A simple guide to understanding RevPOLU
Hotel leaders are constantly focused on generating revenue, but how much of that revenue truly makes its way to the bottom line? One of the critical factors in this equation is how well the major resources, such as labor, food, and utilities, are aligned with the business demand and activity. Misalignment can lead to wasted resources and reduced profitability.
So, how can you effectively align, measure, and manage these vital cost drivers? A key metric that specifically tackles labor costs is RevPOLU (revenue per operational labor unit). Understanding and applying RevPOLU could be the difference between simply generating revenue and ensuring that revenue contributes directly to your profit.
RevPOLU is a crucial metric for unlocking greater efficiency and profitability, as labor is the most significant and manageable daily cost item on the P&L. But what exactly does RevPOLU mean, and how can it enhance your hotel’s performance?
Let’s start with the basics.
What is RevPOLU?
RevPOLU is a measure of how much revenue your hotel generates for every hour of labor worked. It’s calculated by dividing the total revenue from all your operations by the total number of hours worked by your staff, both productive and non-productive hours. In simple terms, it tells you how effectively your labor force is being used to generate income.
This simple calculation provides powerful insights into your hotel’s efficiency. But to truly appreciate the significance of RevPOLU, it’s important to first understand the concept of productivity.
What is productivity?
Productivity is about the output you get for the input you provide. In the context of hotel operations, this means how efficiently your staff’s work is being converted into desired outcomes, like generating revenue. The more you can achieve with the same amount of labor, the higher your productivity.
Examples of productivity
In the kitchen: Productivity might be measured by how much food revenue (output) is generated per hour worked by the kitchen staff (input). If the kitchen produces €2,080 in revenue for one day, with 5 people working for 8 hours, the total revenue is divided by 5 (people) then divided by 8 (hours) which yields €52 per labor hour. This gives a clear measure of productivity.
In housekeeping: It’s about how many rooms are cleaned (output) per hour worked by housekeeping staff (input). If 6 housekeeping staff members clean 115 rooms in 8 hours, they would average 2.4 rooms per person per hour worked (115 divided by 6 divided by 8). This gives a productivity rate of 2.4. If there were 8 staff members cleaning 115 rooms for 8 hours, this would lower the productivity rate to 1.8 (rooms per hour).
These examples highlight the importance of aligning labor hours with business activity. When you maximize productivity, you ensure that resources are used as efficiently as possible, keeping costs in check while delivering the necessary output.
How does RevPOLU enhance productivity?
RevPOLU goes beyond just measuring productivity—it helps you optimize it. Our PMI software is designed to maximize the output from the hours your staff works, directly impacting your hotel’s profitability. By focusing on RevPOLU, you’re not just looking at how hard your staff are working, you’re looking at how effectively that work is turning into revenue.
The aim with RevPOLU
The goal for your organisation is to grow your RevPOLU metric over time. After PMI is fully implemented at your property, you will be able to actively grow this metric for each of your hotels, as shown in the graph below. The yellow line indicates the number of hours worked per occupied room and the blue line indicates the revenue generated per hour worked for this hotel. You can see the lines begin to shift directions after PMI Go-live.
Image description: The revenue generated per hour worked increases after the PMI Go-Live date.
Why is this important?
In low seasons: Even when business is slow, RevPOLU can remain strong when you align your staff’s work hours with actual business demand. PMI helps you adjust staffing levels dynamically, so you’re not overspending on labor when revenue is lower.
In high seasons: During peak periods, a high RevPOLU ensures that you’re capturing all available revenue efficiently, maximizing profitability when it matters most. PMI enables you to manage this with precision, ensuring your resources are deployed where and when they’re most needed.
A GM’s role in making RevPOLU work
A hotel executive or general manager’s leadership is crucial to making RevPOLU a successful key performance indicator (KPI) in your organization.
How to make it work effectively with PMI:
Champion the concept: Understand and communicate the importance of RevPOLU to your team. A GM’s role is to ensure that everyone understands that it’s not about working harder, but working smarter—making sure every hour worked is aligned with revenue generation. PMI provides the data and insights you need to drive this message home.
