Hotel laundry PPOR: pounds per occupied room
PPOR is total laundry pounds divided by occupied rooms. It is the volume input behind every laundry cost and capacity decision a hotel makes, and the only reliable way to get it is to weigh your own carts — not to borrow someone else's number.
Quick PPOR-to-volume calculator
Enter occupied rooms and your measured (or planning) pounds per occupied room to see daily and monthly poundage.
- Pounds per day
- 1,200 lb
- Pounds per 30-day period
- 36,000 lb
Use this poundage as the input to the laundry cost calculator and the laundry capacity calculator.
What PPOR actually measures
Pounds per occupied room normalizes laundry volume by room count so a 400-room hotel and a 60-room hotel can be compared on the same basis, and so one property can track itself month to month regardless of occupancy swings. It rolls guestroom linen, terry, and (for full-service properties) food and beverage and spa linen into one number per occupied room-night.
Typical PPOR by service level
These are typical planning ranges to verify locally, not fixed industry standards. Your actual PPOR depends on bedding weight, thread count, opt-out programs, occupancy mix and outlet volume.
| Property type | Typical planning range | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Limited-service, no F&B | 5–9 lb/room | Bedding, towels, bath mat only |
| Select-service with breakfast | 7–11 lb/room | Adds light F&B linen and napkins |
| Full-service with restaurant | 10–15 lb/room | Table linen, uniforms, heavier bedding |
| Resort / banquet-heavy / spa | 14–20+ lb/room | Banquet linen, robes, pool towels |
How to weigh a sample day
- Put a platform or hanging scale at the soiled-linen collection point (chute base, cart staging area, or laundry receiving dock).
- Weigh every soiled cart or bag before it enters the wash, tagging each by source: guestroom, F&B, banquet, spa/pool, uniforms.
- Log occupied rooms for that same day from the PMS.
- Repeat for at least seven consecutive days, including a heavy-checkout day and a mid-week stayover-heavy day.
- Divide total week pounds by total occupied room-nights for the week to get your blended PPOR.
Where PPOR goes next
PPOR times occupied rooms produces daily poundage, which is the shared input for two downstream decisions: what an on-premise laundry costs per pound and per occupied room (the laundry cost calculator), and how many washers and dryers are needed to clear that volume inside staffed hours (the laundry capacity calculator). An inflated PPOR oversizes equipment and overstates cost; an understated one leaves a laundry short on peak days.
How this calculator works
| Output | Formula |
|---|---|
| PPOR | Total laundry pounds ÷ occupied rooms, for the same period |
| Daily poundage | Occupied rooms × PPOR |
| Period poundage | Daily poundage × days in the period |
Assumptions and limits
- Published ranges are starting points. Outlet mix, bedding program and opt-out participation move PPOR meaningfully within and across the ranges shown here.
- Weigh, don't estimate. A week of actual scale readings across a mixed occupancy pattern is worth more than any published average when you are sizing cost or equipment.
- Banquet and event linen spikes. A single large banquet can double a day's poundage without moving occupied rooms at all; separate event-driven volume from routine guestroom PPOR if events are frequent.
PPOR questions
Related hotel operations calculators
Hotel laundry cost calculator
All-in on-premise cost per pound and per occupied room from labor, utilities, chemicals, linen replacement and equipment, against an outsourced rate.
Hotel laundry capacity calculator
Pounds per day into required throughput and the washer and dryer count that clears a peak day inside your staffed hours.
Hotel linen PAR calculator
Sheets, towels and mats to own at 3 or 4 PAR, item by item, with the purchase value of the whole inventory.