PurposeThe aim of this work is to explore performance measurement practices in the context of an independent hotel in Northern Cyprus.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in a 392‐room five‐star resort hotel over a nine‐week period using multiple data collection methods comprising semi‐structured interviews, documentation collection and observation. In the context of the case hotel, three decision‐making groups – employees, managers, and regional executive – were involved in order that the performance measurement and the decision‐making mechanism could be described.FindingsThe findings indicated six main themes, which are grouped under business dynamics and overall performance, employee performance, customer satisfaction, financial performance, and innovative activities performance measures, so that understanding the type, the communication process and the purpose of utilising the performance measures is described and analysed.Originality/valueThis paper presents the results of performance measurement practice of an independent hotel setting, providing in‐depth information about the context of the business, the decision‐making process and the information flow. Also, the paper documents performance measurement practices in the hospitality management field, providing an insight into the kinds of measures used by decision‐makers of an independent hotel business in Northern Cyprus.