Game-theoretic analysis of advance reservation services

In many services, such as cloud computing, customers have the option to make reservations in advance. However, little is known about the strategic behavior of customers in such systems. In this paper, we use game theory to analyze several models of time-slotted systems in which customers can choose whether or not making an advance reservation of server resources in future time slots. Since neither the provider nor the customers know in advance how many customers will request service in a given slot, the models are analyzed using Poisson games, with decisions made based on statistical information. The games differ in their payment mechanisms, and the main objective is to find which mechanism yields the highest average profit for the provider. Our analysis shows that the highest profit is achieved when advance reservation fees are charged only from customers that are granted service. Furthermore, informing customers about the availability of free servers prior to their decisions do not affect the provider's profit in that case.