Reporting basics — what we check every morning
In lesson 12 (“A day in an RM’s life”) we saw Daniel’s typical Monday. Now we take the morning report deeper — the central surface of the daily routine, which tells you in 5 minutes what state the hotel is in, and answers in 30 minutes what needs doing.
A mature RM spends 60-90 minutes a day on reporting analysis. Half of that goes to the morning report — the other half to pace analysis of the next 90 days, compset watching, and rate revisions. The goal of this lesson is for you to understand: what a good morning report contains, how we read it quickly, and why simplification is the greatest value.
The morning report — what it contains
The morning report is a report generated daily that the RM, GM, and sometimes the sales manager review every morning. The classic structure:
1. Yesterday (yesterday actual)
The most important first number — what happened the previous day:
| Metric | Yesterday | Vs. budget | Vs. last year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Occupancy | 78% | +2 pp | +5 pp |
| ADR | 105 EUR | −3 EUR | +4 EUR |
| RevPAR | 82 EUR | +0.5 EUR | +8 EUR |
| Room revenue | 6,540 EUR | +30 EUR | +625 EUR |
This is a 5-second overview — was yesterday good or bad for the hotel.
2. Today’s outlook
Arrivals, departures and the in-house count:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Arrivals | 32 rooms |
| Departures | 28 rooms |
| In-house (stay-on) | 52 rooms |
| Expected occupancy today | ~84 rooms / 80 (105%, overbooking) |
| Expected walk-in | 2-4 rooms |
This is needed for the front-desk team’s scheduling — 32 arrivals in the afternoon + 28 departures in the morning = a busy front-desk day.
3. On-the-books — 30/60/90 days
Current occupancy for the coming periods:
| Period | OTB occupancy | Vs. last year (same-point) | Vs. budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Next 7 days | 76% | +4 pp | −1 pp |
| Next 30 days | 62% | +3 pp | +1 pp |
| Next 60 days | 48% | +5 pp | +2 pp |
| Next 90 days | 38% | +6 pp | +3 pp |
Here the level of the pace trajectory shows. The 7-30 day window is close to budget, the 60-90 day above budget. This is a healthy trend — the hotel is moving ahead toward its strategic target.
4. Top 3 warning days
The highlighted problem days from the pickup board:
- November 24 (Friday): pace −8 pp behind, OTB 52%, action needed.
- November 26 (Sunday): pace −5 pp, structural weakness.
- December 3 (Sunday): pace −6 pp.
These days will be the main topics of the weekly revenue meeting.
5. Top 3 actions for today
- November 24 — activate the Sunday Brunch promo.
- Acme Co. corporate-account check — together with the sales manager.
- Compset analysis — is a BAR increase warranted for November 18 (Coldplay)?
The morning report’s 5 sections together fit on one page and can be read in 5 minutes. This is the foundation of effective reporting.
The philosophy of the 5-minute read
A mature RM never browses a report for 20 minutes. The morning report is for fast decisions. So good reporting rests on 3 principles:
1. Fit on one page
The morning report must fit on one A4 page (or one web screen). If you have to scroll — it is already too long. A seasoned RM scans the 5 sections in 30 seconds, and works with it in depth in 5 minutes.
2. Colour-coded signalling
The red / yellow / green coding gives a second-long overview. If everything is green — all is well. If there are 2-3 reds — the RM immediately sees where to go.
3. Only the “must-have” metrics
In lesson 26 (Forecast vs. budget vs. actual) we saw the variance decomposition. Do not put the variance decomposition in the morning report — that is the job of the monthly controller report. The morning report contains only “do we need to act today”-level metrics.
In lesson 53 (AI narrative) we will see: the Insight Engine summarizes the morning report’s key signals in 5 sentences. That is the next evolutionary step — the report should be human-readable.
The reporting hierarchy
A mature RM organization runs a 3-tier reporting system:
Daily — the morning report
The 5-section report described above. One page, 5 minutes. Users: RM, GM, sales manager.
