You're looking at Sample Bay Hotel, a made-up hotel with made-up bookings. Every page works the way it would for yours once your bookings are in. See how setup works
You're looking at Sample Bay Hotel, a made-up hotel with made-up bookings. Every page works the way it would for yours once your bookings are in. See how setup works
Every term on Ratevane in plain English, and why it matters for your pricing. Look for the small ? next to a term on your hotel pages, with a dashed underline under the term: tap or hover it for the short version.
From your own bookings, seen only by your hotel: Forecast, Plan and History.
Rooms already booked for a future night or month, as a share of the rooms the hotel has to sell (occupancy). It counts confirmed bookings only: a cancelled booking drops out on the day it was cancelled.
Why it matters: It is the earliest honest read on how a month will turn out, long before the guests arrive.
New bookings minus cancellations over a period, in room-nights (one room for one night). "Last 7 days +40" means the books grew by 40 room-nights this week. On the Forecast page it comes from your own bookings export, not from Ratevane's price checks.
Why it matters: If you are priced above competitors and pickup is slow, price is the likely reason. If pickup is strong, you can hold.
What is on the books now for a month, against the same month at the same point last year. "+6 pts" means 6 percentage points more of the hotel is booked than at this point last year.
Why it matters: A month can look empty today and still be on course. Comparing with the same point last year shows whether you are ahead or behind, months before the guests arrive.
Where the month is likely to end, worked out from your own bookings and shown as a likely range. Capped at 100%.
Why it matters: It turns this week's bookings into an estimate for the whole month, and the year, while there is still time to act.
The occupancy you are aiming for. By default Ratevane aims each hotel at 75% across the year, with 65–85% counted as healthy and break-even around 60%. Each month's target follows your own seasons, so a busy February aims higher than a quiet September, while the months still average the year's target. Every hotel is different: on the Forecast page you can set your own year's target, the range you are happy with and, if you like, your break-even. Months with too few bookings yet to judge are marked "too early to call".
Why it matters: Every hotel's right level is different: it depends on its rooms, its costs and its guests. Judging each month against your own seasons and your own range shows where you are really leaving money or rooms on the table.
Room revenue divided by the room-nights sold: the average price a guest actually paid per room per night, before tax. For an all-inclusive hotel it includes meals and drinks, so it is the package rate. This is the standard hotel-industry definition.
Why it matters: It shows what you really achieved, after discounts and tour-operator rates, rather than what you advertised.
Room revenue divided by every room you could have sold, booked or not. It is the same as occupancy × ADR. This is the standard hotel-industry definition.
Why it matters: It is the single number that balances price against occupancy: filling the hotel cheaply and keeping it half empty at a high rate can both give a poor RevPAR.
The public prices of the hotels you compete with, on their own websites, before tax, in USD.
The cheapest price a guest can book for one night, for 2 adults, on the hotel's own website, before tax. For longer stays (3 and 7 nights on key dates, 3 nights from Wednesdays, 7 nights from Saturdays) it is the average per night.
Why it matters: It is the number a guest compares when choosing between you and the hotel down the road, so it is the fairest single number to line hotels up on.
Before tax is the room price alone. All-in adds Barbados VAT, the service charge and any levy. Some hotels quote one, some the other; Ratevane converts everyone to before tax so they compare fairly. An all-in figure marked "est." is calculated, not quoted.
Why it matters: Comparing one hotel's all-in price with another's before-tax price would make the first look 20% dearer than it really is.
The hotel's full, undiscounted price for a room before any offer, like the price on the tag before a sale. We only show it when the hotel's own booking system states it.
Why it matters: It shows how much a hotel is discounting. A hotel selling at its rack rate is confident; one far below it is working hard to fill rooms.
How far below its own rack rate the hotel is selling tonight. -20% means guests pay 20% less than the full price. Calculated from the two prices, never taken from the hotel's marketing. Many hotels never show a full price; for them we can't tell whether they are discounting, and Ratevane doesn't guess.
Why it matters: A competitor starting a deep promo on your busy dates is often the first sign they are struggling to fill, or about to take your bookings.
The hotels you're compared with. You choose them when you join, starting from the hotels most like yours, and can change them at any time on the Competitors page. All-inclusive hotels are only compared with all-inclusive hotels, and room-only with room-only. A competitor we have no recent price for stays in your set and shows "?".
Why it matters: Comparing a 4-star beachfront hotel with a guesthouse inland is meaningless. A like-for-like group shows what guests choosing between similar options actually see.
The middle price of your competitors that can still be booked that night: half are cheaper, half are dearer. Unlike an average, one very expensive hotel cannot drag it up. Actions only compare you with it when at least 3 competitors have a price, or say exactly how few there are.
