Know your numbers
2 min read
You do not need a finance degree to run a profitable rental. You need three numbers, checked with a little discipline. Everything else is commentary.
The three that matter
Occupancy is the share of your available nights that actually got booked. ADR, the average daily rate, is what an average booked night earned you. RevPAR, revenue per available rental, is what every night earned you whether it was booked or not, so it catches both cheap rates and empty calendars in a single figure. High occupancy with a weak ADR usually means you are too cheap. A strong ADR with low occupancy means you might be too dear, or simply invisible. RevPAR is the number that settles the argument.
Where to find them
The Revenue report shows all three alongside the money itself: gross revenue, room revenue, what has been paid and what is still outstanding, plus the taxes and fees inside your totals. You can filter by property and by period, so comparing this June against last June takes seconds rather than a spreadsheet session.
Two more worth a glance
The Occupancy report goes deeper on one dimension, with occupancy percentage and booked nights over time. The Booking Pace report shows how far ahead your bookings arrive, which tells you when to worry. If August normally fills by May and this year it has not, pace shows you the gap while there is still time to act on it.
Monthly, not daily
Daily numbers twitch. One cancellation ruins a Tuesday and means nothing by Friday. Check your reports monthly, compare against the same month last year, and act on trends rather than blips. If you are on the Pro plan you can export the reports, which your accountant will appreciate far more than screenshots.
Pick a date, the first of the month works well, and give the numbers fifteen quiet minutes. That habit will teach you more about your business than any guru.