Being prepared

I have chatted before about when to be prepared and when not to be.....yesterday I had a situation where I believe perhaps they should have been. I received a call at about 3pm from a family of 2 adults and 6 children travelling to Mission Beach, arriving at 7pm and wanting accommodation for 1 night. Now there are 2 things which make this tricky, 1 is fitting 8 people in and the 2nd is doing so on a long weekend where most of the accommodation is already fully booked.......a time where being prepared would have been good I think as I was unable to help them.