Blog · Board and management reporting · Hospitality
The ten sales KPIs a hotel group's commercial team should run on, each with its formula, the export it comes from and what it tells you: pace against the same date last year, corporate rate production against commitment, property penetration per corporate account, segment mix per property, group conversion and wash, meeting space utilisation, account coverage at cadence, channel cost per booking, displacement on group business, and corporate account concentration. Also the three measures most hotel sales teams miss, the figures to drop, the identities, and who owns what.
A hotel sells a fixed number of rooms each night, to segments that book at different times, under corporate rates given for volume that may not arrive. The measures that matter compare what is on the books with last year, and what each account produced with what it promised.
| # | Measure | Formula | Export | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pace against same date last year | Rooms and revenue on the books for a future month ÷ same at the equivalent date last year, by segment | Reservations data with booking dates | Which months and segments are behind |
| 2 | Corporate production against commitment | Room nights produced ÷ room nights committed, per account, year to date | Reservations by rate code; rate agreements | Discounts given for volume that did not come |
| 3 | Property penetration per account | Properties where the account stays ÷ group properties in the account's travel cities | Reservations; account travel pattern | Accounts staying with competitors in your cities |
| 4 | Segment mix per property | Room nights and revenue by corporate, group, leisure, contract; against plan and last year | Reservations data | Properties drifting to the wrong mix |
| 5 | Group conversion and wash | Group enquiries converted ÷ decided; rooms picked up ÷ rooms blocked | Sales and catering system | Lost group business; blocks that do not fill |
| 6 | Meeting space utilisation | Sold hours ÷ available hours, by room and day of week | Sales and catering system | Days and rooms nobody sells |
| 7 | Account coverage at cadence | Production of accounts contacted within cadence ÷ total managed production | CRM; reservations | Top accounts nobody has spoken to |
| 8 | Channel cost per booking | Commission and fees ÷ bookings and revenue, by channel | Reservations; commission statements | What each channel really costs |
| 9 | Displacement on group business | Transient revenue displaced on group dates against group revenue | Reservations; demand history | Groups that cost more than they bring |
| 10 | Corporate account concentration | Top ten accounts' share of corporate room nights | Reservations | Dependence on a few travel programmes |
Every one of these is computed per account, per property and sales manager, and in total, and every one carries an identity that must hold before the table is shown.
Production against commitment. Rates are negotiated annually and the promised volume is seldom checked during the year.
Property penetration. Each property reports its own accounts. Nobody lists where an account stays in the group and where it does not.
Pace by segment. Total pace looks fine while one segment falls behind.
An account committed 1,200 room nights for a 22 percent discount. With eight months gone it has produced 410: 51 percent of the pro rata commitment. All 410 are at one property. The group has hotels in four other cities on the account's travel pattern, producing nothing. The discount has cost about $38,000 against rack-adjusted rates this year, and the rate review is in ten weeks.
Occupancy alone. Without rate and segment it says little about sales.
Sales calls made. Coverage at cadence, by production.
Revenue against last month. Seasonal; use the same period last year and pace.
| Table | Must hold |
|---|---|
| Segments | Segment room nights sum to the property total; property totals to the group |
| Groups | Rooms blocked = picked up + washed + released |
| Accounts | Every negotiated rate code maps to one account |
| Space | Available hours = sold + unsold + out of service |
A table whose identity fails is a table with a row missing or counted twice. It is not shown until it is fixed.
| Measure | Owner | Reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Pace by segment | Revenue management with directors of sales | Weekly |
| Production against commitment; coverage | Sales managers; commercial director | Monthly |
| Group conversion and wash; meeting space | Directors of sales; events | Monthly |
| Penetration; channel cost; displacement; concentration | Commercial director | Quarterly |
A measure with no owner is a metric, not a KPI; see KPI versus metric versus measure.
Ten measures from reservations, rate agreements and the sales and catering system. Compare the books with the same date last year, and each account with what it promised. Covirage computes all of them from the exports hotel groups already produce, files only, with the definitions stated and the identities checked. See Covirage for hotel groups.
Bookings already on the books for a future stay date, compared with what was on the books for the equivalent date at the same point last year. It answers whether a future month is filling faster or slower than normal while there is still time to act. By segment, it shows which part of the business is behind.
A corporate account negotiates a discounted rate by promising volume, say 1,200 room nights a year. If it produces 400, it has had the discount without paying for it. Production against commitment, per account, is the evidence for the next rate negotiation and the list of accounts to visit.
Of the group's properties in cities where a corporate account travels, the share where that account actually stays. An account producing well at the flagship and nothing at the group's hotels in four other cities it visits weekly is a cross-sell list made of the group's own rooms.