NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Margin has been a "phenomenal story" for hoteliers in 2026, according to one hotel operator.
In a podcast interview at the 2026 Hotel Data Conference, Crestline Hotels & Resorts Executive Vice President of Operations Aaron Olson said performance this year beat expectations, but the forecast for next year indicates U.S. inflation will continue to put pressure on hotel operators to drive revenue where they can.
Crestline’s major focus at the moment is ancillary revenue, Olson said. It’s not a new concept, of course, but the company has increased how it's prioritizing this area.
“As opposed to individual hotel strategies, we’re going at it from a whole-portfolio approach,” he said.
The company rolled out a new program a few months ago, and the early returns are “just awesome,” he said. It’s working because Crestline's hotels are monetizing the things guests want anyway, and it can be as simple as sending a pre-arrival text to a guest offering an early check-in for $20.
A family traveling together on a flight that lands at noon and has a hotel arrival time of 1 p.m. can create some anxiety over whether the room will be ready, he said.
“What if my room isn't ready until 3? Like, what am I going to do with the kids and my luggage?” he said. “So, that $20 — it's not even about the money. They're just glad that you offered it.”
The results so far have been encouraging, Olson said. That provides something in the face of lukewarm revenue growth potentially in 2027.
“You’ve got inflation a little bit higher, so we know there’s going to be some cost pressures,” he said. “That’s going to be one of the ways we go out and attack, maintaining margins and finding some margin growth.”
It’s accurate to say that across the majority of the hotel brands, guest service scores are not back to pre-pandemic levels, Olson said. That’s a pressure that hotel operators feel, but it’s not surprising considering how much hotel rates have increased over the years relative to the serving being provided. Housekeeping in particular has been dialed back, and fewer of the large, full-service hotels have a concierge desk or bell service.
Cuts in service along with higher rates are not a recipe to grow guest satisfaction, he said.
Olson recalled checking in to a hotel later in the evening when he decided to give the hotel’s general manager some feedback about the experience. The front desk was busy, but there was no eye contact or smile or any kind of body language to acknowledge the arrival while also signaling it would be a minute.
“That’s one small example, but that’s the kind of thing that we constantly, constantly preach,” he said.
Another priority is removing the things that require the general managers to be in their office, because being stuck in an office is not going to move the needle with guest satisfaction, he said. To give general managers the ability to do that, the teams at the corporate level have been providing additional support to remove the obstacles.
“Get out of your office, spend time with your associates, with your guests, and that’s always been a part of our culture,” he said.
For more from Crestline Hotels & Resorts’ Aaron Olson, watch the video embedded above or listen to the podcast below.