by Rick Skinker, Robert Rauch | Jul 22, 2026 | Hotel Operations
By Rick Skinker and Robert Rauch For years, hotels have invested heavily in revenue management systems, labor optimization, guest messaging platforms, and AI-driven pricing tools. Yet one of the most overlooked opportunities to improve profitability isn’t found...
by Robert Rauch | Jul 22, 2026 | Featured, Forecasts, San Diego
San Diego RevPAR is tracking toward something close to 5 percent growth for full-year 2026. That’s up from the 2 to 3 percent I forecasted back in January, and the first half of the year’s data is why I’m revising it. The numbers at a glance, January...
by Robert Rauch | Jul 21, 2026 | Featured, Hotel Operations, Technology
The biggest shift I have seen in what hotel guests want in 2026 is how little patience they have when something does not work the way they expect it to. Coming out of the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, the bar was low, and everyone understood why. Staff were thin....
by Robert Rauch | Jul 20, 2026 | Featured, Hotel Management, Hotel Operations
The question I get most from ownership groups is not whether to renovate. It is whether this is the year to do it, or whether it makes more sense to hold off another year or two. Maximizing hotel renovation ROI depends on making that decision at the right time, with a...
by Robert Rauch | Jul 15, 2026 | Hotel Management
Are hotels profitable? Yes, but not automatically. In my 40+ years running hotels I have watched well-located properties lose money while ordinary ones max out on occupancy and revenue. The difference is discipline, not luck. A well-run hotel typically earns a gross...