Work by stay date
Monthly occupancy hides differences between dates. Separate weekdays, events and segments. Review bookings on hand, available inventory and time to arrival for each relevant date.
Set boundaries and exceptions
The team should understand the minimum acceptable rate, review increment and exceptions. An occupancy threshold alone is not a strategy. Seventy percent three months ahead differs from seventy percent the day before arrival. Consider booking pace and cancellations.
Work through a scenario
For a date 30 days away, 50 of 100 rooms are booked. Weekly pick-up is 12, compared with a comparable 6. This invites a rate review, not an automatic increase. Check whether a one-off group caused the movement and whether nearby dates behave similarly.
Read competitor rates carefully
Compare equivalent rooms, meals, guest counts and cancellation terms. A higher offer price does not establish achieved sales. HotelMatrix rate monitoring adds context to hotel data; benchmarking against an available set helps assess actual performance.
Identify where changes are executed
Analysis and publishing rates are separate actions. The responsible employee implements the decision in the sales system and checks channel results. Do not assume automatic rate distribution without a confirmed integration.
Review revenue and contribution
After a change, review new bookings, ADR, RevPAR, cancellations and acquisition costs. Compare similar periods. If there is no response, revisit the hypothesis rather than continuing identical increases mechanically.
Document the rule as signal → check → decision → owner → review date.