Great question. I want you to talk about the dirty little secret that keeps SMB operators from breaking into the big time. No, not expanding operations beyond the comfort zone. Becoming WILDLY profitable!
The fact that almost all the metrics in hotel management are ONLY effective at the macro level and have little or no value to a struggling operation with less than 50 keys.
Absolutely. This is the core tension no one wants to admit: most of the KPIs and benchmarks we obsess over were built for chains, not for small operators trying to stay human and profitable.
RevPAR, ADR, and occupancy might matter at scale, but when you're under 50 keys, the real questions are:
Are you retaining guests or just replacing them every weekend?
Are your systems buying back your time, or bleeding it out in admin hell?
Is your pricing strategy actually sustainable, or just copying competitors who are guessing too?
Small doesn’t mean weak. But it does mean we need smarter, simpler metrics that reflect real-time cash flow, guest loyalty, and owner sanity.
I’d love to dig into your take more. What do you think we should be tracking instead?
I use a very simple [and singular] KPI for businesses under $20,000,000 in annual gross revenue. Yes, it scales very nicely from about $500,000 to ~$20M: Money in your pocket. Today. And, even MORE money in your pocket tomorrow. How, who, what, when, where, and WHY does your cash register(s) ring? Or NOT ring?
Great question. I want you to talk about the dirty little secret that keeps SMB operators from breaking into the big time. No, not expanding operations beyond the comfort zone. Becoming WILDLY profitable!
The fact that almost all the metrics in hotel management are ONLY effective at the macro level and have little or no value to a struggling operation with less than 50 keys.
Absolutely. This is the core tension no one wants to admit: most of the KPIs and benchmarks we obsess over were built for chains, not for small operators trying to stay human and profitable.
RevPAR, ADR, and occupancy might matter at scale, but when you're under 50 keys, the real questions are:
Are you retaining guests or just replacing them every weekend?
Are your systems buying back your time, or bleeding it out in admin hell?
Is your pricing strategy actually sustainable, or just copying competitors who are guessing too?
Small doesn’t mean weak. But it does mean we need smarter, simpler metrics that reflect real-time cash flow, guest loyalty, and owner sanity.
I’d love to dig into your take more. What do you think we should be tracking instead?
I use a very simple [and singular] KPI for businesses under $20,000,000 in annual gross revenue. Yes, it scales very nicely from about $500,000 to ~$20M: Money in your pocket. Today. And, even MORE money in your pocket tomorrow. How, who, what, when, where, and WHY does your cash register(s) ring? Or NOT ring?
That's straight dope.
I just opened a boutique hotel in the Dominican Republic. I would love to be on your podcast!
Following to learn more 💗
Thanks! I sent you a DM DeAnna.