Occupancy, rate, revenue and cost metrics every General Manager, Director of Operations and F&B leader needs to know cold — with the exact formulas and worked examples behind each one.
Ask any owner or asset manager what they want from a General Manager, and the answer always comes back to the same handful of numbers. You can run a beautiful property with happy guests and a motivated team, but if you can't speak fluently in Occupancy Rate, ADR, RevPAR, Food Cost %, Labour Cost %, GOP and GOPPAR, you won't survive an ownership review.
These seven metrics are the backbone of every hotel P&L conversation. Below is each one broken down with its formula and a worked example, so you can calculate it on the spot in any meeting.
Measures the percentage of available rooms that are sold on a given night or period.
Occupancy Rate (%) = (Rooms Sold ÷ Total Rooms Available) × 100
Rooms Sold = 120
Rooms Available = 150
Occupancy Rate = 80%
Measures the average revenue earned per occupied room.
ADR = Total Room Revenue ÷ Rooms Sold
Room Revenue = $18,000
Rooms Sold = 120
ADR = $150
Measures how much revenue is generated per available room, combining occupancy and pricing into one number.
RevPAR = Total Room Revenue ÷ Total Rooms Available
OR
RevPAR = ADR × Occupancy Rate
Revenue = $18,000
Rooms Available = 150
RevPAR = $120
Measures the percentage of food sales spent on ingredients.
Food Cost % = (Cost of Food Sold ÷ Food Sales) × 100
Well-run kitchens typically operate between 25% – 35%
Measures how much of total revenue is spent on staff wages.
Labour Cost % = (Total Labour Cost ÷ Total Revenue) × 100
Healthy operations generally sit between 20% – 30%
Shows profit after deducting operating expenses from total revenue — the single most important number to ownership.
GOP = Total Revenue − Total Operating Expenses
Higher GOP = Better hotel profitability
Measures profit earned per available room — the metric that ties operating efficiency directly to property size.
GOPPAR = GOP ÷ Total Rooms Available
The clearest single benchmark for comparing profitability across properties of different sizes.
Bottom line: Occupancy Rate and ADR tell you what's happening at the front door. RevPAR tells you how well you're balancing the two. Food Cost % and Labour Cost % tell you how disciplined your operation is. GOP and GOPPAR tell you, in one line, whether all of it actually worked.
Track these seven numbers weekly, not just at month-end. By the time a P&L lands on your desk, the decisions that could have protected it are already three weeks old.