AAHOA and Kalibri are reframing hotel performance
By Elsbeth Russell
In a hotel landscape reshaped by inflation, rising labor costs, and shifting guest acquisition models, profitability has become the industry’s new North Star. Recognizing that reality, AAHOA recently launched a brand-new partnership with Kalibri, a data analytics company known for transforming how hotels understand and manage profit contribution.
Through this collaboration, AAHOA Members will gain exclusive members-only pricing to Kalibri’s Hummingbird Commercial and Hummingbird Market platforms along with a new Profit Strategy Certification that rolled out in November.
The goal is clear: Give owners the tools to stop flying blind and start operating with the kind of precision the current economy demands.
The Rising Cost of Doing Business
“Right now, in the hotel industry, there’s a lot of profit challenges,” said Cindy Estis Green, CEO and co-founder of Kalibri. “Interest rates went up. Tax and insurance costs have grown dramatically. Labor is through the roof and growing. Cost of customer acquisition, with the digital marketplace and now artificial intelligence, is just becoming more and more third-party-driven and very expensive.”
That squeeze – slow revenue growth paired with escalating expenses – has created a structural math problem. “If revenue is running 0 to 3 percent growth, and costs are growing 5 to 10 percent, which is the reality… Even though costs grew more after COVID, they haven’t stopped.”
For decades, hotel operators relied on topline thinking: More revenue equals more profit. But that formula is breaking down as guest acquisition costs balloon. Those costs now average 20 percent to 30 percent of guest-paid revenue, second only to labor.
The problem? Most general managers never see the real number. “If you buy a room from Expedia for $100, Expedia might send $85 to the hotel and keep $15 as commission,” Estis Green explained. “The hotel never writes a check for that, so it doesn’t show up on the financial statement. But the truth is, that room costs the hotel $15.”
With OTAs representing more than 20 percent of U.S. hotel demand – and the majority operating on that “merchant” model – owners are hemorrhaging profit without visibility.
Kalibri was built to change that. “I had a bunch of hotel owners who came to me after the Great Recession, and they’re like, ‘We’re getting eaten alive by these technology companies… Can you write another book?’” said Estis Green, who has authored several books on the industry. “And I said, ‘I’ll write another book, but I’d rather get seed money to create solutions for it.’”
The result was Hummingbird Commercial, an analytics platform that breaks down where revenue is coming from, what it costs, and where profit opportunities are hiding. Kalibri’s database now spans more than 30,000 hotels, capturing transaction-level detail on every booking to help operators make profit-first decisions.
Building on that foundation, the newly introduced Hummingbird Market helps investors and asset managers benchmark performance at the market and submarket levels – data that previously required layers of consultants or expensive subscriptions.
Real-World Validation
For operators like Manjot S. Bains, COO of Mehr Consultancy, a Bronze Industry Partner, the value of Kalibri’s tools is immediate and tangible, especially in a fast-moving, unforgiving market.
His firm manages 37 hotels across the country and recently added a dedicated sales and revenue division. With remote sellers, wide geographic spread, and volatile demand patterns, they needed a precise, real-time toolset.
When they demoed Kalibri, Bains said the decision clicked quickly. “For our team, they’re able to look at the data and see we’re not getting our fair share… maybe there’s a disconnect, maybe we’re not offering what they’re offering.”
He noted that the platform helps them identify opportunities they wouldn’t see through brand systems alone.
“If we’re getting nothing, we can look at [another] property and see they’re getting a ton of money from this one company or one group or [local negotiated rates] – let’s reach out because it usually has the data or the info for the point of contact and that’s a huge help for us.”
For independent owners and small operators – the core of AAHOA’s Membership – Bains believes the return on investment is undeniable.
“It’s a very small cost for what you can get out of it,” he said. “You’re going to have to spend a little bit of money, but we’re talking a couple hundred dollars and you can literally make thousands in return. It’s pretty much a no-brainer.”
