Maximizing profitability during a challenging travel season

In 2026, travelers will have much to see and experience across the United States, including international sports events, music festivals and celebrations marking the nation’s 250th birthday in July. At the same time, the hospitality industry continues to operate in the face of considerable headwinds.

To succeed, hotel owners need to adapt their business model around improving operational efficiencies and innovating guest experiences to better meet raised expectations. Much of this change centers around technology, specifically managing its implementation and its overall cost.

Hotel owners who get this right stand to gain in ways such as guest experience, brand personalization and revenue enhancement. The challenge, as always in a demanding market, is not to be left behind.

What are the challenges?

Occupancy rates can be expected to climb as the country enters the spring season. But the traditional boost in revenue is being hampered by persisting conditions. 

Hotel revenue remained relatively steady across 2025. There are expectations for a strong travel season rebound and higher occupancy rates in 2026 as the country prepares to host the World Cup this summer. But a recent economic forecast projects just a 1.7% RevPAR lift for area hotels during the months of June and July.

This may challenge many hotels to make the most of leaner-than-expected earnings.

One key difficulty for hotels involves finding and retaining good workers. There is a paucity of available labor for the hospitality business, in key roles such as housekeeping, food preparation, service and maintenance. This is exacerbated today by growing turmoil regarding national immigration policy and its impact on the available workforce.

Making technology a differentiator

Many hotels are finding ways to restore profitability to their business by aggressively deploying technology. Technology can both reduce the overall cost of doing business and impress guests enough to garner positive word of mouth and extended stays.

Investing in guest-facing technologies like WiFi and in-room entertainment (IRE) replaces potential pain points with opportunities to delight while developing potential sources of income. These include IRE advertising, richer service menu options and offering premium and event WiFi.

Creating a more seamless, frictionless environment for guests by investing in bandwidth and AI saves time and money. It also avoids tying down network resources or already busy staffs. For example, front-desk workload is significantly reduced when using mobile check-ins.

Integrating AI into your hotel’s daily operation offers multiple opportunities to personalize guest service and anticipate customer demand. This can allow your services to pivot effectively by identifying which areas of your business are cost generators, and which are profit magnets, redeploying resources where it makes the most sense.

Overcoming the challenge of cost

For many hotel owners, updating technology comes with an ominous feeling of absorbing high costs. This concern is understandable, yet often misleading.

Technology can be designed around optimizing not only guest experiences but also revenue. For example, travelers have demonstrated a continued willingness to pay more for optimal WiFi service, which entrepreneurial hoteliers can tap into. IRE offers additional opportunities to monetize guest service in ways that enhance overall experience.

Technology costs can also be managed by avoiding outright purchases of core products in favor of working with a managed services partner. Having a partner focused on your technology needs can provide affordable options to outright ownership, options that are often better since they incorporate maintenance, service and updating needs.

Getting the right technology partner

The difficulty of getting hospitality technology right is exacerbated when hotel owners try to do so on their own. Finding a partner who understands your business and your unique needs is essential to success.

There are questions you need to ask beforehand: 

Is a managed services provider capable of doing it all: WiFi, IRE, connectivity, communications and security needs, so you aren’t required to carry multiple contracts? 

Can a provider scale their services to meet your needs?

Can they help you monetize your technology that helps reimburse your investment immediately? 

Do they offer 100% U.S. based service support, available 24/7?

Your goals are our priority. Let’s talk.

Spectrum Business provides technology solutions to over 95% of the top hotel brands in the U.S. As the hospitality industry works to address the challenges of the 2026 market, Spectrum Business is there developing the right solutions and helping clients achieve and maintain profitability.

Hope to see you at AAHOACON

Want to learn more? We will be attending the Asian American Hotel Owners Association Convention (AAHOACON) in Philadelphia April 8-10 (look for the Spectrum Game Zone, Booth 2630). We will also be on hand at the Choice Hotels Annual Convention, May 5-8 in Las Vegas.