Booking speed reads oddly

How the level is worked out

MAYA compares the bookings a night received with the bookings a night like it usually has by now, and reads the gap as one of seven levels. The smaller the numbers, the bigger the gap has to be before a night reads anything but Normal. With 5 expected you need 9 to read Faster Than Normal. With 20 expected you need 27. The outer levels, Stalled and Surging, need a bigger gap still. With fewer than 5 similar nights to compare with, the level stays within one step of Normal.

Why does it say Faster or Much Faster Than Normal from two bookings?

Because the nights it was compared with had received almost none by that point. A night 50 days out is compared with how its similar nights were booking when they were 50 days out, which is often close to nothing. When the similar nights had received none at all, 2 or 3 bookings read Much Faster Than Normal and 4 or more read Surging, provided there are at least 5 similar nights. Against an expectation of 0.4, 2 bookings still read Normal: it takes 3 to read Much Faster and 5 to read Surging. One booking stays Normal against either, because a difference of one is inside the first check.

With fewer than 5 similar nights, or a momentum reading, the reading stops at Faster Than Normal. That is how 2 bookings against none end up reading Faster Than Normal.

The Show the numbers panel says so in its own words: "In the last 7 days, 2 bookings arrived for this night, with 50 days still to go before arrival." then "By this point, nights like this one usually get almost no bookings over the same stretch." then "That reads as Much Faster Than Normal." The words "almost no bookings" cover any usual number under 1, so 2 bookings beside "almost no bookings" can also read Normal.

If you would rather raise rules stayed off far-out nights, add a Booking window (days to stay) Less than condition, or a Sellable occupancy (%) Greater than condition, to the rule.

Why does it say Normal when we got far more bookings than usual?

One of the three checks kept the reading nearer Normal, and the Show the numbers panel names which:

• "The numbers leaned away from Normal, but by too little to matter at this many bookings, so it stays Normal." The gap was too small for the numbers involved. With 20 expected, 26 received is 1.3 times as many, which would read Faster, but at that size it takes 27 to leave Normal, so it stays Normal.
• "The numbers pointed one step further from Normal, but not clearly enough, so it reads one step closer to Normal." A Surging or Stalled reading without enough difference behind it.
• "Only a few similar nights were found, so it stays within one step of Normal however strong the numbers look." Fewer than 5 similar nights. A momentum reading (below) always counts as one, so it is always capped.

Why is it comparing my Friday with a Saturday?

Because strict matching found too few nights. MAYA looks for similar nights in three widening steps: first the same weekday in the same stretch of the year, going back up to 3 years, wanting at least 4 and taking up to 8. When that finds too few, it widens to the same weekend or weekday class, day by day. Friday and Saturday nights form the weekend class, so a Friday can be matched with a Saturday. When that is still too few, it takes the same weekday within 45 days of the same point in the year, going back up to 3 years, ignoring the season.

Under Show the numbers, Which nights were compared? names the nights that were added: "Too few other Friday nights matched, so Saturday nights were compared too, since they are also weekend nights. Friday and Saturday nights count as weekend nights, the rest as weekday nights." and then "Fewer than 4 nights matched closely, so the search was widened. Check the nights below and set aside any that were not normal." Under List the nights each compared night carries its reason, for example "a Saturday, similar to a Friday". As your history grows, widening happens less.

Why did it compare with a festival weekend?

Because nobody had told MAYA that weekend was unusual. Open the change, press Show the numbers, then Which nights were compared?, then List the nights. Beside the festival night press Not a fair comparison?, choose a reason such as Local Event or Festival, and press Set this date aside.

From the next run that night is left out of every comparison. Choosing "This happens every year around this time" also counts toward a yearly pattern: once the same reason has been reported from 2 different years, a window of 5 days either side is set aside every year. Read Not a fair comparison. Setting a date aside needs Revenue Manager access or higher.

Why was our national holiday not recognised?

MAYA has 17 US holidays and no others, and there is no screen to add one. A night near one of those holidays is compared with the same position around the same holiday in earlier years. A night near any other holiday is compared like an ordinary night.

Read Handle a holiday MAYA does not have.

Does a 10-room group count as 10 bookings?

No. For booking speed a booking counts once, however many rooms it holds, on the night it is made and on every past night it is compared with. A 10-room group booked as one reservation is one booking. For occupancy it is 10 booked rooms. For a pickup count rule it is 10 room nights.

A room added to a group later is not a new booking. The group is counted at the earliest booking date across its rooms on that night.

Separate reservations made together can count once too: 3 or more for the same room type and dates, all made within 3 hours of each other, on any system, once you turn on Count bookings made together as one in Settings and MAYA has read your history with booking times. It starts off, so until then 10 rooms booked one at a time are 10 bookings, and a booking speed rule can raise on them. With Count a group as up to set above 1, a group counts as up to that many bookings. What is counted has the details.