Drive implementation with PMI: Work closely with department heads to implement strategies that enhance productivity based on RevPOLU insights provided by PMI. This could involve adjusting staffing levels to match business demand more closely, ensuring that labor costs are controlled without sacrificing service quality.
Monitor and adjust using PMI: Regularly review RevPOLU metrics in PMI and be prepared to adjust as needed. If a particular department is underperforming, PMI can help you pinpoint the issue and take corrective action. A hands-on approach in this area will make a significant difference.
Foster accountability with PMI: Cultivate a culture where department heads and team members recognize that effective planning and staffing, aligned with daily business demand, directly impact the hotel’s productivity and profitability. PMI’s reporting features can help set clear expectations and track performance, encouraging your team to take ownership of their numbers and strive for continuous improvement.
Invest in training in PMI: Equip your team with the knowledge and tools they need to optimize productivity using PMI. This might include training on how to use PMI effectively or developing new processes that streamline operations based on PMI’s insights.
By leveraging PMI in these ways, you can ensure that RevPOLU is more than just a metric, and becomes a driving force for operational efficiency and effectiveness in your organisation. The result? Lower labor costs, higher profitability, consistent service quality, and a more responsive organization that’s better positioned to succeed in a competitive, ever-changing market.
The bottom line
Understanding and using RevPOLU effectively, with the support of PMI, is key to improving your hotel’s performance. It’s a powerful tool, translated into easily followed guidelines, that helps you align your labor resources with your business needs, ensuring that your operations are both efficient and profitable. Your leadership, coupled with the strategic use of PMI, is essential for driving the kind of results that will have a lasting positive impact on your hotel’s financial health.
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Getting started
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- Arrivals/Departures
- Data elements required from PMS
- Manual Export PMS – Fidelio
- How to do a manual PMS export from Opera
- Manual Export PMS – Picasso
- Manual Export PMS – Protel
- Manual Export PMS – Spirit Web
- PMS – Cenium
- PMS – Citybreak
- PMS – Fidelio
- PMS – Opera
- PMS – Protel
- How to do a manual PMS export from HotSoft
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Video tutorials
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- Administration Labor cockpit [14:49]
- Bar and Pub Labor cockpit [12:21]
- Breakfast Labor cockpit [12:05]
- Consolidated view in Benchmarking and Management Perspective [3:20]
- Flash Report Onboarding [6:27]
- Flash report overview [2:25]
- Food cost cockpit [6:21]
- Kitchen Labor cockpit [11:28]
- Labor Cockpit Onboarding [18:16]
- Labor cockpit overview [3:12]
- Live forecast 1/5 navigation [5:05]
- Live Forecast 2/5 Rooms [5:05]
- Live forecast 3/5 meeting & event [5:40]
- Live forecast 4/5 food & beverage [6:11]
- Live forecast 5/5 breakfast [7:19]
- Live forecast onboarding [6:06]
- Live forecast overview [2:58]
- Management perspective overview [3:06]
- P&L Planning 1/10 Purpose and benefits [2:25]
- P&L Planning 10/10 How to approve forecast and budget or target [2:34]
- P&L Planning 2/10 Navigation [4:26]
- P&L Planning 3/10 How to build a total [4:29]
- P&L Planning 4/10 Three ways of inserting figures [4:32]
- P&L Planning 5/10 How to add a sub account [1:42]
- P&L Planning 6/10 How to build a constant [2:42]
- P&L Planning 7/10 Staff module [2:48]
- P&L Planning 8/10 How to add a staff member [1:33]
- P&L Planning 9/10 How to revise and submit a forecast [3:01]
- PMI Planning Staff Module Overview [3:07]
- Repair and Maintenance Labor cockpit [13:01]
- Restaurant Labor cockpit [12:30]
- Schedule 1/8 Navigation [5:12]
- Schedule 2/8 How to create a labor cockpit schedule [4:29]
- Schedule 3/8 How to add a team member [2:07]
- Schedule 4/8 How to create a shift code [3:30]
- Schedule 5/8 How to add shift codes to team members [3:41]
- Schedule 6/8 How to create a rotating schedule [3:20]
- Schedule 7/8 How to replace shift codes for a period [2:00]
- Schedule 8/8 How to create split shifts between departments [2:42]
- Stewarding Labor cockpit [11:38]
- Timesheet Onboarding [4:14]
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- Articles coming soon
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- Administration Labor cockpit [14:49]
- Bar and Pub Labor cockpit [12:21]
- Breakfast Labor cockpit [12:05]
