Black Coral Consulting Articles and News By Judith Cartwright

When the Model Cracks: What a Silent Collapse Could Be Teaching Us

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 06:29:48 GMT

Why smart operators are re-thinking scale, structure, and stability for 2026

She had just 42 minutes.

One moment she was enjoying her day in the city. The next, her phone buzzed with a message that made her heart drop: “You must vacate immediately.”

She had paid. She had unpacked. Her chargers were still plugged in. But suddenly, the room was no longer hers.

Somewhere far away from the guest experience, a decision had been made: one that turned her stay upside-down. And just like thousands of others that day, she stood in the hallway wondering: Where am I supposed to go now?

It was a sharp reminder that a business can look smooth and modern on the outside… while quietly struggling on the inside.

No blame. No finger-pointing. Just a real example of what can happen when scale grows faster than structure , distribution becomes harder to control , and growth outruns guest protection .

THE SHIFT FROM INCIDENT TO INSIGHT

A gentle look at what may have gone wrong through a commercial lens

Rather than dissecting the event, this is an opportunity to examine the structural weaknesses that often sit beneath rapid-growth hospitality models. We may not know the full sequence of events, but the patterns that typically lead to collapses of this nature are well known — and they offer timely lessons for operators, owners and partners preparing for 2026.

1. Growing Faster Than the Business Model

Hybrid operators often expand at impressive speed: more units, more markets, more supply. But expansion without robust and scalable blueprint for commercial strategies and operations and the distribution tech stack such as segmentation, inventory strategy and revenue architecture, standards, policies and procedures creates fragility. When customer profiles, demand patterns and pricing logic are not rigorously defined from the start, growth becomes wide rather than strong. From the outside the model looks successful; from the inside, the foundations may be stretching beyond their limits.

“Asset-light hospitality models often struggle to balance rapid expansion with the operational depth needed to support it.” - Skift

2. No Commercial Culture Holding the System Together

Total Revenue Optimisation only works when departments operate as one commercial organism. Many tech-led hybrid models scale with speed but without the cross-functional commercial culture that hospitality demands. Forecasting, cashflow, distribution, operations and pricing may sit in different corners of the business. They function well enough in calm conditions but separating under pressure. What appears as a sudden collapse is often the visible result of long-standing internal fragmentation.

"Not one person or department, no matter how good the talent is, can revenue manage a hospitality business on their own. It takes an entire team to be successful." -Judith Cartwright

3. Partnerships Built on Speed, Not Strategic Fit

Rapid expansion frequently relies on rapid partnerships. But strategic partnerships require operational and technical readiness, not just brand alignment. The liquidation statement pointed to delays integrating with a major global loyalty platform, resulting in unanticipated integration costs and lower-than-expected reservation revenue. While we cannot know the full context, it highlights a broader truth: partnerships are only as strong as the systems, expectations and capabilities that support them. When alignment isn’t deep and tested, even valuable partnerships can create strain.

“Successful hospitality partnerships depend on the depth of operational and technical integration, not just branding alignment.” -Sage Journals

4. Underdeveloped Asset Optimisation

In fast-growth models, units can be added more quickly than they are optimised. Rooms, shared spaces and amenities become listings rather than engineered profit centres. Without clear value tiers, ancillary revenue pathways, or per-square-metre strategies, the model increasingly relies on volume. But volume is a fragile safety net especially when markets shift, capital tightens or demand becomes unpredictable.

5. Weak Distribution Control and Erosion of Trust

Distribution is one of the most sensitive pressure points in modern hospitality. If platform integrations are delayed or misaligned, booking flows can decline overnight. When wholesale leakage, markup inconsistencies or OTA undercutting go unchecked, rates drift, revenue softens and guest confidence erodes. Distribution issues do not remain invisible they eventually surface at the guest level, often in ways that damage trust at the worst possible moment.

The Patterns Are Familiar

Across the industry, collapses of this nature tend to emerge from the same root causes: optimistic growth projections, overreliance on external distribution, long-term liabilities supported by short-term revenue, limited operational buffers, and systems or partnerships that were not fully integrated before scaling. We cannot say these were the exact drivers in this case but they are the recurring structural vulnerabilities that hospitality leaders should recognise and address.

"Organisations with strong commercial systems are significantly more resilient during operational disruptions." - Deloitte

Top Considerations for 2026

A stronger, more resilient commercial model rests on five principles.

First, build a Total Revenue Optimisation framework before expanding ensuring segmentation, inventory, channels and pricing are engineered for scale, not retrofitted later.

Second, create a cross-functional commercial culture where forecasting, distribution, operations and finance move together rather than in isolation.

Third, e valuate partnerships not just for brand opportunity but for technical readiness, shared KPIs and integration capability.

Fourth, optimise every square metre — from spa to F&B to flexible spaces — to reduce dependency on rooms alone.

