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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
People Are Sharing The 'Dirty' Secrets About Their Jobs, And This Feels Illegal To Read
Be honest, it's fun to gossip and talk shit with your coworkers. Sometimes, a little work drama helps to keep things interesting. Recently, Reddit user gloomy_gumball posed this question to AskReddit: What's a dirty secret about your workplace that people shouldn't be knowing? Hunny, the answers are as juicy as they are shocking. Buckle the hell up. 1."I worked for a medical research company. All those research methods that they're not supposed to do because it's illegal here? Yeah, they just go to other countries to do that. I had to handle all the research and information on the experiments they were doing in South America." —u/wearelegion1134 2."I used to work in the hotel industry, and a lot more people die in hotels than get publicized." —u/TraditionalTackle1 "One of the worst things I came across in the industry was a woman who was basically trying to starve herself to death in the room. The manager of the hotel next door that we sometimes would share business with personally brought her over to us, saying that she was staying with them but they had to ask her to leave (which was a red flag, looking back). She didn't give our staff any problems, but after she overstayed her reservation by a couple of days, she never came to the desk to get her keys reprogrammed, and none of us had had any contact with her. Housekeeping was concerned because she had the 'Do Not Disturb' sign up, and they heard her dog barking. After a wellness check, a friend of hers came to pick her up, and she explained what happened. It turns out she had sold her house, but the one she was trying to buy fell through, and with nowhere else to go, she just planned on lying there until she died." —u/saxy_for_life 3."I work in lab testing high fructose corn syrup. You'll be surprised how much bacteria, yeast, mold, and metal pieces Coca Cola and Pepsi allow in!" —u/ColdWar82 "I worked in food chemical manufacturing, and we have a '20 bug or less' policy in our 55-gallon drums of food chemicals!" —u/-TheFourChinTeller- 4."No longer employed there, but when I worked at a certain big box retailer of home improvement products, we would occasionally see hopeful strangers sitting in our lobby with boxes or other packaging waiting for meetings. These people were small-time inventors of new products and were trying to get them on the shelves of our retail locations. What they didn't know is that, as a condition for consideration of carrying the product, they would be required to turn one or more samples over to the company to be examined by the product teams." "If the product showed promise, one of those samples would be shipped to another country where it would be thoroughly dissected and analyzed so that an equivalent product could be developed under the house label (with enough modifications to not infringe on any patents, of course) and that product was what would end up on the shelf. From what I heard, a lawsuit pretty much ended the practice, and now they don't allow pitches from independent producers anymore. They just wait to see what other retailers are already carrying (and selling well) and copy those." —u/Jackieirish 5."I used to work in radio, and part of my job was editing and producing 'bits' done by morning shows. Those phone calls where the hosts 'trap' a cheater and confront them? All fake. There are services that provide voice actors to play the parts, and people like me would edit the calls to fit within a specified amount of time to keep people listening." —u/gogojack 6."A lot of awards you see large corporations tooting their own horn over are just bullshit that they just essentially pay for. A common one I've seen is something along the lines of 'Location X's 100 Best Managed Companies'. I've worked for one of these 'best managed companies,' and it was actually the worst-managed place I'd ever worked for." "It was an utterly dysfunctional business that had horrible retention problems both for employees and management. Higher-ups would get fired for theft or embezzlement, alcohol or drug abuse, sexual harassment or assault, etc. They were constantly losing contracts for failing to fulfill them, but then bribing individuals to get the contract back. They just paid for the sizable application fee to get the award because it looked good on their advertising and attracted both clients and entry-level employees to be part of the meat grinder. Well worth it for them. Personally, whenever I see any sort of company with that particular kind of award, I avoid them like the plague." —u/MZM204 7."I work in a plastic bag plant. Everything in here runs on electricity. The owners tapped into a power line that runs through the property, and for more than 10 years, they didn't pay a dime. They made tens of millions. When the fraud was found out, they blamed an employee (who was from Latin America) and were given a $200K fine. You can't find the story online anymore, they used their community connections to have it erased. And flat out deny it ever happened. Who says 'crime doesn't pay'?" —u/dirtybird971 8."I work in a grocery store. Bulk produce items do fall on the floor regularly. We just pick them up and put them back on the shelf if it isn't damaged. If a container of berries or tomatoes pops open, we'll just put them all back in and put it back on the shelf. Nothing is rinsed off first." "We also don't clean the lids of the yogurt or sour cream tubs if the lid falls off. We just put it back on the product. It can fall on the floor, in a puddle of milk, doesn't matter. At most, we might wipe it