The help panel beside Measured over in the rule builder says the same: "A booking with several rooms counts once." On Mews it says "Each Mews reservation is one room and counts on its own, unless Count bookings made together as one counts it with others."

Why did a Confirmation Pending booking count?

On Cloudbeds, a booking with the status Confirmation Pending (Cloudbeds calls it not confirmed) holds a room, and Cloudbeds' own occupancy counts it as sold. MAYA counts it the same way, for occupancy and for booking speed. Cancelled bookings and no-shows do not count, and a booking that cancels disappears from the count on the next read.

Why do Mews Optional reservations count?

On Mews, every reservation counts except a cancelled one. Optional, Enquired and Requested reservations count as booked, for occupancy and for booking speed, exactly like a Confirmed one. On ThinkReservations every booking counts except cancelled bookings and no-shows.

Why is the usual number a fraction like 0.4?

Because it is an average. The usual number, the expected count, is the trimmed average of what the similar nights had received over the same stretch: a plain average with fewer than 5 nights, and with 5 or more the single highest and lowest are dropped first. An expected count of 0.4 is a true statement about a quiet far-out night: most similar nights had none, and a few had one (seven nights with 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1 and 1 give 0.4). On screen it reads "almost no bookings" when it is under 1, and "about 3 bookings" otherwise. A similar night with no bookings at all in your history is left out of the average, not counted as zero.

Do cancellations lower the count?

Yes, but the count never goes below zero. It counts the bookings for the night that were made during the window and are still on the books. A booking that cancels drops out on the next read, so cancellations lower the count, down to none at the lowest. A booking made before the window that cancels during it was never in the count, so it changes nothing.

The nights it is compared with are counted the same way: a past booking that cancelled is not in their counts either. When bookings a change counted cancel, the change can come off, if the rule's undo box is ticked and the rule is no longer true. Read When a change comes off.

What does momentum mean in "Show the numbers"

When a night has no usable similar nights at all, MAYA falls back to momentum: how the nights of the same kind (Friday and Saturday nights for a weekend night, Sunday to Thursday for a weekday night) within 10 nights either side of it are booking now, compared with the same nights a year earlier. The Show the numbers panel opens like any other reading, with the count, the usual number and the level.

Under Which nights were compared? it explains "Your history has no usable similar nights for this one, so the usual number comes from booking momentum instead." Then comes "Momentum here means how nights near this one are filling now, compared with how the same nights were filling at this point last year." After that it says how many nearby nights could be paired, whether they are filling faster or slower than a year ago, where the starting point came from, and that a momentum reading is a best effort.

A momentum reading counts as one comparable night, so it is always capped within one step of Normal. With too few neighbours it gives up: the reading is "not enough history" and booking speed rules stay quiet on that night.

Why does it say "in the 4 days since this rule or a stronger one's latest raise"?

After a night has been raised, a rule that raises counts only the bookings made since the newest raise still on that night by itself or a stronger rule. While that raise is inside its window, it reads a shorter stretch than its whole window, and it never counts the same bookings twice. A stronger rule's raise that going live from your current rates took off still counts as that starting point, though it is no longer on the price. Counting after a change has the detail.

The change log sentence names the shorter stretch: "Bookings came in faster than normal in the 4 days since this rule or a stronger one's latest raise still on this night: 6, against the 2 a night like this usually gets in a whole week." The Show the numbers panel opens with "The newest raise still on this night's price, by the rule behind this reading or a stronger rule, was made on Fri, Nov 13 2026. In the 4 days from that raise on, 6 bookings arrived for it, with 20 days still to go before arrival." That raise is always one made by a booking speed or pickup rule.

When the raise was made today, the stretch is that one day: the change log says "later on the day of this rule or a stronger one's latest raise still on this night", and in the panel the sentence after the raise's date starts "Later that day,".

A price you type on the night starts it over: the rule waits its wait from your price, then reads its whole window again.

Why did a booking speed rule fire on a room type with no bookings?

A rule reads bookings across every room type it measures, then changes every room type in its change list. "Hot-week surge" measuring Standard, Deluxe and Suite reads one count for all three. Six bookings on Standard and Deluxe against an expectation of 2 read Much Faster, and the rule raises Suite too, with no Suite booking in sight.

If you want each room type read on its own, make one rule per room type, each measuring and changing only itself. Each such rule also has its own expected count, worked out from that room type's own history. A small set has a small expected count, and a difference of fewer than 2 bookings always reads Normal, so it stays at Normal more often. When it does leave Normal, a few bookings can be enough.