As hospitality leaders, we are conditioned to focus on a specific set of metrics. We live and breathe RevPAR, occupancy, ADR, and direct booking percentages. These numbers are the bedrock of our operational control, and rightly so. The latest Insights Podcast prompted me to think more about the data we often overlook.
On July 7–8, 2025, EHL Hospitality Business School’s Lausanne campus welcomed the 9th Hospitality Finance & Economics (HFE) Conference, organized in collaboration with the Center for Urban and Real Estate Studies at Hitotsubashi University and the NUS Institute of Real Estate & Urban Studies. Seventeen researchers from four continents turned each session into a dynamic and insightful exchange on topics ranging from climate risk and affordability to the burgeoning world of digital real-estate markets.
Creating a great commentary for your owners and corporate is a monthly mainstay in almost every hotel. It can also be a large dose of drudgery. This article is about how you can create an effective system in your hotel to generate a strong and meaningful commentary based on information from all areas of your business. Creating this kind of information system in your hotel is a powerful tool. This commentary power tool can help you drive superior financial results if you approach it with the right spirt and a system to follow.
Hotel insurance has long been sold as a safety net for one of the world’s most unpredictable industries. But behind the polished marketing and “peace of mind” slogans lies a history riddled with fine print, exclusions, and moments where insurers protected their bottom line far more aggressively than they protected hoteliers or their guests.
Whether you are interested in investing in a hotel asset or preparing to sell one, understanding its value is necessary to make a smart deal.
Hotel franchises have become a dominant force in today’s hospitality landscape. Hotel franchising has become the preferred model for global hospitality brands pursuing asset-light strategies to grow quickly without owning property, with the percentage of global franchise rooms rising to 63% in 2022.
Budget season in hospitality can feel like trying to land a plane in fog—numbers are everywhere, and every decision impacts your property’s future. That’s where the Budgeting Playbook comes in as a clear, actionable guide to help you build a strategy-driven budget that aligns market realities with operational goals.
With demand patterns shifting constantly and competition just a click away, staying on top of your key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential.
Having worked in the hotel business for over four decades, I know most people think the numbers are the “hard” part of hospitality. There’s a common belief that the financials are best left to professionals who can sort out the complex interplay between the different departments of a hotel. It’s just too challenging and complicated for anyone who didn’t go to accounting school.
Geopolitical risk is no longer background noise. It’s the soundtrack to global business – and it’s growing louder.
In the ever-evolving landscape of global trade, tariffs have emerged as a formidable challenge for hoteliers. As these financial barriers reshape the market, understanding their implications is crucial for those in the hospitality industry. Hotel giants have already noted the possible shifts in revenue due to trade policies.
After two years of post-pandemic rebound, hotel operators are now facing a harder truth: revenues are still growing in some regions, but costs are rising faster—and profits are hitting a ceiling.
Aptech, a leading provider of scalable accounting, business intelligence, financial planning and management solutions for the hospitality industry, today announced that Murphy Asset Management has implemented its Execuvue business intelligence platform. The hospitality asset management and advisory firm will use Execuvue to gain greater visibility into operating expenses across its portfolio and deliver deeper performance insights to support its hotel owners and investor clientele.
Many hotels are innovating faster than ever. They are embracing AI‑driven pricing, hybrid spaces, and even membership models. Paradoxically, others feel “stuck in time”, running on instinct rather than on data. I see this almost every week: properties with no revenue management system, no proper financial models, and no standardized controls. Some of these hotels have great locations. Some even provide a decent service. But behind the scenes, they’re operating like it’s 1995 and their bottom line reflects it. And at the end of the day, those who don’t evolve become little more than opportunities for competitors ready to grow.
I first diagnosed CSMD at Hotel Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada where I held the position of hotel manager in the early 2000’s. I call it "conference services managers’ disease" because this position seems to develop this disease more often than other leadership roles in hospitality. However, it’s important to point out CSMD is not limited to just CSM’s, as other leaders can also develop this debilitating disease and if you’re a CSM you are not predisposed to developing CSMD, you just might have a greater risk.
Summer is just at the half-way point, but financial reporting for many borrowers for second quarter is still around the corner. Given market volatility, tariffs and other financial burdens – initial indicators suggest that companies are likely straining if not flailing under the weight of economic conditions. What this means for borrowers and lenders is that second quarter reporting could be underwhelming, if not disastrous – putting multiple borrowers in default under their loans.
The landscape for hotel owners, asset managers, and operators has just received a significant boost with the signing of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) into law. This landmark legislation, lauded by industry bodies like the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), provides crucial certainty and powerful incentives for businesses to re-invest, innovate, and grow. It permanently establishes key provisions that directly encourage capital expenditures and modernization efforts, particularly through enhanced tax benefits, making this a pivotal moment for hotel technology investment OBBB.
The Spanish market authorities have authorised the delisting of ex-NH Group, now a subsidiary of Minor Hotels International. This marks the end of a process that began six months ago, coinciding with the publication of excellent results for the first half of the financial year.
The sample of branded full-service hotels in London recorded a healthy increase in profit during the 12-month period ending in May 2025, relative to the same time last year. GOP per available room (GOP PAR) rose by 4.7%, driven by a 2.4% decrease in expenses and a 0.8% revenue increase.
In 2025, the hotel industry is facing another wave of operational and back-office transformation when it comes to staffing, not just in the front lines, but in the back office too. Labor costs keep climbing, profit margins are tight, and the traditional staffing models that once worked aren’t adding up anymore.