Labor costs are rising. Inflation is squeezing margins. And wage growth, paired with persistent staffing shortages, is making every scheduling decision count. Hotel leaders are under more pressure than ever to contain costs, and labor is often the first place they look.
General Managers are often the first line of defense, stepping in to fold laundry, work the front desk, or clean rooms. While that may save a few hours of payroll on paper, it slows down the very people who need more agility—not more work.
That’s why more hotel operators are turning to labor intelligence tools that give GMs and department heads real-time visibility into labor costs, hours worked, and budget performance.
Key Takeaways |
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Small Labor Cuts, Big Operational Consequences
As the most visible and controllable expense on the books, labor is often the first place hoteliers look to make easy cuts. And in a tough market, like the one we’re facing per CBRE at the Hunter Conference, hoteliers are looking for cost control opportunities.
So when the decision to trim hours comes down the pipeline or staffing gaps emerge, GMs step in. Sometimes by choice. Sometimes by mandate.
Whether these cuts are self-imposed or top-down, the result is the same: short-term fixes that strain your team and prevent your leaders from making a real impact on ROI.
Instead of… | Your GMs could be… |
Helping housekeeping turn rooms | Refining front desk cross-sell programs |
Doing laundry | Standardizing purchasing for more efficient inventory control |
Resetting breakfast stations | Proactively managing schedules to avoid costly overtime |
Working the front desk | Training department heads or building more accountability across teams |
Sure, those tasks may keep the doors open, but they pull your most strategic leaders away from the work only they can do. Over time, that trade-off slows performance, erodes accountability, and increases the risk of burnout.
Stop Reacting. Give Your GMs the Tools to Think Ahead
General Managers don’t need more tasks—they need tools and visibility to lead with agility and impact. With the right insights, they can work alongside department heads to surface problems early and respond with smarter, faster decisions before a missed shift turns into a service issue or a surprise expense hits the P&L.
Business intelligence tools make this possible. Instead of waiting for a monthly report that’s already stale by the time it’s in your hands, hotel leaders can gain critical insight into the day-to-day challenges that often go unnoticed without real-time data.
And it’s not just about the GM. When every department head has access to real-time data (even view-only), they stop waiting for direction and start owning results.
After all, access drives accountability.
A housekeeping manager might catch a spike in turnover slowing productivity, or a maintenance supervisor might flag an equipment issue quietly inflating utility costs. This level of accountability can help hotel teams solve small problems before they grow into costly ones.
Having access to dashboards that break down labor cost by department and hours by type, including overtime and vacation, helps GMs and department heads keep their fingers on the pulse of operations at all times.
And with BI tools in place, hotel leaders at every level can also:
- Track labor spend against budget in real time
- Monitor productivity metrics like MPOR, CPOR, and labor % of revenue
- Identify cost spikes or efficiency dips before they impact margins
- Compare performance across departments, properties, or ownership groups
With a clear line of sight into operational performance, BI doesn’t just support leadership—it multiplies it.
Smart Labor Decisions Start Here
Hotel companies that want to move the needle—and survive today’s economic turbulence—aren’t looking for tools they need to retrofit into their operations. They’re looking for systems built to handle the complexity of hotel operations. Tools that work the way they do.
They need solutions that give every on-property management team the access and opportunity to spot trends early. To fine-tune staffing before overtime creeps in. To adjust purchasing decisions when budgets shift. To elevate high performers, reduce inefficiencies, and keep the guest experience running smoothly.
That’s where HIA’s Business Intelligence stands apart. It’s not just BI—it’s BI embedded in a hotel-specific ERP system, built to support decision-making at every level of the operation.
With HIA, your team can:
- Monitor performance by hotel, department, or position with labor dashboards that go deep—down to individual employees and GL account numbers.
- Visualize cost trends per occupied room (POR) with advanced filtering to understand where expenses spike and why.
- Benchmark labor performance across properties to identify outliers, recognize top performers, and share best practices across your portfolio.
- Review flash reports with daily budget or forecast comparisons—no more waiting for month-end to adjust.
- Act on real-time anomaly alerts that surface staffing issues (like too much overtime) or spending inefficiencies before they escalate.
- Eliminate manual work with seamless integrations to payroll, PMS, and accounting platforms.
When labor, finance, and operations are aligned in one system, hotel teams can proactively keep variable expenses low. This allows them to optimize budgets and drive performance without sacrificing service quality.
Ready to equip your GMs with the tools to lead smarter and protect your bottom line? 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.
