Allotments in the tourism industry are used to designate a certain block of pre-negotiated carrier seats or hotel rooms which have been bought out and held by a travel organizer with a huge buying power like a wholesaler, tour operator or hotel consolidator, and more rarely by a retail travel agent.[1]
Allotments can be purchased for a specific period of time such as a whole season, part of a season or for any single dates and then resold to travel partners and final customers around the globe. A couple of days prior to carrier departure/hotel check-in any unsold seats/rooms may be released back to the supplier if such an agreement exists between the two parties. An allotment release back period is also negotiated as part of the allotment contract (e.g. four days prior to check-in/departure).