How real-time data is freeing the next generation of hotel owners
By Heather Carnes
The second-generation hotelier often faces a conflict their parents never had to navigate. For years, success in hospitality was tied to physical presence. Long days. Long nights. Every decision, every repair, every guest issue came through one person. Being on-site was how you protected the asset – and how you proved your commitment. Many second-generation leaders grew up doing homework at the front desk.
Now they have degrees in law, finance, construction, or accounting. They see growth opportunities their parents never pursued: Acquisitions, joint ventures, brand negotiations, regional clusters. Yet even with these skills and ambitions, many find themselves tied to one property day to day.
“Many parents expect the kids to be at the hotel every single day,” said Harmeet Mann, CEO of Mehr Consultancy, a Bronze Industry Partner based in Irving, TX. “But the second generation might be a lawyer, or a broker, or running an accounting firm. They have the capability to scale to two, three, four, or more hotels if they can rely on trusted partners to help them manage while they focus on building what comes next.”
The challenge comes down to access. These owners need information when they need it, in a form that travels with them rather than requiring their physical presence at the property.
Being second generation hoteliers themselves, the founders of Mehr now focus on third party hotel management and ancillary services. Mehr manages nearly 40 hotels across 14 states. Their clients are mostly first- and second-generation hoteliers who want growth while protecting family time and professional identity. Much of Mehr’s work centers on helping owners move from day-to-day operator to portfolio builder while staying connected to how their properties actually run.
When Financial Visibility Arrives Too Late
In many hotels, owners get meaningful financial visibility once a month. By the time a PDF profit-and-loss statement arrives – often weeks after the month closes – the problems inside it have already taken root. Expense irregularities, labor overruns, vendor issues, and rate patterns have formed and hardened.
“When you can only react to month-end numbers, showing up in person feels like the only solution,” Mann said. “That keeps people stuck at one property.”
When a line item looks wrong, the owner calls the general manager. The GM calls the bookkeeper. The bookkeeper digs through bank statements. Days pass. Tension builds. By the time anyone has an answer, the owner wonders what else remains hidden.
What owners actually need is the ability to ask a question and see the answer immediately. The cost of delayed visibility extends beyond frustration.
“Most owners don’t realize they’re making decisions on 60-day-old information,” said Steve Leonard, chief operating officer at Inn-Flow, a Platinum Industry Partner. “By the time you see a labor variance or an expense spike in your monthly report, you’ve already lost two months of profitability. The ROI of real-time operational visibility is not only about catching problems faster, but to prevent them from becoming problems in the first place.”
Everyone Looking at the Same Screen
A hotel in Tampa showed how this works in practice. The owner was reviewing monthly financials and noticed room expenses running unusually high – close to 10 percent of revenue. In traditional reporting, this would have triggered several days of calls, statement reviews, and requests for the GM to retrace charges.
Instead, the owner and Mehr opened the expense line together, viewed the receipts attached to each invoice, and found the answer in minutes. The property had completed a required $30,000 upgrade to smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms throughout the building. The brand mandated it. The building age required it.
What could have become a tense conversation turned simple and factual. The owner stayed at his office. The GM felt supported rather than questioned. Everyone understood what happened and moved forward.
“When you have access to the same data, you can sit together and go over it,” Mann said. “The owner sees this is something we had to do. If we skip it, the brand pulls the flag.”
This type of access creates the turning point for second-generation hoteliers. Once they can review operations from anywhere, they gain time for sourcing new deals, evaluating debt terms, managing brand relationships, and planning renovations. They can work on long-term value rather than responding to daily emergencies.
This shift is where one hotel becomes two, then three.
Technology has fundamentally changed what’s possible for growing hotel portfolios.
“Second-generation owners are coming into the business at a time when technology finally supports the pace they want to grow,” said Leonard. “With modern systems, they can see GOP margins, labor trends, and vendor spending across all their properties from anywhere – whether they’re in a lender meeting or watching their kid’s soccer game. That mobility gives them the confidence to scale like portfolio operators rather than stay tied to a single asset.”
