Opinion Articles

CEO Pay in Hospitality 2025

In last year’s study of CEO pay, we explored the ongoing shifts in compensation following the pandemic’s disruptive impact on the hospitality industry. This year, we turn our focus to a period defined by mounting global uncertainty, driven by political transitions, tariffs and worldwide trade deals. Amid this backdrop, reassessing CEO compensation and corresponding performance metrics has been critical.

How the USALI 12th Revised Edition Enhances Hotel Benchmarking and Drives Hotel Performance

Questions are commonplace in any hotel business. Who hasn't been in a budget meeting or financial review when someone has asked if the food and beverage margins are competitive, or if the spa department should be generating more revenue, or how labor efficiencies compare to other properties of the same size? Transforming these questions into actionable insights is what hotel benchmarking can do—creating concrete, data-backed comparisons.

Begin With The End In Mind – Creating a Financially Engaged Leadership Team In Your Hotel

Creating a financially engaged leadership team in your hotel is no different from creating a strong guest service culture or a team that has colleague and leader engagement as their mission. What you attend to grows, it’s that simple. What’s different with the finances is you and your focus. The picture you want to create needs to be clear, and you need to have a plan to follow and resources to employ to create financial leadership. It’s no different from guest service or colleague engagement. We would not expect these two disciplines to grow and prosper in our hotel on their own. No, we recognize that these require constant attention and nurturing. The financial leadership in your hotel is exactly the same.

2025/26 Federal Per-Diem Update: Steady Rates Ahead

The federal government per-diem rate is made up of a lodging allowance and a meals and incidental expense (M&IE) allowance. The per-diem lodging rates, which set the maximum amount a federal traveler can reimburse, are based on the average rates for mid-priced hotels and are set annually by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). A standard rate applies to most of the continental United States (CONUS), while individual rates apply to about 300 non-standard areas (NSAs), mostly comprising primary destinations or key cities.

H1 2025 European Hotel Transactions

Transaction activity remained high in the first half of 2025, marginally shy of the 2024 levels over the same period but, at €10.4 billion, above the average for the last decade. Single-asset deals were at the forefront of the investment landscape in H1 2025, with the total number of transactions increasing by 21% year-on-year. An increase of 9% in the average number of rooms per hotel transacted has led to a decrease in the average price per room of 8% compared to H1 2024.

Dynamic Budgeting: Redefining the True Cost of Visibility

For too long, the debate around hotel distribution has been framed within a deceptively simple equation: place the commission paid to an OTA on one side, measure the acquisition cost of a direct booking on the other, and then declare whichever is lower the winning option. If a marketing campaign produces a cost per acquisition above the sacred 20 percent commission threshold, it is quickly branded as inefficient, a waste of money, an error to be avoided. This binary reasoning, however, is an intellectual shortcut that strips the discussion of its deeper meaning. It overlooks the fundamental truth that the direct channel is not merely another distribution outlet in a portfolio of options, but the sovereign foundation of the hotel itself, the only arena where control over communication, guest data, and the relationship can be fully maintained.

Budgeting for 2026: A Strategic Approach for Hoteliers

Budget season isn’t just about numbers—it’s about vision. As a hotel finance executive, I have found that success in 2026 will come down to discipline, collaboration, and clarity. Hoteliers face a marketplace defined by uncertainty: shifting demand patterns, evolving technology, rising operating costs, and persistent talent pressures. Yet, uncertainty is precisely why a strong, collaborative budgeting process is essential.