off on our apron or with a paper towel if available. Almost nothing is actually made in the bakery. Everything either comes in already-made or in portioned pieces of dough that they throw into the oven. The only thing they really do is decorate cakes, donuts, bread, and bagels. Even most of the cakes come in with icing already on them. They just add some extra decorations. All of the seafood comes in frozen and is kept frozen, even though the sign says never frozen. In fact, the seafood people will grab bags of frozen shrimp off the shelf and put it in the display case. You are literally paying more for some thawed-out shrimp." —u/trickster9000 Related: 15 Times Someone Bravely Took A Photo Of The Very Worst Design This World Has Ever Seen 9."I worked for a nonprofit that focused on a specific medical condition. They did good work and the local chapters were great, but the staff at the national level was... unhinged." "One year at the national conference, top-level staff had bloody letters shoved under their hotel doors. They had forced out the national director because it came out that she'd left the country permanently with her assistant whom she was having an affair with and hadn't actually done any work in more than two years. The letters threatened to trash the org's reputation and ruin the work they were doing if any of it came out. They'd just received a massive donation and couldn't risk it. So the whole thing was hushed up." —u/i_am_the_archivist 10."If you buy DVDs from places like Amazon, and they were produced before 2020, they are not new. They are purchased by the sellers at thrift stores or other places, disc cleaned of scratches, new plastic wrapped around the case, and sold 'new' for the full price." —u/sovietarmyfan 11."I'm a handyman. Contractors' favorite saying is 'Can't see it from my house.' You ever see those videos from home inspectors pointing out all the crooked or broken shit in brand new construction? It's because the builders don't fucking care. And then once all the cracks start forming in your walls, they go, 'Oh, that's just the house settling.' Nope, they built it shitty in the first place and now their shoddy work is shining through." —u/the_xxvii 12."Someone died in my Amazon warehouse during peak season. He was covered with delivery boxes until the coroner could make it. They still required everyone to work that day." —u/RevolutionaryBoss648 13."I work in tax collection for the DMV. The majority of employees here are highly incompetent and are consistently collecting taxes and fees improperly, sometimes charging too much or too little based on the situation. The supervisors are usually too busy to be able to always correct mistakes and double-check the fees." "Since the taxpayers usually don't know all of the laws in regards to vehicle tax collection, the mistakes just go on and on with no one knowing about the errors. In the collector's defense, there are so many tax codes and they are difficult to understand. That and they are constantly changing when lawmakers rewrite the rules." –u/Late_Rate_3959 Related: Tattoo Artists Are Sharing The Tattoos They Felt REALLY Uncomfortable Doing, And I Have No Words 14."Universities get most of their money from the tuition fees of overseas students. They will accept weak applicants and overlook poor performance if it means the overseas tuition money keeps rolling in." —u/LittleBitOdd 15."I worked at a clothes donation sorter/exporter for cash under the table. Many of those donation bins you see in parking lots with different charities written on them are all owned by one company that donates a tiny percentage to charity to be able to use the charity name. All clothes and shoes are exported to Africa for profit, everything else is trash and goes in the garbage (toys, books, art, digital media, electronics)." —u/DonConZie 16."My company ships dangerously corrosive chemicals across the country in tanks that have repeatedly failed safety inspections. Very few get pulled over, so it's cheaper for the company to pay the fines instead of repairing the tanks or buying brand new ones. And with all the slashes to funding, firings, and relaxation of environmental regulations, it's getting even easier to do so." —u/80s_dystopia_is_now 17."Early in my career, I worked at a place that wrote and sold curriculum. We needed to show that our stuff was effective, so we hired a research firm. During the process of interviewing and selecting a firm, each one basically said, 'We'll make sure to give you whatever results you need.' That's when I stopped believing any 'third-party research' funded by the company being researched." —u/riverdoggg 18."Don't ever buy anything marinated from a butcher/meat case. It is how the older meats are sold, the marinade covers the smell." —u/Big-Melvin 19."'No kill shelters' just transfer animals to county animal shelters to take care of the tough part. 