Hotel Pickup: what it is, how to read it and why it matters more than revenue
by francesco d'acunto
In day-to-day work with hotel properties, it is common to come across reports filled with indicators: revenue, ADR, occupancy, RevPAR. These are fundamental KPIs for performance evaluation, but in most cases they describe what has already happened.
The problem is that they almost always tell the story of the past. Pickup, instead, describes the present as it turns into the future.
This is why, when interpreted correctly, it is one of the most powerful (and most underestimated) tools in Revenue Management.
What hotel pickup is
Pickup refers to the variation in bookings over a specific period of time.
In practice, it answers a very concrete question: How many bookings have been made (or cancelled) from one date to the next?
It is not a cumulative value, it is not a total, and it is not a forecast: it is the real movement of demand.
Example: on March 1st the hotel has €100,000 in bookings; on March 8th it has €120,000. The weekly pickup is +€20,000.
Simple. Yet extremely powerful.
Of course, the data should then be analysed in more detail (sales channel, ADR, etc.), but for now let’s leave that aside.
Cumulative pickup and weekly pickup: don’t confuse them
One of the most common mistakes is using pickup incorrectly.
While weekly pickup measures the variation between two consecutive dates, allowing you to “read” the booking pace and, if necessary, intervene on pricing and distribution, cumulative pickup shows the total amount booked up to a certain date.
It is useful for an overall snapshot, not for decision-making.
Why pickup matters more than revenue
Revenue tells you how much you have sold, pickup tells you how you are selling.
For example, two hotels may have the same revenue today, but one shows a steady and healthy pickup, while the other experiences sudden peaks and dangerous gaps. Only in the first case is revenue truly under control.
Pickup allows you to:
• anticipate drops in demand
• measure the real impact of a promotion
• understand whether a rate is working
• assess the quality of the booking window
How to read a pickup chart correctly
A good pickup chart should not be designed to “look impressive”, but to be understood.
Some key principles:
• compare like-for-like periods (same weeks)
• separate pickup from cumulative data
• highlight real variations, not totals
• read trends, not single data points
A negative pickup is not always a problem: it becomes one when it is recurring and unexplained.
Likewise, a positive pickup can hide several pitfalls: it may indicate rates that are too low or demand being pulled too far in advance. This is why pickup should always be analysed together with ADR, booking window, sales channel and cancellation rate.
Without context, the number alone means nothing.
Why many hotels look at pickup but don’t really use it
Often pickup is reviewed only at the end of the month, not compared with historical data and, above all, without a clear method of interpretation or a direct link to operational decisions.
Do you want to understand whether your hotel’s pickup is telling the right story?
Book a call or get in touch for a quick discussion.
If you are interested in hotel pickup, the following articles explore some of the variables that directly affect how pickup data should be read and interpreted.
Cancellations in Revenue Management: mistakes to avoid. An in-depth look at how cancellation rates impact the real quality of pickup and the interpretation of demand.
How to properly calculate a hotel’s direct conversion rate: a useful resource to better connect pickup analysis with sales channels and booking engine performance.
Revenue Manager vs Revenue Management System: a reflection on the role of human analysis versus automated systems when interpreting hotel data.
How to improve your hotel’s performance: a guide to hotel audits: an article that helps clarify when a structured data analysis is needed to identify performance issues and opportunities.
Artificial intelligence and Revenue Management: an overview of how advanced tools can support — but not replace — the interpretation of pickup data.
