Occupancy rate, ADR and RevPAR for short-term rentals: one worked month
Three numbers describe how well a short-term rental is performing in any given month. Occupancy rate tells you what share of your available nights were actually booked. Average Daily Rate (ADR) tells you the average nightly rate you earned on those booked nights. RevPAR (Revenue Per Available night) combines both into a single figure: how much revenue you generated per night that was open for booking. Together they let you compare months, properties, or strategies without mixing up price and volume.
What each number means
- Occupancy rate is the fraction of your available nights that produced a booking. A higher occupancy means more of your calendar is filled; a lower one means more empty nights.
- ADR is the average nightly rate you charged, weighted by the actual nights booked. It reflects pricing, not volume: two months can have the same ADR but very different total revenue if one had far more bookings.
- RevPAR divides your total nightly-rate revenue by the number of available nights. It captures both how full the calendar was and what you charged, so a single number tells you the earning power of each open night.
The formulas in plain words
- Count the days in the month and subtract any nights you blocked yourself (owner use, maintenance, etc.). The result is your available nights.
- Occupancy = booked nights ÷ available nights. Express as a percentage.
- ADR = nightly-rate revenue ÷ booked nights. This is the average rate per stay night, not per calendar day.
- RevPAR = nightly-rate revenue ÷ available nights. Equivalently, RevPAR = ADR × occupancy, which gives you a built-in check on your arithmetic.
Example numbers
A host has a 30-day month with 3 nights blocked by the owner, leaving 27 available nights. Cleaning fees are excluded from revenue throughout.
| Item | Month A | Month B |
|---|---|---|
| Days in month | 30 | 30 |
| Owner-blocked nights | 3 | 3 |
| Available nights (30 − 3) | 27 | 27 |
| Booked nights | 19 | 23 |
| Nightly-rate revenue (cleaning fees excluded) | $2,755.00 | $2,990.00 |
| Occupancy (booked ÷ available) | 70.4% | 85.2% |
| ADR (revenue ÷ booked) | $145.00 | $130.00 |
| RevPAR (revenue ÷ available) | $102.04 | $110.74 |
| Check: ADR × occupancy | $145.00 × 70.4% = $102.04 | $130.00 × 85.2% = $110.74 |
Both months pass the identity check: multiplying ADR by occupancy reproduces RevPAR to the cent.
Why Month B earns more per available night at a lower ADR
Month B's ADR of $130.00 is below Month A's $145.00, yet its RevPAR of $110.74 exceeds Month A's $102.04. The reason is occupancy: 85.2% versus 70.4%. Four extra booked nights (23 versus 19) spread the revenue across the same 27 available nights, lifting the per-available-night figure even though each individual night earned less. RevPAR rewards a fuller calendar; ADR alone does not.
Conventions used in this guide
Two conventions shape every number above:
- Owner-blocked nights count as unavailable. If you take 3 nights for yourself or set them aside for maintenance, they are subtracted from the days in the month before any ratio is computed. Other tools may treat blocked nights differently — some exclude them entirely, others include them in the denominator without a separate label.
- Cleaning fees are left out of revenue. The revenue figures here are nightly-rate income only. Cleaning fees, service charges, and similar add-ons are not included. Some platforms or spreadsheets fold those into a gross-revenue line; this guide keeps them separate so ADR reflects the rate you actually set for the stay.
No specific tool is assumed. If your spreadsheet or booking platform defines revenue or available nights differently, substitute your own definitions and the same formulas still apply.
How to use these three numbers together
Compare months by RevPAR first: it tells you whether a month was more or less productive per open night regardless of how pricing and volume moved. Then look at ADR and occupancy separately to understand why. A rising RevPAR driven by higher ADR with flat occupancy means your pricing is working. A rising RevPAR driven by higher occupancy with flat or lower ADR means you are filling the calendar better, possibly through a small rate concession. Either path can be healthy; knowing which one you are on helps you decide where to focus next.
This is general bookkeeping math, not tax or financial advice.
The STR Host Profit Tracker does this arithmetic for one short-term rental: enter your own numbers and it shows annual net income, cash-on-cash return and cap rate.