The Journal
How-to guides
Step-by-step guides to the day-to-day of running a small property — channels, calendars, rates and the systems behind them.
How-to guidesRevPAR Calculator: Work Out Your Number, Then Find Out Whether It's Any Good
The arithmetic takes a second: room revenue divided by available room nights. The useful part is what comes next — whether £80.67 is a good number for a twelve-room house in September, or a poor one.Harris8 min read
How-to guidesDirect Bookings vs OTA Commission: What a Booking Is Really Worth
A £220 booking is worth anywhere between £155 and £216 depending on which channel it arrived through. Here is how to work out the real take rate of each one, what shifting your mix is actually worth, and why net RevPAR is the only number that matches your bank account.Harris9 min read
How-to guidesHow to Increase RevPAR at a Small Hotel (Without Cutting Your Rates)
Discounting to chase occupancy is how a small hotel makes less money while looking busier. Six levers that lift RevPAR without touching your headline rate — and a 30-day plan for working through them.Harris9 min read
How-to guidesOccupancy, ADR and RevPAR: How to Calculate the Three Numbers That Matter
Occupancy tells you how full you were, ADR what you charged, RevPAR what your rooms actually earned. The formulas, a worked example for a 12-room guest house, the UK benchmarks worth measuring against, and the mistakes that quietly skew the numbers.Harris6 min read
How-to guidesHow to Sync Booking.com and Airbnb Calendars (And When iCal Stops Working)
iCal keeps a single cottage's dates straight across Booking.com and Airbnb for free. Here is how to set it up in both directions, what it quietly will not do, and the point where it stops being the cheap option.Harris8 min read