Hotel management companies are where the rubber meets the road. Owners hold deeds, and brands have their names on the front door, but it’ s the outfit operating the property that makes it go— responsible for generating revenue, containing costs and driving profitability. Economic challenges— both micro and macro— have made running hotels profitably a thorny
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exercise. The problem isn’ t that hotels aren’ t making money; it’ s that they’ re keeping less of it due to expenses growing faster than revenues and squeezing margins. In 2025, total U. S. hotel operating revenue increased 2.6 %, while total hotel expenses increased 3.1 %, a ccording to CBRE. As a result, GOP margins fell from 35.1 % to 34.8 %, and EBITDA margins declined from 23.3 % to 22.8 %. |
Recent data and prognostication don’ t paint a rosier picture. AHLA’ s“ 2026 State of the Industry” report points to rising operating expenses as a primary factor keeping gross operating profit per available room( GOPPAR) at roughly 90 % of 2019 levels. It further reports that |
labor costs— a hotel’ s largest expense— are projected to approach $ 131 billion in 2026. At the same time, first-quarter 2026 labor data from Actabl / HotelData show labor cost per occupied room rising 1.8 % year-over-year, from $ 45.96 to $ 46.79. Meanwhile, hotels reduced hours per occupied |
WE PRIORITIZE DIRECT- BOOKING CHANNELS AND PROFIT METRICS THAT MAXIMIZE BOTTOM-LINE FLOW-THROUGH |
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– BEN PERELMUTER, CEO, |
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REMINGTON HOSPITALITY |
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8 hotelsmag. com Oct / Nov 2026 |