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Blog · Forecast and pipeline · Hospitality

Pace on one property for one month: the whole arithmetic on one page

The complete pace calculation on one hotel for one future month, small enough to check by hand: rooms and revenue on the books by segment from today's reservation snapshot, the same month at the same point last year from the kept snapshot, pace by segment in rooms and as a share, budget by segment, pickup needed, historical pickup from this point from three years of snapshots, the segment that is behind while the comparable set is ahead, and the identity that segments sum to the snapshot, so a reader can reproduce every figure and then run it on their own snapshots.

The short answerOne property, October, as of 1 June. Today's snapshot has 3,900 rooms on the books across group, corporate and leisure; last year's snapshot taken on 1 June had 4,700 for the same October. Pace is minus 17 percent in total and minus 43 in group, with corporate and leisure on track. Budget is 9,200 rooms; pickup needed is 5,300; historical pickup from 1 June to October, the median of three years, is 4,400. Group needs 1,800 rooms of pickup against a history of 700; the comparable set's group pace is plus 6. The segments sum to the snapshot's total. Every number can be reproduced by hand.

Pace is today's books against last year's at the same point, and on one property for one month it fits on a page. This page works pace by segment, budget and pickup, historical pickup, the comparable set and the identity. Stay month: October. Snapshot date: 1 June.

On the books, today and a year ago

Segment On the books, 1 Jun this year On the books, 1 Jun last year, for last October Pace, rooms Pace, share
Group 1,200 2,100 −900 −43%
Corporate 1,900 1,750 +150 +9%
Leisure 800 850 −50 −6%
Total 3,900 4,700 −800 −17%

The identity

Σ segments = snapshot total: 1,200 + 1,900 + 800 = 3,900. Holds.

A reservation with an unmapped rate code would sit outside the segments and the sum would fall short of the system's total; it is listed.

Budget, pickup needed, historical pickup

Pickup needed = budget − on the books Historical pickup = median rooms added from 1 June to October, last three years

Segment Budget Pickup needed Historical pickup Plausible?
Group 3,000 1,800 700 No: needs 2.6× history
Corporate 3,400 1,500 1,600 Yes
Leisure 2,800 2,000 2,100 Yes
Total 9,200 5,300 4,400 Short by about 900, all in group

Against the comparable set

Group pace
This property −43%
Comparable set, median of six city full-service hotels +6%

The market's group business is up; this property's is down by nearly half.

Revenue beside rooms

Segment Revenue on the books Last year at this point Average rate Last year
Group $168,000 $290,000 $140 $138
Corporate $300,000 $270,000 $158 $154

Group rate is holding; group rooms are not. This is a volume problem, and it belongs to the group sales manager in June.

Where it goes wrong, even on one property

No kept snapshot. Pace cannot be computed; the property is "behind" by feel.

Total pace only. Minus 17, and the revenue manager cuts rates on segments that are fine.

Pickup needed without history. 5,300 looks reachable; group's 1,800 against 700 is not.

Comparable set skipped. A market group slump blamed on the sales manager, or the reverse.

From one property-month to sixty properties by twelve months

The same two snapshots per property and stay month, the same segments, the same historical pickup, every week. Covirage runs it on the kept reservation exports and the budget. The pace guide covers the measure, and the segment mix guide covers the comparable set.

Questions people ask

Where does last year's snapshot come from?

From the reservation export taken on 1 June last year and kept. The reservation system holds today's books only; without a kept export there is no pace. A weekly export, filed by date, is the whole requirement.

What is historical pickup?

The rooms the property added between 1 June and the stay month in each of the last three years, as a median, per segment. It is what the property typically picks up from this point, and it says whether the pickup needed is plausible.

Why the comparable set?

Because a group pace of minus 43 could be the market. The set's median group pace is plus 6: the market is fine and this property's group book is not. The set is stated on the line.