5 quick ways to turn hotel benchmarking into daily action

You might know that your RevPAR index has slipped, but not whether it’s linked to a specific segment, booking lead time, or stay pattern.

The good news is that benchmarking has moved on.

With daily refreshes, customizable compsets, and granular breakdowns by segment or stay pattern, it can now give you clear signals you can actually act on.

In this article, we’ll look at five simple ways hoteliers are using these insights day-to-day, quick checks that turn benchmarking from a static report into a practical guide for better decisions - and because benchmarking often starts with a question, well, let’s do that!

What does my pace look like compared to the competition?

Pace is one of the clearest signals of where your hotel is headed. It’s one thing to know how many bookings you have on the books; it’s another to see how that compares with your compset for the same stay dates. The pace graph in Benchmark Insight gives you that side-by-side view.

In the example above, the hotel is pacing at 53% occupancy for August 15. That’s slightly ahead of last year’s 52%, but the Smart Compset is already trending higher in rate, with ADR at £333 compared to the hotel’s £297.

With occupancy and ADR shown together, it’s easy to see not just how many rooms are sold, but whether you’re matching the quality of bookings your competitors are bringing in.

How do we rank for corporate negotiated business?

Not all segments contribute equally to performance, and corporate accounts are often the most valuable. Benchmark Insight’s segmentation view makes it easy to see how you rank against your compset in this area.

In this case, Corporate Negotiated stands out: the hotel is capturing 24.7% of its occupancy from this segment, compared to 7.9% for the Smart Compset. That’s more than three times its “fair share” and a clear sign of strength. But the same view could just as easily reveal if you were losing share. 

For a revenue manager preparing for RFP season (contract renewals), this kind of detail is crucial: it shows whether you’re holding your ground in a key segment or whether you need to rethink your approach before negotiations begin.

What are the most profitable lengths of stay for our compset?

Occupancy shows you how full the hotel is, but length of stay shows how valuable those bookings really are. The LOS view in Benchmark Insight highlights which stay patterns matter most across your market and your compset.

In this case, the compset is picking up more three-night stays, while this hotel relies more on four-night stays. The compset also captures more twos and fives, creating a broader mix. 

That contrast points to opportunities: you could test a package to capture more three-night demand, or add an incentive for shorter stays to extend, helping to rebalance your mix toward where the compset is already gaining.

Can we identify need dates for our next strategy meeting?

Strategy discussions work best when the team can focus on specific problem dates rather than broad trends. Benchmark Insight’s performance overview makes that easy by showing where your RGI drops below 100 and you are losing share against your competitors.

In this view, for the upcoming month, several dates stand out where the hotel’s RevPAR falls below its Smart Compset and below the same period last year. On those nights, the RGI line dips under 100, confirming the underperformance. 

Honing in on those dates gives the revenue team a clear agenda: which nights need extra attention, and where to test solutions like targeted offers or adjusted rates.

Just as importantly, comparing against the same time last year for both your hotel and the compset shows whether a dip is specific to you or part of a wider market trend, a crucial distinction when deciding how to respond.

How does our pickup compare to last year and the competition?

Pickup is one of the fastest ways to see if momentum is on your side. In this case, the hotel’s group share looks healthy overall, but the compset is picking up business group bookings more quickly.

Against last year, the hotel is only marginally ahead, while the compset has widened the gap.

If both you and the compset are behind last year, it points to softer demand in the market. But if your competitors are outpacing you now, it’s a signal that share is shifting away.

Seeing both comparisons together helps you decide whether the answer lies in adjusting strategy or simply recognising a wider market trend.

Conclusion

Each of these examples begins with a question: are we pacing ahead or behind, which segments are carrying us, where are the gaps in stay patterns, which dates need attention, and how is our pickup trending?

On their own, those are the same questions revenue managers have always asked. The difference now is that the answers are clearer, faster, and easier to act on.

That makes benchmarking less of a report you glance at after the fact, and more of a tool you can use in your daily workflow.

The benefit isn’t in simply having more data for the sake of it, but in being able to see context quickly and make adjustments while there’s still time to influence results.

In practice, this means revenue discussions are no longer about identifying problems but about deciding on the best strategies to respond to the realities of the market.

Would you like to see it in action? Give Benchmark Insight a try