- Food cost cockpit [6:21]
- Front office Labor cockpit [12:05]
- Housekeeping Labor cockpit [11:20]
- Kitchen Labor cockpit [11:28]
- Labor Cockpit Onboarding [18:16]
- Labor cockpit overview [3:12]
- Repair and Maintenance Labor cockpit [13:01]
- Restaurant Labor cockpit [12:30]
- Schedule 1/8 Navigation [5:12]
- Schedule 2/8 How to create a labor cockpit schedule [4:29]
- Schedule 3/8 How to add a team member [2:07]
- Schedule 4/8 How to create a shift code [3:30]
- Schedule 5/8 How to add shift codes to team members [3:41]
- Schedule 6/8 How to create a rotating schedule [3:20]
- Schedule 7/8 How to replace shift codes for a period [2:00]
- Schedule 8/8 How to create split shifts between departments [2:42]
- Stewarding Labor cockpit [11:38]
- Timesheet Onboarding [4:14]
- Show all articles ( 6 ) Collapse Articles
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- How to create a pre-populated new plan for Budget or Forecast [3:02]
- How to edit a plan [3:52]
- P&L Planning 1/10 Purpose and benefits [2:25]
- P&L Planning 10/10 How to approve forecast and budget or target [2:34]
- P&L Planning 2/10 Navigation [4:26]
- P&L Planning 3/10 How to build a total [4:29]
- P&L Planning 4/10 Three ways of inserting figures [4:32]
- P&L Planning 5/10 How to add a sub account [1:42]
- P&L Planning 6/10 How to build a constant [2:42]
- P&L Planning 7/10 Staff module [2:48]
- P&L Planning 8/10 How to add a staff member [1:33]
- P&L Planning 9/10 How to revise and submit a forecast [3:01]
- PMI Planning Staff Module Overview [3:07]
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- PMI GoGreen - Cockpit overview [2:49]
- How to create a pre-populated new plan for Budget or Forecast [3:02]
- PMI GoGreen - Water [3:04]
- PMI GoGreen - Missed opportunities [2:57]
- PMI GoGreen - Register actual consumption [2:24]
- PMI GoGreen -Towels & linens [3:02]
- PMI GoGreen - How to prevent food waste [3:03]
- PMI GoGreen - How to reduce energy waste [3:08]
- PMI GoGreen - Waste [3:04]
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PMI Release notes
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- KPI targets enhancement - July 2024
- NextGen Rooms Live forecast statistics and pickup data enhancement - July 2024
- Date picker enhancement - July 2024
- Update to NextGen Rooms Live forecast - June 2024
- P&L planning accounts enhancement - June 2024
- Weather normalization enhancement May 2024
- Update to NextGen Rooms Live forecast page: Sense check updates, May 2024
- PMI adoption index enhancement May 2024
- PMI adoption index enhancements - April 2024
- Consolidation OTB enhancement - April 2024
- Update to NextGen Rooms live forecast page: Personal view options, Mar 2024
- User administration enhancements March 2024
- GM daily digest enhancement March 2024
- PMI Index calculation updates for 2024
- KPI targets enhancement February 2024
- KPI targets enhancement - January 2024
- CO2 factors enhancement - September 2024
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- GoGreen benchmarking
- GoGreen index calculation enhancement
- PMI adoption index: Help videos for measurements
- Activity log enhancement
- Arrivals and departures forecast enhancement
- KPI upload tool enhancement
- GoGreen Food waste cockpit enhancement
- GoGreen Doing cockpit enhancement
- Benchmarking: PMI Index value updates based on time period selected
- GoGreen cockpit: Highlight months missing data on 12 month graph
- KPI targets enhancement - January 2023
- Goal distribution tool enhancement - September 2023
- Planning set up enhancement: Roll forward forecast
- Live forecast enhancement: Editing ARR values
- User administration release note
- New page view of Rooms live forecast - Dec 2023
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- 15th of March – Ability to reverse Benchmarking calculation
- 15th of March – Possibility to add department type as an additional dimension when using Account ID in the P&L report
- 15th of March – Print a list of all unmapped accounts on chain level
- 15th of March – Printing to excel and PDF
- 16th of March – Introduction to PMI
- 26th of April – Room Live Forecast – Change to pickup fields
- Import status enhancement - September 2022
- 7th of September – Information/calculation rows in PMI schedule
- 9th of August – Export to Google Sheets
- 9th of June – PMI Advanced settings – Period locking
- GM daily digest enhancements
- PMI adoption index: Option to filter scores by group and export scores
- Profit center Live forecast: Automatically switch between OTB and revenue driver
- SMART Forecast enhancement - September 2022
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Onboarding
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- Onboarding roles – Breakfast
- Onboarding roles – Finance
- Onboarding roles – Food cost
