressful for some people, but for me it is more stressful to have to walk a certain distance or keep track of a bunch of reservations on my phone.

 

[good_old_shoes]

Interesting!

I just had a look at gronze to get an idea how many rooms / beds are available in Rabanal overall.

It seems there are almost 60 private rooms of 1-4 beds available, +10 apartments a bit before town.

Municipal has 36 beds.
Gaucelmo has 36 beds.
Albergue Pilar has 76 beds in the dorms.
Albergue la senda has 24.

So it is

~60 private rooms of 1-4 beds
10 apartments
~ 170 beds in dormitorios

According to the data in the opening post, of all that accommodation, only 13 (!) private rooms were shown max. in booking com, if I understand correctly?

If so, it shows very well how few of the many beds are available via that booking platform, and that it does not necessarily represent the general availability of beds.

I wouldn't see Rabanal as a true bottleneck either and never heard of it being one (but that might well be because I haven't walked during the september wave, yet).

I always felt safe to get a bed in that area, especially because there's still Foncebadon only a short walk away just in case, with ~120 albergue beds plus 26 private rooms in non-albergue accommodation.

I'm not good with numbers but to me it seems that 13 private rooms out of hundreds of beds within a 6km radius is not much, and I wouldn't see it as representative for the general availability of beds, neither in Rabanal nor the Francés as a whole.

But for those who want to rely mainly on booking platforms, it is probably very helpful to see how far in advance they might have to secure a private room during the september wave.

 

[Robo]

Interesting results. Just to throw another thought into the mix.

During busy periods accomodation owners might put less rooms/beds onto booking, as they would prefer to sell the rooms direct, negating the need to pay commissions.

Could be a case of supply and demand?

 

[EricJR]

So it is

~60 private rooms of 1-4 beds
10 apartments
~ 170 beds in dormitorios

According to the data in the opening post, of all that accommodation, only 13 (!) private rooms were shown max. in booking com, if I understand correctly?

That is very good additional information, @good_old_shoes.

1) Correct, the largest number of private rooms that were bookable for "tomorrow", during the period 11 Sept 2023 to 26 Oct 2023, was 13.

I'd certainly like to know how many rooms, in total, are sold though booking.com. I'm sure it's much more than 13. But I don't think I can reach a solid conclusion. If I make a search for a distant future date (e.g. in June 2024, 8 months in advance), only two locations are currently listed, offering 7 rooms in total. Clearly, more vacancies must be added to booking.com as the date approaches, and as the current ones are sold. And very possibly there is a supply and demand factor as @Robo says, with fewer vacancies being put on booking.com in busier periods when they can be (or have already been) sold another way.

2) I only observed one location at Rabanal del Camino (La Senda) offering dormitory beds on booking.com. I collected separate notes on that. The general pattern was that it offered a few beds for "tomorrow" before and after the September rush, but not during the rush. Occasionally it listed 6 beds, and sometimes it listed availability without saying a limited number (so on those days there must have been more than 6 vacancies). Currently it's not offering any. Perhaps it's closed for the winter.

Since many dormitory beds can't be reserved through booking.com, I don't think my data is much use for predicting dormitory availability. In contrast, there are quite a few private rooms offered. Although I don't think my data shows how many vacancies exist in reality, I think it is useful for indicating how far in advance you have to reserve if you want to avoid zero availability (assuming you wish to use booking.com).

3) I kept track of separate data for the apartments at Carballedas (about 1 mile before Rabanal). Those apartments typically had availability if there were rooms in Rabanal del Camino, and there was just 1 date when they had availability for the next day but Rabanal did not.

 

[J Willhaus]

Interesting!

I just had a look at gronze to get an idea how many rooms / beds are available in Rabanal overall.

It seems there are almost 60 private rooms of 1-4 beds available, +10 apartments a bit before town.

Municipal has 36 beds.
Gaucelmo has 36 beds.
Albergue Pilar has 76 beds in the dorms.
Albergue la senda has 24.

So it is

~60 private rooms of 1-4 beds
10 apartments
~ 170 beds in dormitorios

According to the data in the opening post, of all that accommodation, only 13 (!) private rooms were shown max. in booking com, if I understand correctly?

If so, it shows very well how few of the many beds are available via that booking platform, and that it does not necessarily represent the general availability of beds.

I wouldn't see Rabanal as a true bottleneck either and never heard of it being one (but that might well be because I haven't walked during the september wave, yet).

I always felt safe to get a bed in that area, especially because there's still Foncebadon only a short walk away just in case, with ~120 albergue beds plus 26 private rooms in non-albergue accommodation.

I'm not good with numbers but to me it seems that 13 private rooms out of hundreds of beds within a 6km radius is not much, and I wouldn't see it as representative for the general availability of beds, neither in Rabanal nor the Francés as a whole.

