CHIA Data Collection & Analytical Techniques — Questions and Answers

Question 1: A hotel analyst wants to compare its RevPAR growth to a group of similar nearby hotels. Which data source is most appropriate?

The hotel's own PMS history only
A STR competitive set report (Correct answer)
Online guest review scores
The hotel's annual budget

Correct answer: A STR competitive set report

STR competitive set reports benchmark occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR against an anonymized group of comparable hotels.

Question 2: Which formula correctly calculates RevPAR?

Room revenue ÷ rooms sold
Total revenue ÷ guests
Room revenue ÷ rooms available (Correct answer)
Rooms sold ÷ rooms available

Correct answer: Room revenue ÷ rooms available

RevPAR equals room revenue divided by rooms available, which also equals ADR × occupancy.

Question 3: An RGI (RevPAR Index) of 112 means the hotel is:

Capturing 12% more than its fair share of RevPAR (Correct answer)
Losing 12% of its RevPAR to competitors
Running 112% occupancy
Charging 12% above its own budgeted ADR

Correct answer: Capturing 12% more than its fair share of RevPAR

An index above 100 indicates the hotel is earning more than its fair share relative to the competitive set.

Question 4: Which type of data is a guest's free-text review comment considered?

Structured quantitative data
Ordinal data
Interval data
Unstructured qualitative data (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Unstructured qualitative data

Free-text comments lack a predefined format and describe qualities rather than measured quantities.

Question 5: When forecasting next month's occupancy, an analyst examines bookings already on the books for future dates. This data is known as:

Historical actuals
Pickup data
Pace (on-the-books) data (Correct answer)
Wash data

Correct answer: Pace (on-the-books) data

Pace data shows reservations on the books for future dates compared with the same point in prior periods.

Question 6: Which statistical measure is least affected by a few extremely high-priced suite bookings when describing a typical rate?

Mean
Median (Correct answer)
Range
Standard deviation

Correct answer: Median

The median is the middle value and is resistant to outliers, unlike the mean.

Question 7: Rooms that were reserved but are expected to cancel or no-show before arrival are accounted for in forecasting through:

Wash or attrition factors (Correct answer)
Displacement analysis
Length-of-stay controls
Channel mix analysis

Correct answer: Wash or attrition factors

Wash factors adjust group or transient bookings for expected cancellations and no-shows.

Question 8: An analyst wants to know whether a new loyalty promotion caused higher direct bookings. Which method best isolates cause and effect?

Year-over-year trend comparison
Descriptive summary of bookings
Controlled A/B test with randomized groups (Correct answer)
Correlation analysis of past data

Correct answer: Controlled A/B test with randomized groups

Randomized controlled experiments isolate the effect of the treatment from other variables.

Question 9: A correlation coefficient of -0.85 between room rate and booking volume indicates:

A strong negative relationship (Correct answer)
A weak positive relationship
No relationship
Rate increases cause bookings to rise

Correct answer: A strong negative relationship

Values near -1 indicate a strong inverse relationship where one variable rises as the other falls.

Question 10: Unconstrained demand in hotel revenue management refers to:

Only the bookings actually accepted
Group demand that exceeds the contract block
Demand limited by hotel capacity
Total demand that would occur if no capacity or rate restrictions existed (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Total demand that would occur if no capacity or rate restrictions existed

Unconstrained demand estimates true demand including denials and regrets, not just what was booked.

Question 11: Turndowns and regrets are tracked primarily to help estimate:

Housekeeping labor needs
Unconstrained demand (Correct answer)
Food and beverage covers
Guest satisfaction scores

Correct answer: Unconstrained demand

Denials (turndowns) and regrets capture demand the hotel could not or did not convert, informing unconstrained demand.

Question 12: Which analysis technique groups guests into segments with similar characteristics without predefined labels?

Linear regression
Time series decomposition
Cluster analysis (Correct answer)
Hypothesis testing

Correct answer: Cluster analysis

Cluster analysis is an unsupervised technique that discovers natural groupings in data.

Question 13: A hotel's PMS and its CRM show different guest counts for the same month. The best first step is to:

Average the two numbers
Use whichever number is higher
Discard the CRM data
Reconcile definitions and data sources to find the discrepancy (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Reconcile definitions and data sources to find the discrepancy

Data validation requires understanding differing definitions or integration errors before using the data.

Question 14: Which KPI measures total revenue from all hotel outlets divided by rooms available?

TRevPAR (Correct answer)
ADR
GOPPAR
RevPOR

Correct answer: TRevPAR

TRevPAR includes rooms, F&B, spa, and other revenue divided by available rooms.

Question 15: Which time series component describes recurring patterns such as higher occupancy every summer?

Trend
Seasonality (Correct answer)
Random noise
Cyclicality tied to economic recessions

Correct answer: Seasonality

Seasonality is a predictable pattern repeating within a fixed calendar period.

Question 16: An analyst uses multiple variables such as day of week, events, and lead time to predict room demand. This is an example of:

Multiple regression (Correct answer)
Simple moving average
Descriptive statistics
Exponential smoothing with one variable

Correct answer: Multiple regression

Multiple regression models a dependent variable using several independent predictors.

Question 17: GOPPAR is considered a stronger profitability measure than RevPAR because it:

Excludes all non-room revenue
Is reported only by STR
Reflects operating costs, not just revenue (Correct answer)
Uses rooms sold rather than rooms available

Correct answer: Reflects operating costs, not just revenue

GOPPAR uses gross operating profit, capturing cost efficiency that RevPAR ignores.

Question 18: Which data collection method gives the most accurate competitor rate information on a daily basis?

Annual market studies
Guest comment cards
Calling competitors once a month
Automated rate shopping tools (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Automated rate shopping tools

Rate shopping tools scrape and record competitor public rates across channels daily or more often.

Question 19: A forecast's Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 4% means:

Forecasts were 4% too high every day
On average forecasts deviated 4% from actuals (Correct answer)
Only 4% of forecasts were correct
Occupancy grew 4%

Correct answer: On average forecasts deviated 4% from actuals

MAPE averages the absolute percentage differences between forecasted and actual values.

Question 20: Which variable type is a guest's satisfaction rating on a 1–5 scale?

Ordinal (Correct answer)
Nominal
Ratio
Continuous

Correct answer: Ordinal

A 1–5 rating has a meaningful order but unequal or undefined intervals between values.

Question 21: Before running analysis, an analyst finds duplicate guest profiles in the CRM. The process to fix this is called:

Data mining
Data visualization
Data deduplication and cleansing (Correct answer)
Data forecasting

Correct answer: Data deduplication and cleansing

Data cleansing removes duplicates and errors to improve data quality before analysis.

CHIA Data Collection & Analytical Techniques

A hotel analyst wants to compare its RevPAR growth to a group of similar nearby hotels.
Which data source is most appropriate?

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