- Onboarding roles – Front Office
- Onboarding roles – Housekeeping
- Onboarding roles – Kitchen
- Onboarding roles – Restaurant and Meeting & Event
- Onboarding roles – Stewarding
- Onboarding roles – Repair and Maintenance
- GM Introduction to PMI
- Onboarding roles – Bar and Pub
- Onboarding roles – Administration
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GM's corner
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PMI homepage
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PMI planning
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- Setting productivity targets and hours
- How to set productivity targets and/or hours in Budget & Forecast module
- How to work with Rooms Budget and forecast
- How to work with non-rooms Budget and forecast
- Use Forecast/Budget hours from Cockpit in P&L Staff module
- What is Room revenue planning?
- Express planner overview
- How the Express planner works
- Express planner: Settings explanation
- Operational targets overview
- How to input a budget in PMI
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- Accounts overview
- How to populate and edit accounts
- How to approve a forecast or budget in PMI
- How to copy from reference
- How to edit and update using the staffing tool
- How to make a profit forecast
- How to set up a weekly Live forecast
- How to add a comparison year in P&L
- How to modify a P&L report
- Planning Menu – Tools and View Options overview
- Planning staff module overview
- How to build a report
- How to add staff and manage staff cost
- Staffing screen overview
- How to input a budget in PMI
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Cockpit
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- Labor cockpit overview
- Labor Cockpit Preparations
- Labor cockpit cost driver
- SMART forecast explained
- How does SMART allocate daily hours?
- Using arrivals and departures as a cost driver
- Closing Profit Center or Cockpit
- How to work with labor cost
- Min/Max explanation
- Parent and sub-cockpits explained
- Staffing guide explained
- Timesheet overview
- How to link KPI targets to a cockpit
- How to calulate arrivals and departures in the Labor cockpit
- Types of cockpits in PMI explained
- What are the daily and weekly routines in the Labor cockpit?
- Understanding the importance of including outsourced labor hours in PMI
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- Labor cockpit schedule
- How to make a schedule
- How to revise a schedule
- PMI Schedule: Information, Calculation rows explanation
- Predefined shift codes
- Printing a schedule
- Revise staff
- Schedule 1/8 Navigation [5:12]
- Schedule 2/8 How to create a labor cockpit schedule [4:29]
- Schedule 3/8 How to add a team member [2:07]
- Schedule 4/8 How to create a shift code [3:30]
- Schedule 5/8 How to add shift codes to team members [3:41]
- Schedule 6/8 How to create a rotating schedule [3:20]
- Schedule 7/8 How to replace shift codes for a period [2:00]
- Schedule 8/8 How to create split shifts between departments [2:42]
- Scheduling
- Split Shifts Between Departments
- The Schedule Tools & View menu
- Show all articles ( 3 ) Collapse Articles
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Live forecast
- Live forecast overview
- How to set up a Live forecast: configuration settings
- Live forecast tools and personal view settings
- PMI prediction explained
- Pickup explanation
- Profit center Live forecast: Automatically switch between OTB and revenue driver
- Revenue driver explained
- Segment OTB
- Submit Live Forecast to Forecast (monthly routine)
- NextGen Rooms Live forecast overview
- Rooms Live forecast: Weekly routine overview
- Rooms live forecast: How to work with auto Live forecast
- NextGen Rooms live forecast: Personal view options
- Rooms Live forecast: Sense check mode explained
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Data analysis views
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Administration
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GoGreen
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- Comparative data explained
- Data table general explained
- Formula/Calculations explained
- Goal charts and YoY comparison explained
- GoGreen Learning page overview
- How to edit a GoGreen plan
- How to set up a Plan
- Intro to NextGen GoGreen Planning
- Main chart explained
- Plan values explained
- Save your progress explained
- Sense check mode explained
- Unit price explained
- Volume/usage/consumption explained
- How to do a monthly forecast routine in NextGen Planning
- How the GoGreen targets are calculated
- Show all articles ( 1 ) Collapse Articles
- GoGreen Doing Cockpit overview
- GoGreen index overview
- GoGreen benchmarking
- GoGreen index: How are the measurements calculated?