'Rescues' come through the county shelters and take all the "cute" animals and then turn around and charge hundreds for them." —u/WhereAmIHowDoILeave 20."I work in the defense industry, specifically in the US. Part of the reason the military is so expensive to update and maintain is the fact that the government basically just pays whatever the companies tell them things cost without looking into it. A valve costing $3 is sold to the Navy for $30, a computer costing $900 is sold to the Army for $2400, etc. Don't get me wrong, a lot of stuff is genuinely expensive, but I guarantee that the military is paying way too much for it." —u/JackCooper_7274 21."Recycling and garbage have different bins, but at the end of the night, they go in the same dumpster." —u/BallinBrown23 22."My company will openly hire you based solely on physical appearance. My boss has told me that he feels that if there are young, attractive females in the office, more employees will want to come in because they'll want to flirt/talk with these girls." —u/Tall-Performer2500 23."I'm a teacher. Students' rapidly dropping attention spans and critical thinking are something you see or hear about, but it is very much real. Over the past three years, I've noticed kids are less able to focus for more than five minutes without starting to draw or talking to the person next to them." "Further, with the addition of strong AI like ChatGPT, they are not being 'punished' (academically) as they should be. They can get entire course notes in 10 seconds and just cram a few days before tests. This will certainly be an issue in about 20 years when kids raised on generative AI and low attention spans become our central workforce, but I'll be long retired by then." —u/hdueeyd 24."It's wild how much access developers and engineers have to PII (Personally Identifiable Information) of users, even though that data is supposed to be encrypted/protected." —u/Just-Control-9815 25."As someone who works in corporate finance, let's just say those offshore accounts get away with a lot of things. But because it's outside of US jurisdiction, there is nothing my company will do to report because the company gets paid regardless." —u/Cheetodude625 26."I can't go into too much detail, but I once worked in a lab at a very prestigious university that was committing copyright infringement by paying several people to manually copy data out of textbooks eight hours a day. They were also not paying the data entry people the full hours that they worked (and paying them close to minimum wage on top of that). They were also underpaying me, so I quit and moved to a job that gave me a 100% raise LOL." —u/skettyvan finally, "I used to work in a drug/alcohol probation office. Everyone working there was doing drugs or was a drunk driver. One probation officer was trading pills with her neighbor just to find out the neighbor was on probation in our office with a different officer. Some employees stole pills from probationers when they photocopy the pill bottles for the client file." —u/DarkDaysDoll Does your workplace have any secrets you want to share? Let me know in the comments! Note: some answers have been edited for length and/or clarity. Also in Internet Finds: 51 Wildly Fascinating Photos Of Disorders, Injuries, And Variations In The Human Body That I Cannot Stop Staring At Also in Internet Finds: 23 People Who Tried Their Best, But Crapped The Bed So Bad Also in Internet Finds: 27 Grown-Ass Adults Who Threw Such Unbelievable Temper Tantrums, Even The Brattiest Toddler Couldn't Compete
Hospitality Net
26-05-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
AI Revenue Management for Hotels (Without Losing the Human Touch)
AI and automation are real game changers for hotel revenue management. Today's tools aren't just suggesting prices, they're reading the market in real time, learning from data and adjusting rates automatically. But with all these powerful tools at our disposal, is there room left for the human touch? You can probably already see how AI is helping hoteliers. For example, it can take tedious admin off your shoulders, freeing you up to focus on the bigger picture. That could be making sharp strategic decisions that boost revenue or focusing on creating remarkable guest stays. Think of it like autopilot on a plane. It handles flying, but there's still a pilot in the cockpit. To help you find that balance between the human touch and AI in hotel revenue management, we've broken it down into three steps. 1. Set the strategy (so AI can run with it) Before your revenue management system (RMS) can start optimizing rates with AI, you've got to teach it how to think. Take our plane example. Sure, autopilot can help navigate it to most locations. But first, it needs to know the destination. That's where the human touch comes in. In hotels, that's the revenue, sales, and marketing teams setting the goals and feeding information to the AI to help it do its best work. So, everything from room types to your min/max rates and pricing hierarchy. And the more you share up front, the better the pricing recommendations work for your property, brand and local market. 2. Plan for the predictable Market demand isn't static. Public holidays, local events and even weather can all shift performance. So, it's essential your RMS can adapt quickly when change happens. Luckily, today's revenue solutions are built to keep up. By adjusting rates in real time based on historical data and forward-looking trends, they make sure your prices are always in line with the changing market. Of course, if you want more control then you have that power. All you need to do is feed the system more information. Take your high and low seasons, for example. You can set special rules for main travel times based on your own local knowledge, demand data and event announcements. That way, your system knows when to hold steady and when to surge. 