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.
In our world of perpetual motion, paradoxes are no longer surprising. The health crisis once led us to believe there would be a lasting post-Covid impact on the desire to travel. And while that wave may have temporarily receded, it is far too powerful to dissolve into an ocean that suddenly stands still.
In 2025, the national lodging market has continued to demonstrate resilient performance, maintaining strong average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR) metrics despite flat occupancy growth. Compared to 2023 and 2024, ADR and RevPAR have remained near record levels, driven by solid group and business travel in primary markets, even as some leisure markets began to stabilize or soften. National occupancy remained unchanged from 2023, but overall hotel revenues have continued to grow modestly year over year. These trends suggest a market that has largely stabilized following the disruptions of the pandemic era. Nevertheless, the high cost of debt and capital, coupled with elevated construction costs, continues to weigh heavily on new hotel development activity. As a result, while the underlying performance environment remains favorable for development in theory, actual construction has been subdued, with the supply growth forecast for 2025 falling well below pre-pandemic averages.
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.This idea is just a myth—one you can bust wide open with this Podcast Series. I have used Notebook LM to read my writings and magically turn them into a discussion - Just For You!
Recently I was reading some McKinsey and Google studies about “the effectiveness of marketing” and CMO/CEO issues. It’s a recurring boardroom drama: CMOs defending budgets while CFOs quietly (or not-so-quietly) ask for cuts. And it’s almost always followed by the same question: “What’s the ROI of marketing anyway?” (Random note: It would be interesting to put a percentage of all brand ads into the balance sheet as brand equity).