Why Better Hotel Revenue Doesn’t Always Mean Better Profit
No Vacancy Live and No Vacancy News
Release Date: 06/22/2026
Starwood CIO: AI Is the First Tech I Never Had to Explain
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Denise Walker, CIO at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, started her career on a TRS-80. Thirty years later, she told me AI is the first technology she's never had to explain to anyone — people already see why it matters. 🏨 Smaller hotel companies can move faster than legacy chains that placed big AI bets last year, before pricing models and guest expectations shifted again. 🔐 Fear keeps guest data handled right and security practices tight — Walker calls it a good fear. 🛎️ Starwood wants AI to feel invisible, the way good technology always has. You don't think about water coming...
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Why Better Hotel Revenue Doesn’t Always Mean Better Profit
No Vacancy Live and No Vacancy News
At HITEC, I talked with Michael Grove of HotStats, which is now part of Duetto, about why hotel performance has to move beyond rooms revenue. Michael came with actual numbers on profitability, but the conversation went quickly into how owners and operators should read the business. Demand and rate only tell part of the story. Profit depends on where revenue comes from, what it costs to capture it, and which parts of the operation deserve more attention. We got into U.S. profitability, global travel shifts, food and beverage pressure, wellness, golf, ancillary revenue, and why Michael likes the...
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What Hotel Operators Should Know Before Choosing AI Tools
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Hotel operators don’t lack AI options. They lack a clear way to evaluate them. At HITEC, I talked with Shannon McCallum, VP of Operations at Resorts World Las Vegas, about the HFTP AI Collective and how operators can make smarter decisions around AI tools, robotics, chatbots, reporting, and vendor partners. 🤖 Robotics came up, from food prep to concierge support. 📊 Back-of-house reporting came up as a more realistic starting point for some hotels. 🏨 Resorts World Las Vegas already uses AI and chatbots, and Shannon says agentic AI comes next. 🛎️ Resorts World Las Vegas handled...
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Hotel Revenue Managers Need Less Data Wrangling
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During HITEC in San Antonio yesterdayn, I talked with Robert Matsuoka of Duetto about Duetto Labs and how AI could change the daily work of hotel revenue teams. Revenue managers already spend too much time pulling data from different systems, building reports, checking forecasts, and trying to figure out what needs attention first. Robert’s view is that AI should cut through that noise so smart people spend more time making decisions and less time fighting spreadsheets. We also talked about forecasting, pricing, profit data, and how Duetto is thinking about the next phase of revenue...
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HITEC: How Pursuit Collection Uses AI Beyond the Buzz
No Vacancy Live and No Vacancy News
I’m at HITEC in San Antonio today and tomorrow, and I talked with Stephen Katsirubas, CIO of Pursuit Collection, about AI that’s already doing real work for guests and operators. Pursuit has a lot more going on than rooms and room nights. They’re dealing with lodging, attractions, retail, boating, gondolas, sky trams, and all the guest questions that come with those experiences. Stephen isn’t talking about AI in some vague “future of hospitality” way. He’s talking about using it now so guests get faster answers and teams spend less time buried in the same basic questions. One...
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Why The Lodging Conference Keeps Bringing Hospitality Leaders Back
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I talked with Harry Javer, Founder and Producer of The Lodging Conference, and Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera about why this event keeps pulling people back year after year. I’ve been going for about 25 years. Suzanne’s coming for the first time. That gave us two very different ways into the same conversation. The Lodging Conference brings the industry conversations people need right now: finance, construction, development, AI, adaptive reuse, conversions, residential hotels, and the dealmaking that shapes what comes next. I’ll also be back on the main stage hosting one of the general...
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Hotel AI Won’t Work If the Data Is a Mess
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On No Vacancy, I talked with Charif Zahrane, Managing Partner at M7 Services, about the hotel technology mess sitting underneath the AI conversation. Everybody wants to talk about AI. Charif wants hotel operators to look at what sits below it first. Data. Infrastructure. Security. System connections. The unsexy stuff that decides whether the shiny new tool actually works or turns into another headache. That’s where this conversation gets useful. Hotel operators can’t just throw AI on top of messy systems and expect magic. They need a cleaner foundation, a better understanding of what...
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FNA 212: What Arnie Missed
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Today we answer the most important question of all, what Arnie missed. Arnie Garfinkle tosses back some cocktails with Glenn, Craig and Producer Suzanne for this week's Friday Night Audit. Bets are open to how late Arnie shows up for his guest spot.
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Where Hotel Investment Still Works When New Builds Don’t
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At last week’s NYU IHIF, I talked with David Duncan, President and CEO of First Hospitality, about where hotel investment still works when new construction rarely pencils. That’s the part of the market I keep hearing more about: not shiny new projects, but existing hotels where the right capital, brand strategy, operating discipline, or management change can unlock something better. David has a useful view on that because First Hospitality now plays on both sides of the equation: investment and operations. In this conversation, we got into why more opportunities may come from assets that...
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How Stonebridge Uses AI Inside Hotel Operations
No Vacancy Live and No Vacancy News
Most hotel AI conversations stay too abstract. , CEO and President of , brought it back to the work operators deal with every day: financials, trip reports, sales data, STR reports, and property-level decisions. I recorded this conversation during last week’s conference, where Rob shared how Stonebridge uses AI inside hotel operations right now. Stonebridge uses , , and Copilot at the corporate level, and the company has rolled out across its hotels. Rob talked about using for faster answers, better property context, and fewer wasted steps before a team has to chase another call, email,...
info_outlineAt HITEC, I talked with Michael Grove of HotStats, which is now part of Duetto, about why hotel performance has to move beyond rooms revenue.
Michael came with actual numbers on profitability, but the conversation went quickly into how owners and operators should read the business. Demand and rate only tell part of the story. Profit depends on where revenue comes from, what it costs to capture it, and which parts of the operation deserve more attention.
We got into U.S. profitability, global travel shifts, food and beverage pressure, wellness, golf, ancillary revenue, and why Michael likes the phrase “performance engineering.”
I like that phrase because it gets closer to how owners and operators actually need to think. Revenue is one piece. Profitability tells a much fuller story.
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