How Hotels Use Data to Make Faster, Smarter Decisions

May 26, 2026|Business Intelligence, ProfitSword

Hotel teams are not lacking data. They are lacking clarity.

Across most properties, data sits in separate systems. Revenue in one platform. Labor in another. Financial reporting somewhere else.

Each system answers a different question. None provides a complete picture.

Why Data Alone is Not Enough

Many hotels invest in reporting tools but still struggle to act on insights.

The issue is timing.

Hospitality America improved financial visibility, labor efficiency, and portfolio-wide performance by centralizing its data and decision-making in ProfitSword and integrating that with Sage Intacct, enabling faster, more accurate forecasting and tighter control over hotel operations.

By replacing fragmented reporting with a single source of truth, the company gave operators and leaders real-time access to labor, revenue, and expense data, thereby sharpening budgeting discipline and supporting more proactive cost management. This visibility allowed teams to align staffing with demand, track performance against targets at both the property and portfolio level, and hold managers accountable through consistent benchmarking. As a result, ProfitSword became a core driver of more informed decisions, stronger financial oversight, and a scalable operating model built on data rather than intuition.

Here’s what CEO Ben Campbell recommends for hotel leaders considering a tech investment: “One thing that we assessed was the relationship between ProfitSword and Sage Intacct. The big thing with any tech is how they interact and engage with one another.

“Then, ask where the pain points are with your teams? What is wasting time in our accounting department? What is taking time that could be automated with the ultimate tech stack? There's something out there that Actabl can help with. With Sage Intacct and ProfitSword, it's only going to get better, making the end user even more efficient.”

Read more: https://actabl.com/blog/a-hospitality-journey-ben-campbell/

What Data-Driven Decision-Making Looks Like

Hotels that operate with connected data move faster.

Revenue teams adjust pricing based on real-time demand.
Operations teams align staffing with occupancy forecasts.
Finance teams monitor profitability continuously.

This reduces lag between insight and action.

How Commonwealth Hotels Increased Profitability

Commonwealth Hotels improved profitability, sped up decision-making, and strengthened margin control by deploying ProfitSword as a real-time business intelligence layer across its portfolio, replacing delayed, fragmented reporting with daily visibility into revenue, labor, and forecasts.

“This is your scorecard. It’s how you know you’re running a successful hotel. What are the owner's expectations? The company's expectations? Are you meeting them? You can’t manage what you can’t see,” said Debbie Farrell, Vice President of Analysis.

With all performance data centralized, teams can now adjust operations in real-time, aligning labor and spending with actual demand rather than reacting at month-end, thereby reducing missed revenue targets and limiting cost overruns.

ProfitSword also enables more proactive forecasting by linking top-line performance directly to labor and expense decisions, helping operators protect cash flow, the core metric driving ownership value. Beyond reporting, the platform surfaces trends, benchmarks performance across properties, and reinforces accountability by giving every manager a clear, shared scorecard, turning data into a daily operating discipline rather than a retrospective exercise.

This led to: