Revenue Management
Look-to-Book Ratio
How many shoppers it takes to win one booking — the efficiency of demand reaching the funnel.
Academic definition
The look-to-book ratio measures how many searches, or "looks," occur for each completed booking, calculated by dividing the number of searches by the number of bookings over a period. It is widely used in digital distribution and on booking platforms to gauge how efficiently shopping demand converts into reservations: a high ratio means many shoppers per booking, indicating either broad top-of-funnel interest or weak conversion, while a lower ratio indicates more efficient conversion. The metric is tracked across channels and is relevant to website performance, metasearch and OTA efficiency, and the cost of technology platforms that charge per search or transaction. Interpreting it requires context, since a high ratio can reflect strong visibility as easily as poor conversion. Look-to-book describes the volume relationship between shopping and booking activity rather than the rate, channel cost, or profitability of the bookings ultimately produced.
Searches (Looks) = number of searches or shopping sessions · Bookings = completed reservations
Worked example
5,000 searches yielding 100 bookings gives a look-to-book of 50 — fifty shoppers per booking; tightening the direct site's conversion turns more of those existing looks into commission-free bookings.
The ProfitPAR™ lens
Look-to-book is a funnel-efficiency number, and like most funnel numbers it is easy to read as good news when it is merely activity. A flood of looks feels like demand, but if they convert poorly the hotel is paying — in technology fees, in ad spend, in attention — to be shopped and not booked. The profit question is not how many people looked, but how cheaply the ones who booked were won, and through which channel. ProfitPAR™ cares about look-to-book mainly where it touches the direct channel: improving direct conversion turns existing demand into commission-free bookings without buying a single new look. A better ratio on the direct site is profit; a better ratio on a commissioned channel still pays the leak.
Converting the looks you already have direct beats buying new ones through a channel that charges commission.
Measure what each room actually keeps.
ProfitPAR is offered as a private revenue practice, by invitation. Tell us about your hotel to begin.
Request an InvitationWorked examples use illustrative figures in Indian Rupee (₹) with lakh/crore conventions. They are composite and representative, not drawn from any single property. ProfitPAR™ is a trademark of Sibasish Misra.