He’s also seen pricing blind spots that Kalibri’s visibility helped correct. The platform will show if a series of three hotels in close proximity are charging guests vastly different rates. “So you might say, Oh wow, I’m charging them only 110 bucks, but the hotel next door is charging 200 and the hotel down the street is charging them 300.”
That kind of clarity, he said, changes negotiations instantly.
Bains also highlighted the emotional reality of modern revenue strategy: Operators don’t have the luxury of waiting for brand reports months after the fact.
“Q3 was pretty rough for most hotels across the country – you can’t rely on data coming in months later. You need to be a little bit more agile and [ask], how is it going right now? What can I do today to make it better for us in the future right away?”
Mehr Consultancy is selective about their technology stack, and Bains said Kalibri earned its spot by being responsive, nimble, and easy to work with.
“They weren’t super pushy with the sales pitch. Their team was very responsive… and they have a good onboarding process. It’s not just like you signed a contract and you’re stuck by yourself now.”
He also noted that Kalibri’s ability to integrate cleanly with customer relationship management and revenue tools, along with the real-time data feed, was critical: “These all integrate and they all work together. It helps us with our data as well as seeing the Kalibri data.”
Expanding Access and Building Capability
For AAHOA, representing 60 percent of U.S. hotels, this partnership is as much about democratizing data as it is about adding a member benefit.
Estis Green said the collaboration focuses on helping owners understand and control one of their biggest financial leakages: Customer acquisition. “If they can take one area – customer revenue acquisition – and educate and inform their community as to what to do about it, that would have widespread impact in a positive way.”
That education arrived in November with the Certified Hotel Profit Strategist (CHPS) Program, developed jointly with Kalibri.
“It’s actually about nine hours of content, all online and self-driven,” she said. The course includes eight modules, assessments, and a final exam leading to the CHPS designation. Entry-level Certified Hotel Profit Analyst programs will also be available.
Seeing Profit as the North Star
“For 35 to 40 years, profit was not the focus,” Estis Green said. “Hotels could just get top-line revenue. Now, it’s 20 to 30 percent” – referring to acquisition costs – “and hotels have to rethink how they operate.”
That shift requires new tools, new language, and new priorities.
“It’s no longer a case of getting more revenue,” she explained. “It’s about getting more profitable revenue.”
Bains echoed that mindset in the operational trenches. “Even if you don’t get new business, it at least tells you where everyone’s going. And it allows you to negotiate better.”
Even smaller branded properties, Estis Green noted, are losing more than they realize: “A 60-room hotel… could easily have $500,000 to $700,000 a year in acquisition costs.”
Turning Data Into Daily Decisions
Kalibri’s tools extend beyond strategy into staffing, forecasting, and even evaluating management companies.
“Part of the Hummingbird toolkit includes a forecast for each hotel,” Estis Green said. “We’re upgrading that so hotels can use it to schedule their housekeeping and front desk staff more accurately.”
For owners relying on management companies, transparency is crucial. “We work with management companies that think profit-first,” she said. “And we measure it – it’s not a black box.”
AAHOA’s collaboration with Kalibri represents more than a software discount; it marks a shift toward modern, data-driven hotel ownership. For a sector where cost pressures hide in plain sight, these tools and certifications offer clarity, capability, and control.
“Figuring out how to spend your time and money to get higher-profit revenue – that’s what this is all about,” Estis Green said. “The North Star is profit.”
With special members-only pricing for Hummingbird Commercial and Hummingbird Market, plus the CHPS Program, owners now have a clearer path to stronger margins and smarter growth.
Because the future of hospitality isn’t about selling more rooms – it’s about keeping more of what you earn.
What Is Hummingbird?
Hummingbird Commercial: A hotel-level platform that integrates revenue, channel, and cost data to help operators manage profit contribution and forecast performance.
Hummingbird Market: A market-level intelligence tool that supports investors and asset managers with benchmarking, demand analysis, and market trend data across 30,000+ hotels.
Image: Dragon Claws/stock.adobe.com
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