To get started, head over to your Insights page. We highly recommend opening two separate tabs on your internet browser so you can easily compare two different date ranges side-by-side.

• On your first tab, search for the dates for this month last year.

• On your second tab, simply let it default to the current full month you are in.

It is a wonderful practice to look at all your graphs together rather than just viewing them in isolation. This gives you a clear, full picture of how your different booking trends influence each other.

Let’s look at a quick example comparing last year to this year:

• Last year: You might notice that your average occupancy was around 39%, with most of your bookings coming through Booking.com. Your guests were typically booking 2 to 30 days in advance and staying for 1 to 5 nights.
  
• This year: Fast forward to now, and you might see your total occupancy has beautifully jumped to almost 60%! While Booking.com is still popular, you might notice a wonderful increase in commission-free bookings coming directly from your Own Website or Google Hotels. You may also see that guests are booking much further in advance (31 to 120 days) for shorter, one-night stays.

Seeing that your property is performing better this year is a great feeling. But the real magic happens when you use both of these data sets to plan for the exact same month next year.

Here are a few simple ways you can use these insights to boost your business:

• Maximise your profit: Since you're doing better than last year, and if you've reached your targeted occupancy for this period, you could actually increase your rates to increase your profit margin.
• Encourage longer visits: If you notice guests are only staying for one night, try adding a minimum night stay condition to some of your special offers to gently encourage them to linger a little longer.
• Fill those empty rooms: If you see a dip in advance bookings, try offering a last-minute discount to bump up your occupancy closer to the arrival date.