Linen par levels: how much stock does your property actually need?

It's the question every new operator gets wrong in one of two expensive directions. Order too little linen and housekeeping is chasing wet towels out of the dryer while a guest waits at reception. Order too much and you've sunk thousands into stock sitting in a cupboard, ageing before it's ever used. The tool that gets it right is the par level — and once you understand it, buying for a new motel, a growing Airbnb, or a refurbished wing stops being guesswork.

What "par" actually means

Par is simply the baseline stock you hold so every bed can always be made up fresh. It's counted in multiples of a single turnover: one par is exactly enough to dress every bed in the house one time. The reason the industry lands on three is that clean linen is never in one place at once — it's always moving through three states at the same time:^1,2

Run only one par and a single delayed wash leaves a room unsellable. Run two and you're permanently one broken dryer or one busy checkout morning away from trouble. Three par gives every room a clean set waiting while the others cycle — which is why it's the number nearly every hotel, motel and serviced apartment works to.^1,3

The par formula, item by item

Start with what one room needs for a single make-up — that's your one par per room. Then multiply by your room count, then by three. Here's a typical Australian queen room as a starting point (adjust for your own bed mix and towel policy):

The towel side varies most between properties — a budget motel may run two bath towels a room, a four-star may run four plus a pool towel. Pick a policy, write it down, and buy to it. If you're still deciding on towel weight before you count par, our GSM guide covers which towel suits high-turnover rooms.

Worked example: a 20-room Riverina motel

Let's make it real. Take a 20-room motel with queen rooms — the kind of property you'll find right across Griffith, Leeton and the wider MIA. Using the per-room figures above at 3 par, the opening linen order looks like this:

That's your daily-laundered core. It looks like a lot on paper — but remember, two-thirds of it is always either on a bed earning revenue or moving through the wash. Only the reserve par sits still, and never for long.

On-site vs off-site laundry: when to go beyond 3 par

Three par assumes you can turn a wash around quickly — typically on-site or same-day. The moment linen leaves the building, the maths changes, because sets in transit are sets you can't use:^2,4

• On-site or same-day laundry → 3 par is the standard and usually enough.
• Off-site / contract laundry → run 4 par. The extra set covers the day (or days) linen spends being collected, washed and returned.
• Regional distance or a shared laundry run → lean toward 4–5 par, especially if pickups are only a few times a week. Out here in the Riverina, a longer laundry loop is a real planning factor, not a footnote.
• Peak tourism weekends → hold a buffer above your everyday par so a full house plus a same-day turnover doesn't drain the reserve.

The exceptions: not everything is 3 par

A few items aren't stripped and washed after every single stay, so buying them at full 3 par just ties up cash:^3,5

• Mattress & pillow protectors — laundered periodically rather than every checkout, so around 1.25–1.5 par is plenty. For our 20-room motel that's roughly 25–30 protectors, not 60. Skimp here and you're washing the mattress itself — protectors are cheap insurance.
• Quilt inners & blankets — the cover gets washed each stay (so covers are 3 par), but the inner and any top blanket cycle far less often. Around 1.25–1.5 par covers spills and the occasional deep clean.
• Pool towels — issue about 2 per guest, and stock more heading into summer when everyone wants one at once.
• Gym & fitness towels — the exception in the other direction. They get heavy use and they walk, so run a higher par than guest-room towels. Our gym towel buying guide covers the numbers.

Why under-par costs more than it saves

It's tempting to open with two par and "top up later." It almost always backfires, for three reasons. First, a thin par means every set is laundered more often to keep up — and wash cycles, not years, are what wear linen out, so your towels and sheets hit the bin sooner. That's the exact trap we break down in the real cost of cheap linen. Second, a stockout is a guest-experience failure: a missing clean towel or a delayed check-in is what turns into a two-star review. Third, emergency top-ups — ordering in a panic, paying for speed — always cost more than planning the right par once. Under-stocking doesn't save money; it just moves the cost somewhere more painful.

Buying par stock without over-committing

Here's the reassuring part: getting to par doesn't have to mean one intimidating cheque. Because we work with no minimum order, you can buy your opening 3 par, see how your real laundry cycle behaves for a few weeks, then add the fourth par or extra towels exactly where the pinch shows up — rather than guessing high and over-buying on day one.

That works best with a supplier who can restock quickly. Dispatching from Griffith means Riverina operators aren't waiting a week on a metro warehouse when a busy weekend eats into the reserve. Fitting out a new property from scratch? Pair this with the hotel linen buying checklist for the specs, and if you're a short-stay host, the Airbnb linen starter kit scales this same formula down to a single listing. Ready to price a full order? Browse the commercial range or tell us your room count and we'll build the par sheet for you.