But for those who want to rely mainly on booking platforms, it is probably very helpful to see how far in advance they might have to secure a private room during the september wave.

In 2021, my husband walked into Foncebaden on Oct 12 (national holiday) at about noon. He stopped at every albergue and hotel on his way up through town. All completo or reserved. Tour buses every where. He reached the donativo at the top of town and was 5th in line to get his bed. All full in town by early afternoon and pilgrims taking cabs to look for beds. Completely different than a non-holiday.

 

[MichelleElynHogan]

So, once a next-day reservation can be made, it could be argued that no reservation may be needed.

 

[t2andreo]

This is more input to my developing thesis that the "season" for experienced pilgrims may be shifting into late October through early December. As more and more high-volume commercialized tourigrinos descend on the reservable accommodations, those of us who walk solo - or in 'onsies and twosies' - will increasingly find 'no room at the inn."

My hypothesis is to simply walk when others do not.

The same paradigm logically holds for the period coming into Semana Santa in the Spring. The key is to be off the Camino by Holy Week (Semana Santa), unless you intend to participate in the local festivities, processions and ceremonies.

As Easter shifts about each year, and with it the immediately preceding week - Semana Santa- one might surmise that the optimum time to walk, and avoid the commercial crowds, is so you end not later than the weekend before Easter.

I have yet to test this. Once I am off caregiver duty (for my wife), I am considering trying this on a major route.

This was a very interesting thread. I hope I contributed in some small way.

Tom

 

[EricJR]

This is more input to my developing thesis that the "season" for experienced pilgrims may be shifting into late October through early December.

Well, my data suggests the busy period ended around 5 October (2023) at Rabanal, but that would mean starting at SJPDP would be good from the third week of September. A late October start would be unnecessarily cautious based on these graphs, I reckon. Additionally, I think I saw that Rabanal had fair next-day availability before mid September, in which case starting at SJPDP before mid-August would also work.

I don't promise to keep recording data daily, but I will keep track of this for a bit longer. I'd quite like to find out which periods of the year offer reliable next-day reservations, as I'd like to walk during these. Unfortunately that will take me another year to find out!

This was a very interesting thread. I hope I contributed in some small way.

Thanks!

 

[SF Walker]

One other possible factor regarding the availability of beds on booking dot com is that there are pilgrims who book through organizations like Follow the Camino and Caminoways, etc. and those organizations book directly with many of the same places that list on Booking. So during the peak period that may be another reason there were fewer rooms listed. For example, my husband and I booked through Follow the Camino back in December for our trip in September of this year and we stayed in Rabinal. All places were full by late afternoon when we arrived on September 18.

 

[Robo]

This is more input to my developing thesis that the "season" for experienced pilgrims may be shifting into late October through early December. As more and more high-volume commercialized tourigrinos descend on the reservable accommodations, those of us who walk solo - or in 'onsies and twosies' - will increasingly find 'no room at the inn."

My hypothesis is to simply walk when others do not.

The same paradigm logically holds for the period coming into Semana Santa in the Spring. The key is to be off the Camino by Holy Week (Semana Santa), unless you intend to participate in the local festivities, processions and ceremonies.

As Easter shifts about each year, and with it the immediately preceding week - Semana Santa- one might surmise that the optimum time to walk, and avoid the commercial crowds, is so you end not later than the weekend before Easter.

I have yet to test this. Once I am off caregiver duty (for my wife), I am considering trying this on a major route.

This was a very interesting thread. I hope I contributed in some small way.

Tom

I tested this to a degree on the VdlP this year @t2andreo

My research indicated a start date in early April, to avoid the wet colder weather than can last into March, and the hot dry weather mid to late May.

Then Semana Santa came into the mix!

I had read that whilst 'interesting' Semana Santa in Seville get a bit 'mental'! (Crazy busy)
And I'm not great with crowds.
So I planned to be clear of Seville prior to Semana Santa.
12 days ahead to be precise.

And as I walk slow / short stages, I booked the first 2 weeks accommodation.
I wouldn't normally, but walking short stages on this route, doesn't leave many options in terms of towns/villages to stay! So it was easy to do and the stages worked out fine.
(Faced with 20 kms or 35kms, it was a no brainer for me in planning)

Was it all worth doing? The booking that is?

Yes and No.

It gave me peace of mind. And it probably made sense during the week of Semana Santa.
But I never heard of anyone not getting a bed.
And the Albergues always had beds.

After that first 2 weeks I booked a day ahead or often not at all. (Muni / Donativo)
I was very comfortable by that stage in finding a bed.

I could have started 'after' Semana Santa, but that would have meant starting 3 weeks later, as I had started 2 week before it, and that would mean much warmer weather. And it did.