Hotel Revenue Glossary · Operations

Length of Stay (LOS)

The number of nights a guest stays at the hotel. Average LOS is calculated by dividing total room nights sold by the number of reservations. LOS varies significantly by segment — leisure guests may stay 2-4 nights while business travelers often stay 1-2.

Why it matters: Longer stays reduce turnover costs and provide more stable occupancy. Revenue managers use LOS restrictions strategically — requiring minimum stays on high-demand dates to prevent short bookings from consuming inventory needed for longer, more valuable stays.

Worked example: Two hundred and forty reservations produced 528 room nights last month, so average LOS is 528 / 240 = 2.2 nights. Split it: 96 corporate reservations gave 122 nights, a 1.27 average, while 144 leisure reservations gave 406, an average of 2.82. Each arrival costs roughly A$29 in check-in labour, amenity and a full room set-up, so turning 20 one-night stays into two-night stays adds 20 rooms of revenue and removes A$580 of arrival cost.

Common mistake: Averaging LOS across the whole hotel and writing one minimum-stay rule from it. A 2.2-night average built out of 1.3-night corporate and 2.8-night leisure describes neither, and a two-night minimum on a Tuesday blocks exactly the business that fills Tuesdays. Set restrictions from the demand actually arriving on that date.

All glossary terms MLOS (Minimum Length of Stay) CTA (Closed to Arrival) Rate Fence