And finally, treat distribution as a risk centre . Rate parity, leakage control, booking flow stability and CPA by market must be monitored daily, not occasionally.

The Takeaway

We may never know exactly what caused this collapse but the pattern it reveals is familiar. And the lesson is simple:

If you build something big on shaky foundations, it wobbles.

If you keep building without fixing the wobble, it eventually falls.

For hoteliers, the deeper truth is this:

Resilience isn’t luck — it’s design .

It comes from building commercial systems strong enough to protect both the asset and the guest, not by avoiding every challenge, but by being engineered to withstand them.

This article is brought to you by THE CURRENT by Black Coral Consulting.

THE CURRENT is our insights series on profitability and commercial optimisation for hospitality and be yond. Subscribe to never miss an edition. And if you’d like support turning these strategies into action, connect with us at Black Coral Consulting.

Seven Effective Steps of Building a Total Revenue Optimisation Culture

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 09:02:18 GMT

Seven effective steps of building a total revenue optimisation culture

When the words “revenue management” are muttered among hoteliers, I usually observe two camps of thinking.

There are those who believe they have nailed it because they have successfully optimised rooms revenue and others who look startled and nervous, often conceding they have absolutely no idea where to start.

These reactions are not only common, but understandable, for many reasons. Revenue management is confronting for some and quite often compartmentalised so that rather than build a revenue management culture where all departments and team members understand it and work together to optimise it, it is left to the revenue department to deal with.

At the same time, the benefits of revenue optimisation across multiple facets of the business are not always realised. There is so much more to revenue management than selling rooms to the right people at the right price.

The main problem is that many hospitality companies are yet to fathom out how to approach revenue optimisation when sometimes all it takes is for someone to look from the outside in – a hospitality revenue management expert who can look at the big picture and put a strategy in place.

I recently met with the head of commercial for a large global hotel company and explained the results-driven approach I take, which fundamentally involves building a revenue optimisation culture. He was blown away, admitting the group had not put such a structure in place.

In my LinkedIn article, 10 top tips to put total revenue management into action, paving the way for a profitable 2022 | LinkedIn , step 9 stressed the importance of building a total revenue optimisation culture, but how do you do that?

Here are seven simple steps:

Step 1: Be Honest

Be honest with yourself – do you have a revenue optimisation culture in place and if not, do you know how to take on this task? Successful leaders delegate to the best person for the job, so if you are serious about transforming your business, partner with an independent consultant who is an expert in this field. They will perform an audit and gap analysis to assess the baseline. Be honest with yourself and the team will benefit.

Step 2: Bespoke Workshops

Following the audit, work with the consultant to develop bespoke workshops for the relevant departments and team members. You are establishing a work culture, so these workshops will not only involve senior management, but every waiter, spa therapist and receptionist etc. They will all benefit because of the important role they play when it comes to driving revenues across all income streams.

Step 3: Develop an Action Plan

Following the workshops, the consultant will collaborate with relevant team members to develop an action plan, which should include timelines, responsibilities and most importantly, an optimised structure. Empower the revenue management department to become the gatekeeper of this strategy leveraging the consultant’s expertise to teach department team members how to do this.

Revenue managers are no longer just data crunchers, but advisors to the organisation on what business to pursue and what processes have flaws resulting in revenue leakage. Even if a hotel is running at 95% occupancy and achieves budget across all business units, revenue managers should be looking for opportunities to further optimise.

Step 4: Automation is Key

Manual reporting is out, automation is in – set up effective tools and systems and keep it simple, so everyone understands the data and can identify low-hanging fruits.

Step 5: Consider Reporting Lines

In a recent LinkedIn poll I conducted, more than 75% of respondents said reporting lines for revenue management should be the GM or CEO. It is true, the CEO should have the final say as ‘referee’, but as previously mentioned, revenue management teams should be empowered as gatekeeper and advisor. They should not be overruled, but take a collaborative approach, which is why a revenue management culture is so important. The CEO is ultimately responsible, but decisions should be based on facts, not emotions. Appoint someone in charge of the action plan, responsible for following up tasks and ensuring timelines are kept.

Step 6: Invest in Training

Build an online training platform dedicated to revenue management to onboard new joiners and retrain existing talent. Understand that it takes time and resources and work with the consultant to ensure the platform covers all bases and achieves your organisation’s revenue management goals.

Step 7: Measure and Map

Measure your success. Schedule weekly and monthly total revenue optimisation strategy meetings involving commercial and non-commercial functions including revenue, sales, marketing, PR, F&B and spa. Review the data and be honest, identifying what worked and what didn’t – and why, and then map out next steps.

