Hotel Revenue Glossary · Demand

Pickup

The change in rooms on-the-books between two points in time for a specific future date. Positive pickup means new reservations exceeded cancellations; negative pickup means more rooms were cancelled than booked.

Why it matters: Pickup is the primary demand signal used in daily revenue management. Monitoring pickup trends allows revenue managers to detect demand changes early and adjust pricing, restrictions, or marketing in response.

Worked example: Friday 14 November held 62 rooms at Monday's capture and 71 at Tuesday's, so pickup is 71 - 62 = +9. Look underneath: eleven new reservations arrived and two cancelled, so gross pickup was 11 and net was 9. If the eleven booked at A$225 and the two cancellations were corporate at A$310, revenue moved 11 x 225 - 2 x 310 = +A$1,855 on those nine rooms.

Common mistake: Treating one day's pickup as a trend. Nine rooms on a Friday eight weeks out means nothing until you know that the same Friday usually picks up two or three at that lead time. Compare pickup with the usual pickup for that day of week and that many days out, never with zero.

All glossary terms Pace OTB (On The Books) Booking Window (Lead Time)