Difficulty forecasting demand & Inefficient processes are costing hospitality businesses in 2026

Access Hospitality’s new survey of 1,000 businesses across six international markets reveals a hidden drain on revenue:

Operational inefficiencies are costing businesses an average of 4-5% of annual revenue per site. In areas such as predicting restaurant traffic and guest complaints, losses climb as high as 8-15% per site per year.

Forecasting and revenue management emerged as the number-one concern, with a striking 87% reporting it as a significant challenge for their business.

In every hospitality business, challenges persist daily. Each little task adds to the strain on employee morale and on the systems helping them do the work. 

However, our AI in Hospitality report reveals that when systems are disconnected, businesses lose, on average, 286 hours a year switching between systems.

With nearly half of businesses wanting better visibility into business performance, they need a strong operational model that gives their team more time to focus on the guest experience. 

People and processes are key areas where hospitality operators feel they need to improve.

The data reveals a pattern: many of hospitality’s biggest challenges come from managing staff, predicting demand and managing day-to-day processes.

• Nearly half of businesses struggle to identify recurring issues to improve service.

• A third of operators cite upselling and managing group bookings as one of their biggest challenges in running a business. 

• Training and coaching staff are a pain point for operators, with 42% of operators citing this as an issue. However, insights from our Hospitality People Survey show that 52% of employees see training and development as a key benefit. 

• 41% of operators also cite staff scheduling as a challenge when running a business.

Rob Paterson, Commercial Director at Access Hospitality, comments:

“Our survey data reinforces that people and processes are a challenge for operators, with 41% citing staff scheduling as their biggest issue. In an industry shaped by unpredictable demand and ongoing regulatory pressure, getting rotas right is critical. 

“Businesses adopting AI in their people processes are seeing measurable improvements, including a 5% improvement in rota accuracy and a 30% reduction in hiring costs. For a sector where labour is the highest cost, that’s significant.”

HR challenges in hospitality aren’t new, but there are practical steps you can take to improve your processes to get the best from your employees. 

Industry breakdown:

Both hotel and food & beverage operators say their biggest operational challenge is identifying recurring issues to improve service. Over a third of hotel operators' biggest challenge when managing the guest experience is sorting group bookings or block reservations.

On average, hospitality operators in the UK and Ireland lose 4-5% of annual revenue per site due to operational inefficiencies. However, some challenges carry a bigger financial risk and are impacting operators' annual revenue by up to 15%. 

The 5 biggest hospitality operations impacting revenue per year per site

• Housekeeping scheduling

• Under-ordered stock

• Room readiness delays

• Overbookings and underbookings

• Guest complaints

Across all areas, the common theme is clear: timing, coordination across teams and visibility are critical to increase revenue. When systems and teams are disconnected, operational gaps can reduce revenue by up to 15% and strain the guest experience. 

Industry breakdown:

For hotels, the challenges that have the biggest impact on revenue by 8-15% are guest complaints (19%), followed by housekeeping scheduling (17%) and room readiness delays (15%).

For example, a hotel generating £1,000,000 annually per site could lose between £80,000 (8%) or £150,000 (15%) of annual revenue - just from one operational gap.

Regional breakdown:

On average, the DACH region loses between 4-7% of annual revenue per site due to operational inefficiencies. Overbookings and underbookings have the highest financial impact (7%), but 1 in 4 (22%) operators say it costs them 8-15% of annual revenue per site.