Are those hotel nights or unique visitors?
Keep room-nights, guest-nights and stays distinct across seasons.
“Share your reasoning and calculations, even if you’re unsure.” (opens the source)
The question
This fictional Mexican leisure destination has the room inventory below. Size annual occupied room-nights and room revenue for one 365-day year. A separate guest-stay conversion uses two guests per occupied room and three nights per stay. A person may make several stays; unique visitors are not given.
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Rooms | 1000 |
| Days per year | 365 |
| Annual occupancy (%) | 60 |
| Room rate per occupied night (MXN) | 1200 |
| Guests per occupied room | 2 |
| Nights per guest stay | 3 |
The rate is per room-night, not per guest. Ignore taxes, extra services and rate differences.
“Explain the estimate, the assumption range and the next check.”
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A strong answer, step by step
Open each step in turn. This is one strong answer, not the only one.
Step 1: Start with room supply
What would you do here? Open the move you’d make.
Estimate occupied room-nights before guest counts.
The strong move. Rooms multiplied by days gives the correct supply unit.
Multiply the room rate by 438,000 guest-nights.
Tempting, but it misses something. A room with two guests still sells one room-night at the stated rate.
See how a strong candidate says it
“Available supply is 1,000×365 = 365,000 room-nights. At 60% occupancy, 219,000 are sold, worth MXN 262.8 million.”
Why it works: Rooms multiplied by days gives the correct supply unit.
Step 2: Keep the visitor units clear
What would you do here? Open the move you’d make.
Describe guest stays without claiming unique visitors.
The strong move. Stays and unique people answer different questions.
Label every guest stay a unique annual visitor.
Tempting, but it misses something. One person can create more than one stay in the year.
See how a strong candidate says it
“Two guests per occupied room give 438,000 guest-nights. Divide by three nights for 146,000 guest stays. I cannot call those 146,000 unique people because repeat visits are unknown.”
Why it works: Stays and unique people answer different questions.
Step 3: Weight the seasons
Replace the 60% annual occupancy assumption with 90 peak days at 80% occupancy and 275 off-peak days at 45%. Inventory, room rate and guest-stay assumptions stay unchanged.
What would you do here? Open the move you’d make.
Weight occupancy by the number of days.
The strong move. The seasons have different lengths.
Average 80% and 45% without day weights.
Tempting, but it misses something. That treats a 90-day season as if it lasted as long as the 275-day season.
See how a strong candidate says it
“Peak occupancy gives 72,000 room-nights and off-peak gives 123,750: total 195,750, worth MXN 234.9 million. Annual occupancy is about 53.6%, not the simple 62.5% average of the two rates.”
Why it works: The seasons have different lengths.
Step 4: Show a useful range
What would you do here? Open the move you’d make.
Keep the range and request monthly evidence.
The strong move. A seasonal range exposes the assumption that matters.
Add day-trippers to room demand with no overnight assumption.
Tempting, but it misses something. Day-trippers do not create paid room-nights unless the model includes evidence that they stay.
See how a strong candidate says it
“With peak fixed, off-peak occupancy of 40–50% gives 182,000–209,500 occupied room-nights, worth MXN 218.4–251.4 million. I would seek monthly inventory, occupancy and rates to tighten that range.”
Why it works: A seasonal range exposes the assumption that matters.
The answer, in short
- Decision
- Use about 196,000 room-nights as the revised annual base.
- Because
- Weighted occupancy lowers the initial estimate while keeping the same unit.
- What would change it
- Monthly supply, occupancy and rate data would narrow the revenue range.
Common traps
- Pricing guest-nights as room-nights.
- Averaging unequal seasons without weights.
Check your answer
- I checked the annual supply ceiling.
- I kept stays separate from unique people.
- I weighted both seasons.
- I reported a range with consistent units.
Last reviewed Nov 10, 2026