3. Teach it to adapt Sure, you can feed your RMS as much info as you like, but not everything is predictable. A major concert could be announced at the last minute. Or a big group could cancel with no warning. When those surprises hit, AI can react in seconds and adjust your pricing automatically. That way you're not stuck with underpriced rooms when demand surges unexpectedly. But here's where you and your team come in. You're the ones setting the rules. You decide how aggressive (or conservative) the response should be. And when needed, you step in with overrides to protect your brand, your positioning or your bottom line. The sweet spot between AI and human strategy So no, AI isn't here to take your job. Even smart tools need a smart operator, and no-one knows your brand better than you do. Not even an algorithm. In fact, AI is here to help hoteliers and revenue managers. Help them to stop repeatedly updating spreadsheets. Help them to stop wasting time on tedious manual processes. Help them to stop second guessing themselves. And when you leave AI to handle the 'how', you get to focus on the 'why'. Things like smarter pricing strategies, campaigns or simply speaking with your guests. Ready to rethink your revenue management? Find the sweet spot between AI and human strategy with Atomize, a Mews company. Book a demo here. About Mews Mews is the leading platform for the new era of hospitality. Powering over 12,500 customers across more than 85 countries, Mews Hospitality Cloud is designed to streamline operations for modern hoteliers, transform the guest experience and create more profitable businesses. Customers include BWH Hotels, Strawberry, The Social Hub and Airelles Collection. Mews was named Best PMS (2024, 2025) and listed among the Best Places to Work in Hotel Tech (2021, 2022, 2024, 2025) by Hotel Tech Report. Mews has raised $410 million from investors including Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Kinnevik and Tiger Global to transform hospitality. View source
Hospitality Net
19-05-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
What's a Hotel STAR Report? Answers to Common Questions about STR
Such reliance on jargon isn't unique to the hospitality industry but that's no help to someone who wants to understand the basics of hotel revenue management without asking what might feel like naïve questions like 'erm, what's a STAR report?' While you probably have a better idea now of the context of STAR reports and can navigate conversations involving them, deeper questions might remain in your mind. Don't worry, we're here to answer them for you. This guide breaks down everything hoteliers need to know about STAR reports – from what they include to how to use them for smarter revenue management. What is a STAR report in the hospitality industry? The Smith Travel Accommodations Report – commonly known as the STAR report – is a benchmarking tool used widely across the hotel industry to measure a property's performance against its competitive set and broader market. Published by STR, STAR reports are used in the hotel industry for data-driven decision-making in hospitality revenue and distribution management. Originally known as Smith Travel Research, STR was founded in 1985 and has since become well known for its historical hospitality data, analysis and benchmarking. In 2008, it expanded internationally as STR Global, and today it operates under the parent company CoStar Group, delivering insights to hotels in over 180 countries. STR is widely recognized for its long history of hospitality benchmarking. Its reports are built from aggregated, anonymized data shared by thousands of hotels. STR ensures your property's data is never individually identifiable—only averages across a competitive set are shown, preserving confidentiality while allowing for reliable benchmarking. While the terms 'STR report' and 'STAR report' are sometimes used interchangeably, it's helpful to know that 'STAR' specifically refers to the performance benchmarking report produced by STR. So, in this context, when a hotelier says they're looking at their STR data or STAR report, they're usually talking about the same thing – the detailed report that compares a hotel's performance to its competitive set and market averages. At its core, the STAR report provides key performance indicators (KPIs) like hotel occupancy, average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR), as well as index scores that show how a property is performing relative to others in the market. While widely used, STAR reports are typically delivered by mail on a weekly, monthly, or daily basis, depending on your subscription. Used consistently, they can become a foundational part of your performance monitoring toolkit. Why do hotels care about STR reports? But receiving the report is only half the story. Hotels care about STR reports because they provide essential context, revealing how your hotel compares to a hand-selected competitive – a group of similar hotels in their market – as well as to the wider local or regional market. In fact, STR's benchmarking data – particularly the Revenue Generation Index (RGI) – is often used as a performance benchmark for hotel chains and can even play a role in hotel financing. Many ownership groups set RGI-based targets for individual properties, and lenders may consider STR performance when evaluating hotel mortgages or investment potential. This level of benchmarking allows hotel teams to quickly identify whether their performance is leading, lagging or aligned with the market. For example, an uptick in revenue might look positive at first glance, but if competitors are seeing stronger growth, the STAR report reveals an opportunity to reassess pricing, distribution or marketing strategies. Hotels typically use STAR reports during monthly and weekly performance reviews, during budgeting and forecasting, and when reporting to asset managers or owners. The reports are also valuable when evaluating the impact of events, promotions or renovations, or when planning a new development or brand repositioning. In short, any time a hotel wants to put its performance into broader context, a STAR report is a helpful reference. One of the reasons hotels place so much trust in STR reports is the consistent industry-wide participation that underpins them. The data is sourced from a vast network of