Wash (Wash Factor)

The practice of proactively cutting a room block down to realistic expected pickup — "washing" out rooms the group knows it will not fill before they trigger attrition penalties. If history shows an event picks up about 70% of its initial block, applying a wash factor means reducing the block toward that level at an early release point instead of carrying, and later paying attrition on, rooms that were never going to sell. The wash is a forecasting discipline: it trades a larger held block for a smaller, more accurate commitment. Coordinators apply it using prior-year pickup and current booking pace, ideally per night, since shoulder nights wash more than peak. Done well, washing a block turns attrition risk into a managed number rather than a year-end surprise.