Hotel Revenue Glossary · Operations

Turnaway

A potential guest who is denied a reservation because the hotel has no availability. Turnaways are tracked by date, channel, and room type to quantify lost demand. The term is often used interchangeably with denial, though some properties distinguish between the two.

Why it matters: Tracking turnaways helps quantify uncaptured demand and informs future pricing strategy. Dates with high turnaways were likely underpriced — had rates been higher, the same occupancy would have been achieved with greater revenue.

Worked example: Friday sells out at 2pm with BAR at A$189 in a 140-room house. The booking engine and switchboard log 23 more enquiries that find nothing. 23 x A$189 = A$4,347, but treat that as theoretical capacity value, not lost revenue — you do not know what those 23 would have paid. What the count does prove is that demand ran past 140 rooms. Open the next Friday at A$205 and see whether you still fill.

Common mistake: Counting one shopper five times. A guest who tries the site at 9am, rings at noon and tries again that evening is one turnaway, not three, and channel logs will not deduplicate them for you. Inflated counts push rates up on dates that were never as tight as the report suggested.

All glossary terms Denied Revenue Regret & Denial Compression Night