From left: Elder Research's Evan Wimpey, Remington Hotels' Eve Moore, Aimbridge Hospitality's Andrew Rubinacci and Atrium Hospitality's Lars Schrader speak at the 2022 Hotel Data Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. — Photo by CoStar

Rising cost pressures, particularly from skyrocketing wages, are making it more difficult to maintain profits at hotels, but hoteliers say a combination of strong rate growth and more efficient operating models have helped keep their businesses thriving.

Speaking during the "The Lean, Mean (and profitable) Operating Machine" session at the 2022 Hotel Data Conference, Andrew Rubinacci, executive vice president of commercial and revenue strategy for Aimbridge Hospitality, said wage increases are now a universal phenomenon.

"We've kind of reset the industry and reset labor prices," he said. "A lot of people left and we need to incentivize people to come back to the industry. You see that across the board. Housekeeping and front desk [wages] are the ones that really went up the most, and [salaried positions] are starting to follow, although it's a little less volatile."

Eve Moore, divisional vice president of operations for Remington Hotels, said one thing hoteliers must do now is take a closer look at data and make sure they're using all the business intelligence tools they have to avoid overstaffing.

"One example is we were able to see that food and beverage was really recovering faster on the weekends, and that helped us schedule more effectively with a smaller number of folks," she said.

Read the full article at HotelNewsNow (part of CoStar)