Most hotel owners track occupancy and daily revenue. The ones who grow profitability fastest track 10 specific numbers — each one revealing a different aspect of where the hotel is performing and where it is leaking. Here is the full guide.
Occupancy is the metric most hotel owners watch most closely. It is also the most misleading. A hotel at 88% occupancy with a poor channel mix, weak rate discipline, and no direct bookings earns less than a hotel at 70% occupancy with strong ADR, a good direct mix, and tight cost control.
Tracking occupancy alone tells you how many rooms you filled. It doesn't tell you whether you priced them correctly, whether you collected them efficiently, or whether you're building a sustainable business. These 10 KPIs tell you all of that.
1. RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room)
Formula: Total room revenue ÷ Available room nights. The single most useful revenue metric because it combines rate and occupancy into one number. Compare it month-over-month and year-over-year. A growing RevPAR trend is the sign of a healthy pricing and distribution strategy.
2. ADR (Average Daily Rate)
Formula: Total room revenue ÷ Rooms sold. Your average selling price per room. Track it separately for weekdays versus weekends, and by booking channel. If your weekday ADR and weekend ADR are within ₹200 of each other, you have a rate strategy gap — weekend demand in most Indian destinations supports 30–45% higher ADR than weekdays.
3. Net ADR by channel
Formula: (Room revenue from channel − Commission paid) ÷ Rooms sold from that channel. This is the KPI most Indian hotels never calculate — and the one that reveals the true profitability of each distribution channel. An MakeMyTrip booking at ₹5,000 with 18% commission has a Net ADR of ₹4,100. A direct booking at ₹4,800 has a Net ADR of ₹4,752. Which channel is actually more valuable?
4. OTA commission as % of room revenue
Formula: Total OTA commission paid ÷ Total room revenue. Track this monthly. If it is above 12%, your direct channel development is behind where it needs to be. If it is above 16%, OTA dependency is a significant margin problem that should be the top commercial priority.
5. Direct booking percentage
Formula: Direct bookings ÷ Total bookings. Track the trend month over month. A growing direct percentage — even from 20% to 25% over 6 months — is meaningful progress that compounds. A flat or declining direct percentage despite good occupancy is a warning sign.
6. Cancellation rate by channel
Formula: Cancellations ÷ Bookings for each channel. OTA bookings typically cancel at 20–35% in Indian markets. Direct bookings cancel at 8–15%. This is one of the hidden costs of OTA dependency that rarely appears in standard reporting but has a real impact on revenue predictability and operational planning.
7. Average length of stay
Formula: Total room nights stayed ÷ Number of bookings. Longer stays are more efficient — lower housekeeping cost per night, lower acquisition cost amortised over more nights, and more revenue per booking. If your average length of stay is 1.3 nights and you are a leisure destination, there is a packaging and minimum-stay opportunity worth exploring.
8. Revenue per occupied room (RevPOR)
Formula: Total revenue (rooms + F&B + other) ÷ Occupied room nights. This tells you how much each guest is spending beyond the room rate. If your RevPOR is close to your ADR, guests are staying and leaving without spending on food, spa, or activities — an upsell gap.
9. Guest acquisition cost
Formula: Total distribution cost (OTA commission + Google Ads + other marketing) ÷ Number of bookings. Track this by channel. OTA acquisition cost per booking is predictable (commission %). Direct acquisition cost includes your booking engine cost, Google Ads spend, and content investment. As your direct channel matures, acquisition cost per direct booking typically falls — the infrastructure cost is fixed while bookings grow.
10. Review score trend
Not just the current score — the trend. A property moving from 4.1 to 4.4 over 6 months is building OTA ranking advantage. A property stuck at 4.2 for 18 months with review velocity declining is losing ranking. Track: current score, average reviews per month, and score 6 months ago versus today.
These 10 KPIs are useful individually. They are powerful when reviewed together monthly as a coherent picture of the hotel's commercial health. A suggested monthly review structure:
A 90-minute monthly review covering these KPIs will tell you more about the health of your hotel business than a year of daily occupancy reports.
Book a 30-minute session — we will walk through your specific hotel and show you exactly where the gaps are.
