Posts by Sarah McCay Tams
Beyond RevPAR: What Every Hotel CFO Should Know About GOP Flow
US hotel performance is surging in 2026, with RevPAR up 8.9%, TrevPAR up 9.2%, and GOP margin up 3.6 percentage points to 44.9%, according to HotelData’s H1 Profitability Report.  But how are hotels turning stronger demand and revenue into stronger profit? In this blog, Paul Mengacci, Chief Financial Officer of Desert Hospitality Management, unpacks how…
Read MoreThe Real Cost of a PIP Starts Years Before the Inspection
No operator wakes up one morning and discovers their property suddenly needs millions of dollars in renovations. But that’s often how a property improvement plan (PIP) feels when the inspection results come in. The reality is different. The roof repair that got pushed to next quarter. The HVAC units running past their recommended service interval.…
Read MoreHow the Actabl and Craftable Alliance is Redefining Financial Clarity for Hotels
In an industry defined by razor-thin margins and the ongoing pursuit of operational efficiency, the technical debt of outdated legacy systems has become a significant business liability. For hotel management companies, this risk is highlighted in the disconnect between daily purchasing and long-term financial health. Hotel teams move fast, and when departments place orders across…
Read MoreThe Value of a Minute: How Small Labor Gains Create a Bigger Hotel Impact
In hotel operations, one minute can seem insignificant. One minute saved cleaning a guest room. One minute removed from a routine task. One minute of labor scheduled more accurately. But hotels rarely operate at the scale of one room, one associate, or one day. Multiply that minute across hundreds of occupied rooms, 365 days a…
Read MoreActabl’s AI Insights Cut Overtime by Nearly 3 Hours Per Hotel Per Week 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 MoreThe Measurable Impact of Connected Hotel Operations
Hotels don’t connect their systems just to simplify their technology stack. The investment has to improve performance. When forecasting, labor, operations, and asset management work together, the benefits begin to show up in the daily decisions that shape profitability. Teams spend less time validating information. Managers respond to changing demand sooner. Labor aligns more closely…
Read MoreActabl Appoints Susan Walker as Chief Financial Officer
Veteran finance executive joins Actabl as the company helps hotel CFOs use trusted data and AI to drive stronger financial performance Actabl today announced the appointment of Susan Walker as Chief Financial Officer, bringing more than 30 years of finance and business strategy experience to the company as it helps hotel leaders use trusted data…
Read MoreHotel Labor Management Has a Timing Problem. Here’s How AI Insights Solves It.
The average hotel labor issue takes more than seven days to be identified. By then, overtime has already hit payroll, the scheduling gap has repeated itself three times, and the weekly ops call is about what went wrong last week rather than what’s happening now. Meanwhile, the data that would have flagged the problem was…
Read MoreH1 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 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 More