Posts by Sarah McCay Tams
H1 Hotel Labor Data Shows Why Scheduling Must Follow Demand
Hotel labor productivity improved during the first half of 2026, but the bigger lesson for operators is not simply that hours declined. It is why those hours matter. The latest HotelData H1 Labor Costs Report found that Full Service hotels reduced Hours per Occupied Room (HPOR) by 3.1% compared with H1 2025. Select Service hotels…
Read MoreBridging the Gap Between Talent and Tech: The Actabl and Netchex Alliance
In the hospitality industry, people are your greatest asset. But managing them often presents your greatest administrative challenge. When hotel teams are bogged down by disconnected payroll systems, manual onboarding, and high turnover rates, the guest experience suffers. Managers find themselves trapped in the back office chasing tax forms or correcting punch errors instead of…
Read MoreActabl’s AI Insights Cut Overtime Share of Hours by 13% Across 100-plus Hotels
Launched in June 2026, AI Insights for Hotel Effectiveness delivers daily labor intelligence that catches issues before they hit the P&L, protecting margins and the on-property teams powering them. Actabl today announced that hotels across the U.S. are already seeing measurable results using AI Insights for Hotel Effectiveness, the industry’s leading hotel labor management platform.…
Read MoreHow Connected Hotel Operations Turn Data Into Action
The real advantage in modern hospitality is not simply having better tools; it’s achieving better flow. A truly connected hotel operates as a continuous, seamless cycle: plan, staff, operate, invest, measure, and adjust. Each step informs the next. Forecasting guides labor planning. Labor planning drives daily operations. Daily operations expose asset needs. Asset performance strengthens…
Read MoreH1 2026 Hotel Profitability: What Drove Revenue and Margin Growth
On August 20, 2026, we unpacked what H1 and Q2 2026 hotel profitability data tells us about the market in our latest HotelData webinar: From Momentum to Margin: The H1 Hotel Profitability Story. Across the HotelData sample, H1 RevPAR increased 8.9%, TRevPAR rose 9.2%, and GOP margin improved 3.6 percentage points to 44.9% for hotels…
Read MoreThe Four Pillars That Drive Hotel Performance
Every hotel operates across four critical areas: planning and forecasting, labor optimization, operations execution, and asset and CapEx planning. The difference between fragmented and connected performance is whether these areas inform one another. Individually, each improves performance. Together, they create control. Together, the four pillars create the operating system of the connected hotel. Planning sets…
Read MoreHow the Actabl & Acumen Partnership is Redefining Hospitality Finance
In an industry where margins are under constant pressure and real-time data is the only true competitive advantage, the technical debt of legacy systems is becoming a major liability. Many hotel management companies are still tethered to entry-level accounting tools or obsolete platforms that require mountains of manual reconciliation. That’s why the 13-year partnership between…
Read MoreHow Data Helps Hotels Improve Guest Experience
Hotel teams collect data throughout the guest journey. Messages reveal common questions. Service requests show where delays occur. Housekeeping records identify recurring room issues. Reviews and surveys explain what guests valued and what fell short. Yet collecting data doesn’t improve the guest experience on its own. Hotels need to connect that information, identify patterns, and…
Read MoreWhat High-Performing Hotels Do Differently
High-performing hotels don’t operate in easier conditions. They face the exact same severe labor pressures, unpredictable booking volatility, relentless ownership demands, and rising guest expectations as every other property in the market. The fundamental difference lies entirely in how they choose to respond to those daily operational pressures. Instead of managing finance, labor, operations, and…
Read MoreHow to Streamline Scheduling and Shift Management in Hotels
Hotel scheduling looks simple from the outside: build the rota, cover the shifts, and adjust when demand changes. Inside the operation, it is rarely that clean. Managers are balancing occupancy, arrivals, departures, housekeeping workload, labor standards, employee availability, overtime risk, call-offs, and guest expectations. When that work happens in spreadsheets or disconnected systems, the schedule…
Read MoreThe Hidden Cost of Good Enough Systems
Most hotels have already made significant investments in technology. They have forecasting tools, scheduling systems, reporting platforms, guest operations software, and maintenance management systems humming away behind the scenes. On the surface, the foundational tech stack appears to be fully in place. Yet, the core issue facing modern hospitality is not a lack of tools. …
Read MoreHow the Actabl and BOUNTE Partnership is Transforming the Guest’s Last Impression
Where margins are under constant pressure and guest experience is the only true competitive advantage, the technical debt of legacy systems is becoming a serious liability. For hotel management companies, this risk is nowhere more apparent than in the handling of lost and found and guest parcels. They are fragmented, manual, and high-stakes burdens that…
Read MoreHow to Design a Preventive Maintenance Program for Hotels
A guestroom HVAC issue, a failed elevator, a damaged fixture, or a missed inspection can quickly escalate from an engineering task to a guest experience issue. Left unchecked, small problems can become expensive repairs, room downtime, owner scrutiny, and avoidable CapEx pressure. That’s why preventive maintenance matters. A strong preventive maintenance program helps hotels protect…
Read MoreThe Problem Is Not Effort. It Is Fragmentation
Hotel teams today are working harder than ever, yet they often feel like they are running on a treadmill. They are navigating compressed booking windows, tightening labor markets, soaring guest expectations, and relentless owner pressure. On top of these daily pressures, they are expected to make high-stakes operational and financial decisions using software systems that…
Read MoreHow the Actabl & Avalara Partnership is Automating the Complexities of Hospitality Tax
In an industry where margins are under constant pressure and real-time data is the only true competitive advantage, the technical debt of legacy systems is becoming a major liability. For hotel management companies, this risk is nowhere more apparent than in tax compliance, a fragmented, manual, and high-stakes burden that can drain resources and invite…
Read MoreWhy Forecasting and Budgeting Still Break Down in Hotels
Hotel teams today often struggle with forecasting and budgeting because the process still relies on disconnected systems, static assumptions, and manual work. Revenue changes daily. Labor needs shift by occupancy. Expenses move with demand, staffing, maintenance, and owner priorities. Yet many hotels still build budgets in one place, manage labor in another, track performance somewhere…
Read MoreHow to Build a Connected Hotel
Hotel teams are working harder than ever. They are managing volatile demand, rising guest expectations, labor pressure, owner scrutiny, and increasingly complex technology stacks. Yet for many hotels, the real challenge is not the amount of effort going into the operation. It is the number of gaps between the systems, teams, and decisions that shape…
Read MoreHotel Budget Season: How to Prepare for 2027
Hotel budget season is more than an annual finance exercise. Done well, it gives hotel leaders a clear plan for growth, cost control, and profitability. For 2027, that plan needs to rest on better data. Demand patterns continue to shift, labor costs remain under pressure, and operators face rising expectations from owners, guests, and teams.…
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