properties, ensuring robust, real-world benchmarks that reflect actual market conditions, helping you avoid some of the mistakes it's easy to make. Since data is aggregated across the comp set, you get a trustworthy benchmark without exposing individual hotel performance, giving hotels confidence in the accuracy and discretion of the insights. In an industry where competitive dynamics shift constantly, STAR reports help hotels stay focused, agile and aligned with market realities – making them a key part of any savvy revenue strategy. How can you get a STAR report for your hotel? Getting a STAR report for your hotel is a straightforward process – but it does involve a few key steps to ensure the data is both accurate and meaningful. The first step is enrolling your hotel in STR's data-sharing program – the whole system is based on a quid pro quo. This means agreeing to submit your performance data – typically occupancy rate, ADR and total room revenue – on a regular basis. (Don't worry; your hotel's data can't be identified individually by anyone else.) In exchange, STR provides you with benchmarking reports that compare your performance against a comp set of your choosing. This comp set usually includes hotels with similar characteristics in terms of location, size, class and amenities. If you're looking for insights into a specific market rather than clusters of hotels, you can request market trend reports instead of or in addition to a STAR report. These provide aggregated data across entire cities, regions or segments. As for cost, STR pricing is typically based on the type of report, the reporting frequency (daily, weekly, monthly) and the level of detail you require. For most hotels, a basic monthly STAR report comes at a modest subscription fee. More detailed or high-frequency reports (like daily data) may come at a higher cost. If you're part of a hotel chain, access may already be included in your corporate reporting tools. Ultimately, if used well, the investment in STR reporting should more than pay for itself through the clarity and strategic insights it provides, helping you compete smarter in your market. What's included in a STAR report? As we've established, a STAR report provides a snapshot of how a hotel is performing relative to its competitive set and market, focusing on a handful of KPIs that are foundational to revenue management. These metrics not only track your property's performance but also help uncover opportunities and threats in your market positioning. Here's a breakdown of the core KPIs included in a STAR report: Occupancy (%) : The percentage of available rooms that were sold during a given period. This reveals how well a hotel is capturing demand. : The percentage of available rooms that were sold during a given period. This reveals how well a hotel is capturing demand. Average daily rate (ADR) : The average room revenue earned per sold room. ADR helps you assess pricing strategy and rate competitiveness. : The average room revenue earned per sold room. ADR helps you assess pricing strategy and rate competitiveness. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) : Calculated by multiplying occupancy by ADR, your hotel's RevPAR is a key measure of overall revenue performance and efficiency. : Calculated by multiplying occupancy by ADR, your hotel's RevPAR is a key measure of overall revenue performance and efficiency. Index scores : Each KPI is accompanied by an index, which shows how your hotel performed compared to your comp set (an ADR index of 110, for example, means your hotel outperformed the comp set by 10%). : Each KPI is accompanied by an index, which shows how your hotel performed compared to your comp set (an ADR index of 110, for example, means your hotel outperformed the comp set by 10%). Percentage change : Reports include year-over-year and period-over-period comparisons to track performance trends over time. : Reports include year-over-year and period-over-period comparisons to track performance trends over time. Segmentation and day-of-week data: Depending on the level of detail you subscribe to, STAR reports may also break down metrics by business/leisure segments or weekdays vs weekends. Together, these data points give you a clear view of how you're performing and where you might improve. Whether you're tweaking pricing, evaluating promotions or refining your forecast, the STAR report keeps your strategies grounded in real market data. While STAR reports offer a solid retrospective view based on historical performance data, STR also offers Forward STAR – a separate report that provides visibility into future occupancy trends using on-the-books reservations. This helps you compare your forward pacing against the market. For even more immediate and actionable benchmarking, many hoteliers now use tools like Benchmark Insight by Lighthouse. It combines historical and forward-looking metrics – including occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR – with real-time updates pulled directly from your PMS, so you can react faster and make informed decisions with up-to-date market context. How do you read a STAR report? While reading a STAR report can seem daunting at first, once you understand the layout and terminology, it becomes a highly actionable tool. The report is typically divided into sections based on time periods (daily, weekly, monthly), segments (transient, group, total) and comparisons (your hotel vs comp set vs market). In each section, you'll find familiar KPIs like those we flag above, alongside three key terms. These are also covered in the previous section but, with our reading hats on, let's take a closer look, as they're designed to help put your performance in context: Index : This shows how your hotel performed relative to your comp set. An index of 100 means you're on par. Above 100 = outperformance; below 100 = underperformance. : This shows how your hotel performed relative to your comp set. An index of 100 means you're on par. Above 100 = outperformance; below 100 = underperformance. Rank : This tells you how you rank within your comp set for each KPI. For example, '3 of 7' means you're third out of seven hotels. This is helpful for quickly spotting performance gaps. : This tells you how you rank within your comp set for each KPI. For example, '3 of 7' means you're third out of seven hotels. This is helpful for quickly spotting performance gaps. Percentage change: With this metric, you can track growth or decline over time. For example, a +5% change in occupancy shows improvement compared to the same period last year. To get the most value from a STAR report, you should look beyond individual numbers to identify patterns. Are you consistently outperforming on occupancy but lagging in ADR, for example? Such a realization could point to a need for pricing adjustments. Or are you ranked low in RevPAR despite decent occupancy? If so, consider optimizing your strategy for room rates or mix of business. You can also use the report to measure the impact of your hotel marketing campaigns, special events or renovations. It's especially useful for spotting early signs of market shifts, allowing you to adjust strategies before your competitors do. Ultimately, a STAR report isn't just a scorecard; it's a diagnostic tool. When reviewed regularly and interpreted in context, it can guide you in making smarter decisions and help you achieve a more competitive market position. Don't rely solely on STR to measure your hotel's success While STAR reports are a valuable benchmarking tool, they do have limitations. The accuracy and relevance of the data depend heavily on the quality of your comp set – and an unbalanced or outdated group can easily skew your insights. Because STAR reports only show group averages, you won't get a view into how individual competitors are performing. That makes it harder to pinpoint exactly who's gaining share or changing strategy (though it's good news in terms of your own commercially sensitive info!). Additionally, STAR reports focus solely on rooms revenue metrics, leaving out other important revenue streams like food and beverage or ancillary services. They also don't account for qualitative factors such as guest experience or brand perception. Lastly, remember to factor in reporting lags – even daily data is retrospective. So it's not a real-time decision-making tool. To get the full picture, STAR reports should be combined with internal data, forward-looking tools and broader market intelligence. Which brings us to the various solutions that Lighthouse offers to guide you in monitoring and making sense of your own performance metrics. There are plenty to choose from but we'd draw your attention to Benchmark Insight. Built for modern revenue teams, Benchmark Insight provides a real-time view of your performance against the market, with daily updates pulled directly from your PMS. It tracks occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, pickup and pace, and more – across both historical and future-looking data – so you can respond to market shifts as they happen. It also includes Smart Compset, an AI-powered, dynamic competitor set that reflects actual consumer buying behavior – not just static hotel attributes. You control the comparison criteria, update it in real time, and benchmark your hotel against the properties that actually matter. With Benchmark Insight, you can: Spot competitive trends early by analyzing historical and forward-looking data across your comp set Benchmark occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, pickup and pace – all in one place, updated daily Adapt faster to market shifts using real-time insights pulled directly from your PMS Customize your compset with Smart Compset, an AI-powered tool that reflects actual consumer booking behavior Compare performance more accurately by focusing on the properties that truly compete with yours and adapt strategies accordingly Save time with a seamless, user-friendly dashboard integrated into the Lighthouse platform With daily updates and a clear view of the market, drawn from the most diverse and trusted data set in the hospitality industry, Benchmark Insight gives you instant clarity on your competitive position – and where to focus next. About Lighthouse Lighthouse is the leading commercial platform for the travel & hospitality industry. We transform complexity into confidence by providing actionable market insights, business intelligence, and pricing tools that maximize revenue growth. We continually innovate to deliver the best platform for hospitality professionals to price more effectively, measure performance more efficiently, and understand the market in new ways. Trusted by over 70,000 hotels in 185 countries, Lighthouse is the only solution that provides real-time hotel and short-term rental data in a single platform. We strive to deliver the best possible experience with unmatched customer service. We consider our clients as true partners—their success is our success. For more information about Lighthouse, please visit: View source
Hospitality Net
13-05-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
How AI Revenue Tools Are Transforming Hotel Revenue
