The Hotel Investor Apps (HIA) sales team was at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles last week, meeting with hotel management executives on the opportunities and challenges they are facing so far in 2025, and the role to be played by back-office technology.
Three major take-aways from Chris Hall, Candra Valley, and Gregg Suffredini were:
From Chris Hall, EVP of Sales:
1. Some Optimism, Some Concern – Focus on the Bottom Line
“The hotel industry as a whole tends to be a fairly optimistic group, but I would definitely say there was a theme of more cautious optimism this year.” – Chris Hall
Optimism is there for top line revenues in certain market segments – for example strong group demand and upscale-to-luxury leisure travel that continue to drive top-line revenue. Additionally, capital for new deals and refinancing is becoming more available, which is positive for increased transaction volume in 2025.
However, executives remain focused on the bottom line as overall revenue per available room (RevPAR) projections for 2025 struggle to keep pace with inflation.
According to the STR/ CoStar forecast released at ALIS, RevPAR is expected to grow by just 1.8%, driven primarily by rate increases (1.6% ADR growth). Meanwhile, inflation stands at 2.9%, signaling a profitability squeeze.
This focus on the bottom line ties back into the importance of financial forecasting and proactive expense management.
From Candra Valley, VP of Sales, West:
2. Uncertainty in Labor Expense
“The potential for rising labor costs is highlighting the value of labor intelligence solutions that can help keep labor expenses on track.” – Candra Valley
Labor expenses remain a major focus for hoteliers. While wage pressures are expected to normalize in most markets 1, some areas will see continued increases. For example, Los Angeles recently passed a measure to raise the minimum hourly wage for hotel and airport workers incrementally to $30 per hour by July 1, 2028 2.
Additionally, the new federal policies on immigration and deportations could impact labor availability across industries. A tighter labor market may push wages even higher, particularly for back-of-house employees.
In response, hoteliers are proactively seeking more intelligence around labor, to manage their largest expense more effectively. [Read more about HIA’s Labor Intelligence BI here.]
From Gregg Suffredini, VP of Sales East:
3. Growing Demand for Technology and Intelligence
“It’s an exciting time for technology. Just like how COVID changed the game for more cloud-based technology, today labor pressures and inflation are now making tech in other areas even more attractive.” – Gregg Suffredini
To combat rising labor costs, hotel operators are investing more heavily in technology—in both the front- and back-of-house. Examples include:
- Automation & Robotics: Hotels are turning to robotic solutions for manual tasks like vacuuming and room service delivery.
- BI Tools for Financial Management: Operators are increasingly adopting business intelligence (BI) tools to track and benchmark expenses in real time.
- Visual Dashboards for GMs: A recurring theme at ALIS was the need for intuitive dashboards that allow General Managers to monitor expenses against forecasts quickly and efficiently.
- Performance Insights: Management executives are leveraging BI tools to analyze top-performing properties and apply best practices portfolio-wide.
“One of the challenges with technology is it can seem like there are a lot of new, shiny objects, but the question is, what products are really going to make an impact on your day-to-day, integrate well with others, and actually be consistently used by your team.” – Gregg Suffredini
Conclusion
As the industry navigates economic uncertainty, labor challenges, and inflation, many forward-thinking executives are looking for ways to incorporate technology that will have a meaningful impact for their staff, owners, and bottom line.
By offering a comprehensive view of expenses, labor efficiency, and operational performance, hotel ERP platforms—such as Hotel Investor Apps ERP—empower managers to identify cost-saving opportunities and maintain profitability.
For a first-hand account of how transformational the right back-office technology can be to portfolio operations, listen to how Lark Hotels transformed their operations with HIA’s ERP & Accounting Software on the Hotel Tech Insider podcast: ‘Scaling a $1B Boutique Management Company’.
Ready to learn more about Hotel Investor Apps? Request a demo today.
Jaime Goss has over a decade of marketing experience in the hospitality industry. At Hotel Investor Apps, Jaime heads up marketing initiatives including brand strategy, website design, content, email marketing, advertising and press relations.
