The hotel industry has always been driven by people, but it remains a business defined by returns, costs and performance. Success comes from balancing both priorities rather than choosing one over the other, according to Andrew Arthurs, president/COO, Actabl.
“At the center of everything we do in hospitality is the guest,” he said. “Of course, we have the hotel employees and service providers that have interest in the success of the business operating model, and then you have the brand management and ownership stakeholders.”
That means operators must weigh several competing needs at once: delivering strong guest experiences, supporting employees, protecting brand standards and producing the returns owners expect.
Arthurs pointed out that the labor disruption that followed the pandemic forced the industry to rethink how it attracts and retains workers. Many frontline employees moved into gig economy roles that offered more control over schedules and greater flexibility.
To compete, hotels need to respond in kind. “I think as an industry, we need to be more flexible with our shifts and provide opportunities for the employees to choose their own schedule,” he said.
That could include allowing workers to pick up extra shifts when they want added income or drop shifts when family obligations arise, while maintaining coverage through better scheduling systems. Arthurs said that type of flexibility can help meet employee expectations without sacrificing service levels or labor efficiency.
He also supports the long-held belief that engaged employees create stronger guest experiences. “If you provide your employees with an experience where they feel like they are valued, they feel like they are part of a team, they have the tools to be successful and they have opportunities to grow their career,” he said. “To me, that creates the happy employee.”
That engagement can also improve retention, which Arthurs said has a direct operational and financial impact. High turnover increases training costs and can disrupt continuity across departments, while experienced teams tend to operate more smoothly.
Where tension often emerges, he said, is when revenue growth fails to keep pace with inflation and rising wages.
“As an industry, we see these RevPAR headwinds and compression on RevPAR growth that results in margin compression,” he said.
The answer is not simply cutting labor or adding more staff but staffing precisely to demand. Accurate forecasting and close attention to business signals can help operators avoid overstaffing that erodes margins or understaffing that damages the guest experience.
Technology is increasingly central to that equation. Arthurs explained that the biggest benefit of hotel technology is improving team productivity so employees can spend more time in guest-facing roles.
“When you think about the data that is collected—and many hoteliers are taking a data-driven approach to managing their assets—how do we use all of these data inputs and make smart, data-driven decisions to optimize the workforce?” he said.
AI is now accelerating that shift. Arthurs said Actabl is deploying AI internally and embedding it into customer-facing products to help hotels gain more value from their systems.
He suggested that operators should be thoughtful about security and scalability, but not wait for perfect solutions before acting.
“If you’re waiting for it to be fully baked, you’re going to be left behind,” he said.
Used correctly, AI can remove time-consuming administrative work and free managers to spend more time with employees and guests. Instead of sitting in an office reviewing spreadsheets, a GM can use real-time insights to react faster and stay visible on property.
Arthurs acknowledged the concerns of many in the industry that automation could weaken hospitality’s personal touch but said the industry should focus on using AI to enhance rather than replace human interaction.
“We need to be careful in the hospitality industry to keep the guest experience and the employee experience top of mind so that it does not get eroded by AI, but it gets enhanced by AI,” he said.
For Actabl, that strategy is reflected across its platform. Arthurs said the company’s business intelligence tools help hotels monitor financial performance in real time. Its labor management tools help optimize staffing levels, while operational platforms such as Alice and Transcendent improve guest communication and service response times.
The larger goal, he said, is not choosing people over profit or profit over people. “I think it’s always about a balance,” he said.
