Hotels Don’t Fail Because of Competition. They Fail Because of Leadership

In Hospitality, we love talking about competition. We obsess over the hotel across the street, the new concept that has just opened, the investment fund arriving with financial muscle and brilliant campaigns. It reassures us to think the enemy is outside—that the pressure comes from the market, distribution, OTAs or price wars.

For years, I too looked outward far too much. I analysed RevPAR, compared the Market Penetration Index, and studied the pricing strategy of the hotel next door more closely than my own internal processes. Then one day, I realised something uncomfortable: the hotel was not losing profitability because of the competition. It was losing internal coherence.