At Black Coral Consulting we partner with ultra-luxury hospitality brands, integrated resorts, events, attractions, F&B venues, and spas to unlock their profit potential. Clients including Atlantis The Palm, One&Only, Nobu, Bread Street Kitchen, JA Resorts, Anantara, Chenot, and Guerlain Spa, to name a few have leveraged our unparalleled experience to create a successful revenue optimisation culture. If you would like to transform your hospitality business, get in touch today.

Hotel Asset Management With a Commercial Lens

Tue, 02 May 2023 18:56:54 GMT

A Total Revenue Management Mindset Is Required

Hotel asset management is no longer defined by margin protection alone. The discipline has evolved into something broader, more strategic, and far more commercially complex.

The U.S. market is leading the way and the European market is starting to follow. This Western-led movement means asset management is no longer limited to the profit lines, but covers revenue optimization across all income streams.

Many asset owners are now insisting that all stakeholders get on board — a commercial approach that is already paying financial dividends. That requires a change in mindset — and perhaps even skill set — for the asset manager, who must become completely savvy with revenue management or be left obsolete.

The asset manager remains the essential conduit between the asset owner and the management/operating company, but their role has expanded to become the orchestrator of a total revenue optimization culture, encompassing every stakeholder, for mutual gain.

Traditionally, because of the relatively one-dimensional focus on costs and the profit line, the asset manager has more than likely hailed from a solid finance background. With the need to take a close look at every revenue center through a more refined and holistic commercial lens, this is changing.

When you consider the makeup of resorts and destinations in the luxury and ultra-luxury segment, where many complex departments and profit centers other than rooms — from food and beverage outlets and spas to water parks and attractions — are managed, it is commercial strategies, not single profit lines, that are essential to drive up revenues and ultimately profit.

There are many nuances to consider to get the big picture and identify the opportunities for revenue gains. Some are obviously low-hanging fruits while others require more in-depth analysis.

Here are a few quick tips and tricks for asset management with a commercial lens in an age when total revenue management is the way forward.

Review your activation strategies in depth and across several indicators — not only by market, for example, but by sales and marketing spend per market. Does sales and marketing spend correlate with the growth or decline of a segment or partner contribution? Consider how many room nights are budgeted for incremental growth versus how much incremental growth is actually being achieved.
Target audience strategies. How are commercial strategies defined for each customer segment? Consider if these strategies are linked back to room nights, average daily rate and revenue, as well as if they are designed to drive revenues across all business units such as spa, retail, restaurants and attractions.
Cost per acquisition considerations. With high-end properties and resorts, direct booking channels are the most profitable, as they eliminate third-party distribution costs. But customers still tend to book with luxury agencies such as Virtuoso, wooed by more attractive benefits and incentives. Asset managers need to look at the cost per acquisition per channel and per market. Are marketing dollars spent on brand.com diluted when the desired results are not achieved?
Return on investment from sales activities. Your sales team is attending a trade show to promote, pitch and sell, but are you tracking the ROI on the money spent conducting these activities? Costs of stands, travel and accommodation need to be weighed against business leads and conversions generated. Asset managers need to know who the sales team is meeting with, the point of focus and ensure the action plan costs can be tracked to ROI.
Key performance indicators are not only applicable to the asset but the commercial team and the focus must be defined. Is it room nights, revenues or both?
To succeed, innovation is key, across every aspect of the asset’s management and operations, and it applies to commercial strategies, too. Asset managers must go beyond setting out action points but devise an agile, 360-degree commercial strategy with an activation structure in place. Out-of-the-box thinking based on data analysis is key. That data tells a story about the customer, and so will every department linked to that data. This is where commercial acumen comes to the forefront. What is that data telling you and how can you innovate to drive revenue from insights and trends?
Who’s in charge? Asset management with a commercial lens means appointing the gatekeeper of all strategies to whom every other department reports. Disparate and fragmented reporting lines with conflict of interests generally do not work. There is an opportunity for the asset manager to be that gatekeeper and execute the commercial strategy like a well-oiled machine.

Today, hotel asset managers have the chance to make their role indispensable if they take a total revenue management approach. Achieving budget numbers is not enough, and neither is focusing solely on profit lines. Understanding what to stop, start or continue is key and knowledge of commercial strategies and the hotel operation to support hotel teams, is invaluable.

As the conductor of this complex orchestra of owner, operator and every reporting department, an asset manager must not be afraid to bring on an independent expert. Working hand in hand with a revenue optimization consultant can help you sharpen that commercial lens, bringing into focus the right approach and helping to instill a revenue optimization strategy and culture as a foundation for success.

In essence, a future-fit asset management department needs a commercially minded total revenue management expert on the team — someone with vast experience in leveraging every revenue center within that asset, from its Michelin-star restaurant to its destination spa.

They must also be confident in challenging commercial strategies, ensuring the management company optimizes the owner’s asset to its full potential at all times. This is the skill that today sets an asset manager apart.

The future of asset management lies in commercial leadership.

Asset management with a commercial lens is not negotiable. It’s a must.