Catching Labor Variances While They’re Still Small
Labor typically represents the largest controllable expense in select-service hotels. Small deviations compound quickly.
Mehr’s teams review labor daily rather than monthly. They use flash reports that show the past seven days of labor spending by department for every property. When housekeeping hours trend high for several days running, the GM receives coaching that same week rather than waiting until month-end when the damage has already accumulated.
“You can have an issue one day, but when it becomes more than one day, you’re looking at a pattern,” said Manny Bains, Mehr’s chief operating officer. “This approach has prevented a lot of overtime and labor issues. It keeps things clean.”
The work focuses on catching variances when they’re easy to correct, before they grow into budget problems that demand lengthy explanations.
“Driving more revenue loses its value when expenses rise at the same rate,” Mann said. “The difference shows up in margin.”
Today’s environment brings thinner profit margins than hoteliers have seen in years. This makes GOP matter more than RevPAR. Revenue can drop when the market slows, and no amount of effort changes that reality. Expenses, however, respond to management. You can control what bleeds.
Thinking in Dollars Rather Than Pennies
Some owners hesitate to bring in a management company because they calculate the cost: $70,000 for a GM, $60,000 in management fees. That’s $130,000 they could keep by managing the property themselves.
This calculation misses the larger opportunity.
“When you’re at the front desk every single day, you limit how much you can scale,” Mann said. “You might save $130,000, but you stay stuck at one asset when you have the capability to own more.”
For second-generation hoteliers especially, the decision extends beyond pure financials. Many have professional identities outside hotel operations. They might practice law or run a construction firm or work as a broker. Staying tied to one property means walking away from other income sources and growth opportunities.
How Shared Data Changes Conversations
The deeper shift happens in how people talk to each other when everyone works from the same numbers.
GMs ask better questions. Corporate teams spend less time tracking down documentation. Owners can stay focused on strategy. Conversations center on decisions rather than defending what already happened.
“When everyone looks at the same numbers, we solve problems faster and with less emotion,” Mann said.
One owner used to call Bains regularly, frustrated because he couldn’t understand line items on his monthly statements. He’d print his bank statement and go through it line by line, circling unfamiliar charges. Then he’d wait for explanations.
Now he types the amount into the system, pulls up the invoice, and sees what it covered. Most of the time, he gets his answer without calling anyone. When he does call, the conversation runs shorter and more productively because they’re both viewing the same information.
“Money drives everything on both sides,” Bains said. “When we can show them every item we’ve ever bought for their hotel, with the invoice attached, that builds confidence.”
Building Systems That Travel
The first generation built the business through constant physical presence. The second generation grows it by creating systems that work independently of location.
This approach means shifting from hourly supervision to strategic oversight. It frees time to evaluate the next acquisition, negotiate better terms with lenders, or plan the renovation that builds long-term value.
Growth begins when the owner can know how the hotel performs without standing at the front desk. For many second-generation hoteliers, this shift finally allows them to think like multi-property operators and to scale what their parents started but never had the tools to expand.
5 Ways to Scale Without Losing Control
Ready to move beyond one property? These strategies help second-generation hoteliers build systems that enable growth while maintaining oversight.
Daily Flash Reports: Track labor, utilities, and guest supplies daily. Set 5 percent variance alerts to catch issues before they compound.
Cloud-Based Systems: Choose platforms with mobile access and role-based permissions. Monitor anywhere, delegate confidently.
Document Everything: Create SOPs for every role. Systems that work without you can scale with you.
Forward-Looking Meetings: Weekly, discuss upcoming occupancy, staffing, and maintenance. Monthly, discuss strategy and big-picture goals.
Calculate Opportunity Cost: Your time has value. Compare self-management savings against foregone income and acquisition opportunities.
Image: mast3r/stock.adobe.com
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