Weekly — the revenue meeting report
We cover this in detail in lesson 28. This is a deeper, 8-10 page report that documents the pace trajectories of the next 30-60 days, group contracts, and marketing actions.
Monthly — the controller report and GM update
The variance decomposition + forecast accuracy + budget-actual introduced in lesson 26, at a monthly level. This is also the basis of the bank report, and owner circles look at it monthly.
The three together form a hierarchical system — the daily for today’s decisions, the weekly for medium-term action plans, the monthly for strategic evaluation.
What not to put in the morning report
A few classic mistakes that beginner organizations make:
1. Too much data
A 5-page morning report is unreadable. After 10 minutes the RM gives up and just skims the main metrics. The unnecessary detail loses the important ones.
2. Too many metrics
A 30-column table is tiring. The morning report should stick to 6-8 key metrics. The rest of the detail is available on a drill-down surface.
3. A number with nothing to compare it to
“Yesterday actual” is only worth something if it is shown in comparison (budget vs. last year vs. compset). A standalone number — e.g. “yesterday 78%” — says nothing without context.
4. No action column
The report should prompt action. A morning report that shows only numbers is passive. A good report shows the Top 3 action points explicitly.
The Excel-level morning report and its limits
The classic, small-hotel-level morning report is built in Excel — the controller or RM edits it manually every morning. This is:
- Time-intensive — 20-30 minutes of daily work, just editing the report.
- Error-prone — one typo or a shifted formula = wrong data.
- Not real-time — yesterday’s end-of-day data appears the next morning, and the morning’s pickup movements do not show.
- Not at segment level — an Excel table shows the aggregates; the segment breakdown is on another tab (or not at all).
Modern RMS tools (Peaqplus) automate all of this — the morning report is generated in seconds, refreshes in real time as bookings arrive, and is available at segment level.
The Peaqplus Dashboard + Report Engine
The Peaqplus Dashboard module is the central surface of the morning report. On the main screen:
- The 5-section morning report — yesterday, today, on-the-books, top 3 warnings, top 3 actions.
- Colour-coded signals — green/yellow/red for every metric.
- Drill-down navigation — one click breaks it down by segment, channel, or date.
- Mobile-ready — the RM reviews it on the phone in the morning over coffee.
The Peaqplus Report Engine module is the surface for automated report generation:
- Weekly revenue meeting report — produced at the push of a button, the content detailed in lesson 28.
- Monthly controller report — with budget-actual-forecast variance decomposition.
- GM monthly update — 1-2 pages, only the key messages.
- Bank report — with financial metrics and a cash-flow projection.
The reports can be emailed automatically — Daniel wakes at 7:30 and already sees the automated morning-report email on his phone.
In lesson 53 (AI narrative) we cover how the Insight Engine summarizes the key messages of Peaqplus-generated reports in 5 sentences — the next evolutionary step.
Key takeaways
- The morning report is a 5-section daily report: yesterday actual, today outlook, on-the-books 30/60/90, top 3 warning days, top 3 actions.
- The morning report is read in 5 minutes, fits on one page, with colour-coded signalling.
- Reporting is hierarchical — daily (morning report), weekly (revenue meeting), monthly (controller).
- Avoid the too-much-data / too-many-metrics / context-free-number / no-action-point mistakes.
- The Peaqplus Dashboard + Report Engine automate report generation, with real-time refresh and a colour-coded overview.
Click an answer — you see immediately whether it is right.
Answer all of them and the lesson counts as complete — and toward your progress.
A hotel's morning report: yesterday 92% occupancy (+5 pp LY, −2 pp budget), ADR 108 EUR (−8 EUR budget), RevPAR 99 EUR (−10 EUR budget). What is your 30-second assessment, and what 1-2 questions do you ask? And: an RM objects that 'the morning report is too simple, I need to see every metric.' How would you respond, and with what arguments would you propose keeping it simple?
- The big international brands run a single, one-page visual "group revenue report" format that the central office also receives. Independent hotels use the classic Excel-level reports — but RMS tools are increasingly replacing them.