What is BAR (best available rate)?
Updated
BAR, or best available rate, is the lowest publicly available price for a room on a given night with no restrictions beyond the standard terms.
Why does it matter to a small hotel?
BAR is the price your other prices hang from. Corporate deals, group rates and packages are usually set as a discount or supplement against it, so when BAR moves, they move. For a small hotel the practical point is that BAR should change with demand, not sit still for a season. A flat BAR means you sell the cheap nights at a fair price but give the busy nights away. Because BAR is public, guests and competitors see it, which makes it the figure most worth checking against nearby hotels.
A worked example
The 24-room hotel sets BAR at £110 for an autumn weekday. A returning-guest rate is BAR less 10%, which is £99. When a Saturday home fixture fills the town and 20 of 24 rooms are booked a week ahead, BAR for that night goes to £165, and the returning-guest rate follows to £148.50 without anyone retyping it. If you want to compare your BAR with your market regularly, open a free RatePulse trial.
Related terms
Questions people ask
Is BAR the same as rack rate?
Not quite. Rack rate is the old fixed list price. BAR is the live, lowest public price, which may be well below or above the rack rate.
How often should BAR change?
Whenever demand changes. For a small hotel that usually means a look every day, and a change when bookings or the market move.
Does BAR include breakfast?
It depends how you define it. Many hotels set BAR room-only, with breakfast added as a separate rate. Keep the definition the same everywhere.