Length of Stay Distribution (LOS Distribution)
Length of Stay Distribution is the breakdown of a property's reservations by number of nights stayed, usually shown as the share of bookings (or room nights) for 1-night, 2-night, 3-night stays and so on. It shows the shape of demand that a single average cannot.
Why an average is not enough
ALOS compresses every stay into one number. Two hotels can both report an ALOS of 2.4 nights while one sells mostly 1-night and 5-night stays and the other sells almost only 2- and 3-night stays. Their restriction and pricing strategies should differ.
Formula
Share of stays at N nights = Reservations with a stay of N nights / Total reservations
Example
A 100-room hotel closes a month with 400 reservations: 160 one-night (40%), 140 two-night (35%), 60 three-night (15%) and 40 stays of four nights or more (10%). Weekend nights are filled mostly by 2-night stays, and 1-night stays crowd out longer stays on Thursdays.
Why it matters
- Restriction setting: it shows where MinLOS / MaxLOS rules would lift revenue without turning away too much demand.
- Gap filling: it helps spot orphan nights and shoulder nights that short stays leave behind.
- Channel analysis: OTAs often skew towards shorter or longer stays than direct bookings, which feeds into channel mix decisions.
- Forecasting: stay length affects room-night demand and pace on future dates.
Related
ALOS, Stay Pattern, Booking Window / Lead Time, Compression Night.