June 2026
Linen Par Stock Calculator — Hotels, Restaurants & Care Homes
Enter your rooms, covers or residents and get an instant par stock recommendation for every linen item — based on your changeover frequency and laundry turnaround time.
Par Stock Calculator
Results update instantly as you type. No email required.
| Item | Basis | Par qty |
|---|
Total items recommended
Par multiplier applied
CanDo linen hire includes all stock
With linen hire, CanDo supplies all of this stock, launders it and replaces worn items — no capital outlay, no replacement budget.
ⓘ Par stock recommendations are based on industry standard practice (1 set in use + 1 in laundry + reserve buffer). Actual requirements vary with occupancy rates, staining levels and service frequency. Add 15–20% to these figures for high-occupancy or event-heavy periods.
What Is Linen Par Stock?
Par stock is the minimum quantity of linen you need on hand at any time to run your operation without running out. The word “par” comes from golf — it’s the standard you need to meet to keep the game moving. In laundry terms, it means having enough clean linen to cover what’s in use, what’s in the wash, and a safety buffer for the unexpected.
The standard industry formula is 3× par for hotels: one set on the beds, one set in the laundry, one set in the linen room. In practice, your par level depends on three variables:
- How often you change linen — daily changeover needs more stock than a stay-over policy
- Your laundry turnaround time — a 48-hour turnaround means you need a larger float than a 24-hour service
- Your occupancy pattern — 100% occupancy at weekends with a slow midweek can create dangerous stock shortfalls
Most hospitality businesses that run out of linen mid-week aren’t understocked — they’re operating on the right par stock for average occupancy, not peak occupancy. The fix is a larger safety buffer, not more total stock.
Par Stock by Property Type
Hotels and B&Bs
For a standard hotel with daily changeover and a 48-hour laundry turnaround, a 3.75× par gives you a comfortable operating buffer. This means a 50-room hotel needs roughly 190 duvet covers, 380 pillowcases, 375 bath towels and so on. The calculator above gives you exact figures by item.
High-occupancy periods (bank holidays, events, summer season) are where stock shortfalls occur. Add a 15–20% buffer on your base par calculation for these periods, or negotiate a temporary stock increase with your linen hire provider.
Restaurants and Pubs
Restaurant par stock is calculated per service, not per day. A 60-cover restaurant running two services a day needs enough tablecloths and napkins for both services, plus what’s in the wash, plus a reserve. The calculator assumes 2.5 covers per table — adjust if your tables seat differently.
The most common mistake in restaurant linen management is treating tablecloths and napkins as a single pool. They have different turnaround times (napkins wash faster) and different staining rates. Track them separately.
Care Homes
Care home linen has stricter hygiene requirements than hospitality. All linen should be processed to HTM 01-04 thermal disinfection standards — which means wash temperatures of 65°C for 10 minutes or 71°C for 3 minutes. Standard in-house machines rarely maintain these temperatures consistently. Resident personal linen should be clearly labelled and processed separately from communal items.
In-House vs Linen Hire: What Par Stock Costs You
When you own your linen stock, you bear the full cost of purchasing to par level, then replacing items as they wear out. For a 50-room hotel at 3.75× par, the initial stock investment alone runs to £8,000–£18,000 depending on quality — before you add laundering, equipment, staff time and ongoing replacements.
With a linen hire service, CanDo owns the stock and you pay a per-use fee. Your opening stock is delivered to par level at no upfront cost. Worn or damaged items are replaced by us. You never have a capital line item for linen again.
Read our full breakdown: Restaurant laundry in-house vs outsourcing — the real cost.
Get a Linen Quote Based on Your Par Stock
Share your rooms, covers or resident count and we’ll come back within one working day with a linen hire quote built around your actual volumes — not an industry average.