- GoGreen Learning page overview
- Useful links for sustainability and environmental management best practice
- GoGreen targets explanation
- How to make a manual entry in a GoGreen cockpit
- Weather normalization explained
- Weather normalization overview
- GoGreen home page overview
- CO2 factors overview
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FAQ
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- How can I see the hours that are imported to PMI?
- How do I enter the rates?
- How do I know if I am scheduling according to activity?
- How does PMI summarize the hours?
- How is productivity calculated?
- What are fixed hours?
- What are non-productive and productive hours?
- What are the rates and how are they calculated?
- What is a cost driver?
- What is min/max hours?
- Why do the planned hours in the Timekeeping System (TKS) not match PMI?
- Why is the total number of hours for the month too low/high?
- What is SMART?
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- How do I estimate my Closing Inventory?
- My food cost % is wrong (too high/low). Why is that?
- My turnover days are set to 32. What does that mean?
- What are my routines in the Food cost cockpit?
- What do I enter in the Purchase column?
- What is opening and closing stock?
- What is the recommended number of turnover days?
- What is turnover days and how is it calculated?
- Where do I change my food cost forecast?
- Why is opening and closing stock important?
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- Can one employee work in two departments?
- How do I add a shift code?
- How do I copy hours into the unspecified row (Timekeeping system excluded)
- How do I create a rotating schedule?
- How do I make a new schedule?
- How do I navigate the tools in the schedule?
- What are timekeeping system (TKS) excluded hours for?
- How do I add a schedule to my cockpit?
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- How do I copy to Live forecast?
- How do I submit my Live forecast to forecast?
- How do I reset the pickup for a full month?
- Why do I have a red triangle to the left of the date?
- What is Pickup statistics?
- What are covers?
- What are the seasons in PMI?
- What do the pickups show and why are they sometimes negative?
- What is a revenue driver?
- What is the difference between Forecast and Live forecast?
- Why does on the books in PMI not match what we have in our PMS?
- How do I calculate ARR and ADR?
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- Can I edit the figures in the Flash report?
- Different view options in the Flash report
- How am I performing compared to my forecast/budget/last year?
- How can I print the report?
- How can I switch between viewing daily and monthly figures?
- How do I check what segments add to the total daily figure?
- How do I edit my covers?
- Why are my room/guest nights wrong?
- What is the Flash Report
- Why is my revenue wrong?
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- How do I know if the mapping is correct?
- How do I know where accounts should go in PMI?
- How do I map the categories in Timekeeping (TKS)?
- I cannot see my department in Timekeeping System (TKS) mapping. How do I see it?
- There is a position missing in the Timekeeping system mapping. How can I fix this?
- What are Categories in PMI Timekeeping system?
- What is Departments in Timekeeping system (TKS) mapping?
- What is mapping accounts?
- What is mapping – timekeeping system?
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d2o team only
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- Articles coming soon
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- Articles coming soon
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- Articles coming soon
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- Articles coming soon
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KPIs
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General user knowledge
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Miscellaneous
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access system