"Par" is simply one full set of linen for the property. Three par means you own three complete sets. The number you choose decides whether housekeeping ever waits on linen, and how much working capital sits folded in a cupboard.
The standard model
The conventional guidance for room linen is three to five par, and the logic behind it is worth understanding rather than memorising:
| Par | Where it is |
|---|---|
| 1 par | On the beds right now |
| 1 par | Clean, on the shelf, ready for today’s changeovers |
| 1 par | In the wash / in transit with your laundry |
| +1 par | Buffer for peak occupancy, delays and damage |
| +1 par | Reserve stock, rotated in as older linen is condemned |
Three par is the working minimum. Four is comfortable. Five suits properties with unpredictable occupancy or long laundry turnaround. If you are running at two par, your housekeeping team is almost certainly stripping and remaking under pressure, and your linen is being washed far more often than it needs to be — which shortens its life.
What changes the number
- Laundry turnaround — a 24-hour cycle needs less par than a 72-hour one. This is the single biggest lever, and it is the one an outsourced contract can fix directly.
- Collection frequency — daily collection lets you hold less stock than twice-weekly collection.
- Occupancy volatility — event-driven and seasonal properties need more buffer than steady corporate ones.
- Linen quality — heavier GSM cotton lasts longer but takes longer to dry, which lengthens turnaround.
- Guest mix — long-stay guests change linen less often than one-night business travellers.
Par levels beyond the bedroom
Room linen gets the attention, but F&B and banquet linen is where properties most often get caught short. Restaurant table linen turns over faster than room linen and is far more prone to permanent staining, so plan for higher replacement rather than higher par. Banquet linen is the opposite problem: demand is spiky and tied to bookings, so par should be sized against your largest realistic event, not your average one.
Rotation matters as much as quantity
Owning enough linen is only half of it. If new stock goes to the top of the pile and gets used first, your reserve ages without ever being used, and you end up condemning linen that has barely worked. Issue from the bottom, rotate reserve in on a schedule, and mark stock by intake batch so you can actually tell how long a set has lasted. Batch marking also tells you whether a supplier’s linen is performing.
We help properties across Ahmedabad set par levels against a committed turnaround window, so the stock you buy matches the cycle you actually run. If you are sizing a new property or re-stocking an existing one, we are happy to work through the numbers with you.