Why it matters: It is the "going rate" for your kind of hotel that night. Most actions compare your price against it.
The cheapest and dearest competitor still selling that night.
Why it matters: If you are cheaper than even the lowest, you are probably leaving money on the table.
How far your price is above or below your competitors' middle price, as a percentage. "12% above" means guests pay 12% more to stay with you than at the typical competitor.
Why it matters: A quick read of your position: −30% means guests see you as the bargain; +30% means you need a reason to be worth it.
Sold out: nothing can be booked for that stay on the hotel's own site, while the hotel is selling the dates around it. A minimum-stay rule is not counted as a sell-out. In the default view, "sold out" can also mean the hotel's standard rooms are gone while dearer rooms remain. Not on sale: the hotel can't be booked and isn't selling the dates around it either, hasn't put prices that far ahead online yet, shows rooms left with online sales switched off, or only sells longer stays for those dates. Where the hotel's booking system says which it is, Ratevane uses that. Closed: in the off-season, a hotel that can't be booked for a run of nights, which almost always means it has closed for a few weeks.
Why it matters: When many competitors are sold out, guests have fewer choices and the hotels still selling can charge more. This is called compression. Hotels that are closed or not on sale are counted separately and left out of every sold-out share, because they are not competing for those guests at all.
High season in Barbados runs roughly mid-December to mid-April. Off-season, the ones that stay open usually hold their rates rather than discount, and many close for a few weeks, almost always between September and November.
Why it matters: Off-season, a competitor you can't book is more likely closed than sold out, so Ratevane never tells you to drop your price then. Deep discounts bring in guests who don't fit the hotel and train people to wait for deals.
When a large share of the market is sold out for the same dates.
Why it matters: It is the clearest signal to raise prices: demand is still there, but supply is running out.
How many rooms the hotel's booking system says it can still sell for that stay. The red dot marks 3 or fewer. Some hotels cap what they show online, so it can be lower than the real number.
Why it matters: A competitor down to its last rooms is about to sell out, which pushes guests to you.
The fewest nights a hotel will accept for an arrival date, for example 3 nights minimum. Where a hotel only sells longer stays on a date, the night shows the price per night of the shortest stay we could book, tagged "3-night min" for example, instead of "sold out".
Why it matters: A minimum-stay rule is not a sell-out. And if your minimum is longer than what guests search for, you are invisible to them on that date.
The cheapest standard room is a hotel's cheapest ordinary room, and it is what every page shows unless you pick another group. A hotel that only sells suites or villas shows its cheapest unit instead. Ocean view is any room sold as facing the sea or on the beachfront. Suites covers suites, one- and two-bedroom units, penthouses and villas. Member-only, mobile-only and package rates are left out.
Why it matters: An ocean-view room should be compared with other ocean-view rooms, not with a competitor's cheapest garden room.
Every price is the cheapest rate the hotel sells for that stay. For almost every hotel that is room only; a few include breakfast. All-inclusive hotels (meals and drinks included) form their own group.
Why it matters: An all-inclusive price can be double a room-only price for the same hotel standard, so all-inclusive hotels are only ever compared with other all-inclusive hotels.
Eight dates through the year: Independence weekend, early December, Christmas and New Year, mid-January, UK February half-term, Easter, mid-June (low season) and Crop Over, each for a short break and a week. On top of those, a week starting every Saturday across the next 12 months shows the whole season.
Why it matters: Barbados hotels price by season far more than by day of the week: a Christmas week can cost nearly twice a June week. A few peak weeks earn a large part of the year's revenue, and the low season shows the floor.
When the price was last confirmed on the hotel's own website. Prices are re-checked regularly.
Why it matters: Prices change, so a price we couldn't re-confirm recently is hidden rather than shown out of date.
We could not get a trustworthy price: the hotel's site did not answer, we have not been able to check it recently, or the number looked wrong.
Why it matters: A wrong number is worse than no number, so we leave it blank rather than guess.
Direct is the price on the hotel's own website. OTA ("online travel agent") price is what Booking.com, Expedia or Google show, which can differ.
Why it matters: Direct prices are what hotels control, so every price on Ratevane is the direct price from the hotel's own website.
Raise: you look underpriced for those dates. Check: something is worth a second look, such as a deep promo while the market fills, or holding your rate while off-season competitors close. Watch: a risk to keep an eye on, such as being well above competitors who all still have rooms in high season. Off-season, Ratevane never suggests dropping your price. Price actions need at least 3 competitors with a price that night, unless most are closed, and then they say how many are still selling.
Why it matters: They turn hundreds of prices into the few decisions worth your time today.