Occupancy, ADR and RevPAR Explained for Hosts
The three numbers that tell you how a vacation rental is really doing, how to calculate them correctly, and the four mistakes that make them lie.
Revenue alone does not tell you whether a property is doing well. A good month can hide low prices, and a busy calendar can hide a rate that is too cheap. Three numbers, borrowed from the hotel industry, answer the question properly: occupancy, ADR and RevPAR.
Occupancy
Occupancy = nights sold ÷ nights available
It answers: how full was the property? A 30-night month with 21 nights sold has an occupancy of 70%.
ADR (Average Daily Rate)
ADR = room revenue ÷ nights sold
It answers: how much did I get for each night I sold? Room revenue is what guests paid for the stay itself, without the cleaning fee and the tourist tax: neither of them is the price of a night. If those 21 nights brought €2,520 of room revenue, the ADR is €120.
RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room)
RevPAR = room revenue ÷ nights available = ADR × occupancy
It answers: how much did each night I could have sold earn me? In our example, €2,520 ÷ 30 = €84, which is also €120 × 70%. RevPAR is the most honest of the three, because it punishes both a half-empty calendar and prices that are too low.
Why you need all three
- High occupancy, low ADR: you are probably too cheap. You fill the calendar, but each night earns little.
- High ADR, low occupancy: you may be too expensive, or your listing is not visible enough.
- RevPAR going up: the property is genuinely earning more, whatever the mix.
Four mistakes that make the numbers lie
Counting a stay in the month of check-in.: A stay from 28 March to 4 April has 4 nights in March and 3 in April. Put them all in March and both months are wrong.
Putting the cleaning fee in the ADR.: It makes short stays look like expensive nights.
Counting your own stays.: Nights you or your family use were not sold, and they were not available for sale either: leave them out of both sides.
Calculating occupancy per channel.: Your property is on Airbnb and Booking.com at the same time: the same night is offered on both. "Airbnb occupancy" does not exist; revenue, nights and ADR per channel do.
How EasyRentFlow calculates them
The Analytics page shows occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, gross revenue, owner payout and net earnings, by month and by quarter, for one property or all of them.
- Nights are attributed to the month in which they fall, not to the month of check-in.
- Owner and personal stays are excluded from both nights sold and nights available.
- You can filter by channel: revenue, nights and ADR follow the filter, while occupancy and RevPAR are hidden, because for a single channel they would be meaningless.
- Compare two years side by side, on the same axes.
See the analytics features or start a free trial.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good occupancy rate for a vacation rental?+
It depends on the market and the season. Look at occupancy together with ADR: a high occupancy with a low rate often means you are underpriced.
Should the cleaning fee be included in ADR?+
No. ADR measures the price of a night, so cleaning fees and tourist tax are left out.
Can I calculate occupancy per booking channel?+
Not meaningfully. The same nights are offered on every channel at once, so occupancy and RevPAR only exist for the property as a whole. Revenue, nights and ADR can be split by channel.