Revenue management is evolving. Once focused solely on manual room pricing, today's technology enables revenue managers to take a more strategic, data-driven approach to growing hotel revenue. In the latest episode of Matt Talks, Mews CEO, Matt Welle, sits down with Ellen Hartelius, Product Director at Atomize, to discuss how Atomize RMS, a Mews company, is helping hoteliers be proactive, manage diverse assets, and tap into more revenue streams. Watch the episode now or read on for key highlights. AI in modern revenue management At the heart of this transformation? You guessed it. The term on anyone's lips: AI. AI-powered systems like Atomize process more data, faster and in real time, making pricing decisions faster, more accurate and more effective. From capturing short-term demand spikes to analyzing cancellation probabilities and demand patterns, revenue managers can stay ahead of market shifts. Up until now, one of the barriers to adoption with an AI-powered RMS has been transparency. Unlike traditional systems based on fixed rules, these complex algorithms can be tricky to decipher or explain. Atomize uses Gen AI to provide clear explanations behind every pricing decision, allowing revenue managers to see why prices are set or changed. This is a way to 'bridge the trust gap' before customers feel confident enough to switch to autopilot completely – which is the best way to ensure no revenue gets left on the table. From room revenue to total revenue management Traditionally, revenue managers have focused on room rates and pricing decisions. This manual process relied heavily on basic forecasting techniques and spreadsheets. But as hotel offerings expand – parking spaces, gym passes, bicycle rentals – there's a need for a more flexible, dynamic pricing model. That's where the Mews and Atomize partnership stands out. While Atomize has long been a leader in room pricing, its partnership with Mews provides a more holistic approach to revenue management that goes beyond the guest room. With Mews' vast data and flexible product pricing, Atomize can help hoteliers maximize revenue across all areas of the property. These additional services have real potential to boost revenue, but many hoteliers are still not including them in their pricing strategies. When everything is managed within one cohesive platform and data flows smoothly between the PMS and RMS, revenue managers can make smarter, more unified pricing decisions – and that's where the real gains lie. Automation frees up more time for strategy In the past, revenue managers spent countless hours adjusting prices manually, analyzing data, and making tactical decisions – often with limited time left for strategic thinking. With automation now handling day-to-day pricing tasks, hotels can focus on higher-value work, like experimenting with new upsell products, testing pricing for different segments, or refining long-term strategies. Not only does this make the role more engaging, it also helps hotels grow more effectively. For example, revenue managers can now use AI and automation to test new pricing strategies for different areas of the hotel – from conference rooms to parking or spa services. This opens the door to smarter, more responsive decision-making across the full hotel offering. How automation and AI boost hotel profitability One of the biggest benefits of an AI-driven RMS is its ability to detect patterns and insights that would be impossible to find manually. For example, small, local events taking place months ahead that aren't captured by traditional forecasting. These can still significantly affect demand – and AI can spot them early, giving hotels a crucial pricing advantage. Plenty of revenue managers have shared how these insights made a real difference to their performance, helping to optimize prices and improve hotel results. With a better understanding of market dynamics and the ability to respond quickly, hotels can maximize revenue and stay one step ahead of the competition. Why your hotel needs an RMS Despite the clear benefits, many hotels still operate without a revenue management system. For those concerned about cost, the return on investment is clear: an RMS quickly pays for itself, and Atomize typically boosts RevPAR by up to 25% after just 3-6 months. Even smaller properties – those with just 20 rooms, for example – can benefit. While they may start with simpler solutions, automation and forecasting can still have a big impact. With Atomize, you can start small and scale as you grow. And don't forget the time savings. By automating key tasks, hotels can reclaim 20 to 30 hours a month that would have been spent on manual processes. That time can be reinvested into strategic, growth-focused work. The future of revenue management The future of revenue management is about moving beyond spreadsheets and manual updates. AI, automation, and modern RMS tools are empowering hoteliers to manage total revenue, improve efficiency and find new ways to grow. As the revenue manager's role continues to evolve, one thing is clear: those who embrace the right technology will not only stay ahead of the curve but will unlock new revenue streams and deliver better guest experiences. For this, an RMS isn't just a 'nice to have' – it's a necessity. Discover revenue management with Atomize and Mews About Mews Mews is the leading platform for the new era of hospitality. Powering over 12,500 customers across more than 85 countries, Mews Hospitality Cloud is designed to streamline operations for modern hoteliers, transform the guest experience and create more profitable businesses. Customers include BWH Hotels, Strawberry, The Social Hub and Airelles Collection. Mews was named Best PMS (2024, 2025) and listed among the Best Places to Work in Hotel Tech (2021, 2022, 2024, 2025) by Hotel Tech Report. Mews has raised $410 million from investors including Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Kinnevik and Tiger Global to transform hospitality.
