At Direct Booking Summit (DBS) Mexico City 2026, Travis Weber, VP Americas at Duetto, used profitability data from more than 13,000 hotels, collected in partnership with HotStats, a Duetto company, to show why similar increases in RevPAR (revenue per available room) can produce very different profit outcomes. His message was simple: RevPAR still matters, but commercial teams need to look beyond revenue alone, considering channel mix, the costs behind each booking and other measures of profitability.
RevPAR measures the room revenue a hotel generates across all available rooms. It remains a useful way to track performance and compare results over time.
What it cannot show is how much it cost the hotel to earn that revenue.
The data covered the period from 2019 to 2025. Global RevPAR grew by 19%, while booking costs rose by 25% and labor costs increased by 20%. The hotel may record more room revenue, but rising costs mean less of that money may reach the bottom line.
Travis used flow-through rate to show how wide that gap has become. Flow-through measures the share of additional revenue that reaches gross operating profit after the related costs have been paid.
In the Americas, the average flow-through rate was 18% in 2025. That means only 18 cents of every additional revenue dollar reached profit. That compares with an historical average of around 50 cents.
In other words, RevPAR shows how much room revenue a hotel generated, but not how much of it turns into profit. What each booking costs can make a significant difference.
Travis illustrated this with four booking scenarios, where a similar change in RevPAR could mean anything from a small profit gain to an outright loss.
To compare them, he looked at GOPPAR (gross operating profit per available room). Unlike RevPAR, GOPPAR accounts for operating costs and gives hotels a clearer view of how much revenue translates into profit.
So what does that reveal? A $5 increase in RevPAR generated anywhere from $1.50 to $13 in additional GOPPAR, depending on what drove it: occupancy, rate, or a mix of direct bookings and an effective rate strategy.
The strongest result came from the direct-booking scenario, where lower distribution costs meant more margin was retained.
The OTA (online travel agency) scenario showed the opposite. RevPAR remained unchanged, but GOPPAR fell by $6 to $8 due to higher OTA commission costs.
Travis also pointed out that the value of direct bookings goes beyond lower OTA commissions. They can help hotels reduce cancellation rates, keep ownership of guest data, and build stronger relationships
Travis did not suggest replacing RevPAR with one perfect metric. Instead, he pointed to measures including GOPPAR, cost per occupied room, TRevPAR (total revenue per available room), and flow-through to give teams a broader view of performance.
Using these measures alongside RevPAR helps Revenue, Sales, and Marketing teams judge their work against the same business result.
As Travis put it:
"When commercial teams align on profit metrics instead of RevPAR, they start working toward a singular North Star instead of speaking in different channels."
Looking at profit helps teams understand what happened after bookings arrived, not just whether revenue increased.
One example from the presentation was Auto Date Boost, which Triptease runs in partnership with a range of leading RMS providers, including Duetto. It uses Duetto's occupancy forecast to spot low-demand dates, then automatically increases visibility for the hotel's direct channel on Google Hotel Ads. Boosting stops once the forecast recovers. It is a practical example of Revenue and Marketing working from the same data, with no manual handoff between teams.
Travis wrapped up with a set of practical next steps for commercial teams wanting to see what sits behind a RevPAR result:
Growing revenue still matters. But the stronger commercial strategy is to understand what each booking contributes, protect the channels that retain more value, and align Revenue, Sales, and Marketing around the same profit goal.
Want more insights from DBS 2026? Download the Key Learnings Report for takeaways from Travis, plus the industry leaders and hoteliers who took the stage in Mexico City.
About Direct Booking Summit:
Direct Booking Summit is Triptease's flagship event, where industry leaders and hoteliers share practical strategies, research and real-world insights on growing direct bookings and reducing reliance on OTAs.