Occupancy isn't only about today's board — it's about what's coming. How far in advance pets get booked, how many of those reservations actually show up, and how much demand is already committed for the weeks ahead all decide whether next month is full or empty. This dashboard turns the reservation book into a forward-looking demand view, so you can manage occupancy before it happens instead of reading it after the fact.
What this dashboard answers
The funnel page tracks reservations from created to confirmed to checked-in, with cards for reservations created, checked-in, cancelled, and committed future pet-nights, plus check-in conversion and cancellations by location. The lead-time page shows committed future pet-nights and average booking lead-time, breaks lead time down by service line, plots committed pet-nights by future arrival date, and shows reservations by channel — Online, Phone, Walk-In and App — so you see where bookings come from and how far ahead they're made.
The metrics that matter
Check-in conversion is the reliability of your book: reservations that never arrive are phantom occupancy you may have turned other pets away for. Average lead time tells you how much runway you have to manage rate and staffing — boarding typically books far ahead, daycare and grooming much closer in. Committed future pet-nights is the single most useful demand number you're probably not looking at: it's occupancy you've already sold for dates that haven't happened yet, the basis for staffing and for deciding when to discount the soft dates.
Why the data is trapped
Booking software holds every reservation with its booking date, arrival date and status, but it doesn't compute conversion rate, average lead time, or — critically — roll up committed pet-nights for future dates into a forward demand curve. Those require counting status flags consistently and summing booked nights filtered to future arrivals, which no standard export does. The forward view especially is something Gingr, PetExec, Revelation Pets and DaySmart Pet capture in the data but never surface as a number.
How to read it
Read check-in conversion and cancellations together by location to find sites with flaky books that need deposits or confirmations. Use average lead time by service line to set how far ahead you manage rate. Then read committed future pet-nights by arrival date as your demand forecast: peaks tell you where to staff up and hold rate, troughs tell you where to push daycare conversion or a promo while there's still time. The sample uses entirely synthetic data, so there are no real client or pet records in what you see here.
Metrics it tracks
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Reservations Created | Reservations created in the period — the top of the funnel. |
| Reservations Checked In | Reservations that converted to an actual arrival (a 1/0 flag summed). |
| Cancelled Reservations | Reservations cancelled before arrival (a 1/0 flag summed). |
| Check-In Conversion Rate | Checked-in reservations ÷ reservations created — the share that became real stays (shown on charts, not as a card). |
| Committed Future Pet-Nights | Booked pet-nights with an arrival date in the future — forward demand already on the books. |
| Average Booking Lead-Time | Total lead-time days ÷ reservations — average days between booking and arrival. |
Used by: Owners and operators managing demand
Frequently asked questions
What is booking lead time and why does it matter?
Booking lead time is the number of days between when a reservation is made and when the pet arrives, averaged as total lead-time days over reservation count. It matters because it's your planning runway — long boarding lead times let you manage rate and staffing weeks ahead, while short grooming lead times mean you fill closer to the day.
What are 'committed future pet-nights'?
Committed future pet-nights are booked pet-nights with an arrival date still in the future — occupancy you've already sold for dates that haven't happened. Summed by future arrival date, they form a forward demand curve that tells you where to staff up, hold rate, or discount soft dates while there's still time to fill them.
Why track check-in conversion instead of just reservation count?
Because a reservation that never arrives is phantom occupancy — you may have turned other pets away to hold the space. Check-in conversion (checked-in reservations over reservations created) measures how reliable your book actually is, and a low rate at a location points to a need for deposits, confirmations or reminders.
Build this report on your own data
Clone this Pet care facilities template — describe it and we’ll generate sample data so you can try it free, or upload your own export. You get a fully modeled, branded Power BI project that opens in Power BI Desktop.
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