Hospitality Net
09-05-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
Customer Spotlight: Holiday Inn Cleveland-Mayfield
About Holiday Inn Cleveland-Mayfield Tucked just outside downtown Cleveland, Holiday Inn Cleveland-Mayfield serves both corporate and leisure travelers with modern amenities, a full-service restaurant, and event space. As part of the IHG family, the hotel prides itself on combining comfort with efficiency – something that extends to its back-office operations, including revenue management. To keep the hotel competitive and agile, Austin J. Dunn III, General Manager, turned to Lighthouse's Revenue Strategy Service (RSS) to replace a less intuitive brand RMS. The goal? More accurate forecasting, smarter pricing, and stronger support. Challenges before using Lighthouse RSS We used brand RMS previously, and their software just wasn't as intuitive , Austin explains. The hotel needed a solution that not only delivered better forecasting, but was easier to use and tailored to their specific market conditions. Why Lighthouse RSS? From the start, Lighthouse RSS stood out for its ease of use and accuracy. The Lighthouse platform is user-friendly and the forecasting models are super close to accurate , Austin says. Unlike rigid brand systems, Lighthouse provides personalized service and attention to detail, empowering GMs and their teams to act confidently and strategically. Key benefits of Lighthouse RSS User-Friendly Platform: The intuitive interface of the Lighthouse platform saves time and makes it easy to access and interpret the data needed for smarter decisions. The intuitive interface of the Lighthouse platform saves time and makes it easy to access and interpret the data needed for smarter decisions. Accurate Forecasting Tools: Reliable models help Austin plan labor and expenses with precision – it reduces my forecasting prep time by 50%. Reliable models help Austin plan labor and expenses with precision – Tailored Support: Jules is amazing, Austin says. There's always someone who understands our goals and offers support that feels like an extension of our own team. The impact of Lighthouse RSS The effect has been immediate: faster forecasting, tighter pricing strategy, and a more confident, data-driven approach to revenue management. If Lighthouse RSS disappeared tomorrow, we'd be scrambling , Austin admits. It's that central to how we operate. Leveraging Lighthouse BI for Day-to-Day Decisions Austin integrates Lighthouse Business Intelligence into his daily workflow, especially when forecasting labor costs or adjusting for seasonal trends. With clear pick-up tracking and segmentation views, he has the confidence to plan ahead without second-guessing. Advice for Other Hoteliers If you don't have your own in-house RMS – or your brand's system isn't doing the job – Lighthouse RSS is the way to go, Austin recommends. It's cost-effective, intuitive, and delivers exactly what you need to run your hotel smarter. In Three Words: Predictive. Intuitive. Helpful. With Lighthouse RSS, Holiday Inn Cleveland-Mayfield has gained not just a tool, but a team – one that supports smarter decision-making and stronger performance every day. About Lighthouse Lighthouse is the leading commercial platform for the travel & hospitality industry. We transform complexity into confidence by providing actionable market insights, business intelligence, and pricing tools that maximize revenue growth. We continually innovate to deliver the best platform for hospitality professionals to price more effectively, measure performance more efficiently, and understand the market in new ways. Trusted by over 70,000 hotels in 185 countries, Lighthouse is the only solution that provides real-time hotel and short-term rental data in a single platform. We strive to deliver the best possible experience with unmatched customer service. We consider our clients as true partners—their success is our success. For more information about Lighthouse, please visit: View source
