New Research Reveals How Top-Performing Hotels Harness Technology to Turbocharge Operations

Starfleet Research has released a new industry report, How Top-Performing Hotels Harness the Power of Technology to Turbocharge Operations. This complimentary eBook, underwritten by IBS Software, draws on in-depth research with more than 250 hotel IT decision-makers worldwide and provides a comprehensive roadmap for hoteliers seeking to cut costs, boost efficiency, and elevate the guest experience through technology innovation.

The findings paint a clear picture: while many hotels continue to rely on legacy systems and fragmented processes, top performers are investing in integrated, cloud-based platforms to eliminate complexity, optimize labor, and drive measurable financial returns.

Key research insights include:

• 82% of hoteliers who adopted integrated, cloud-based systems reported measurable improvements in staff efficiency.
• Hotels leveraging dynamic pricing and intelligent booking engines consistently outperformed their comp sets by up to 16% in RevPAR.
• Only 24% of hotels report having fully integrated systems today, highlighting a major opportunity gap across the industry.
• 44% of hotels still base staffing plans on historical data, with only 15% using AI-driven labor tools.
• Properties with unified platforms report 20–30% reductions in operational inefficiencies, while also improving guest satisfaction and direct bookings.

“Running a profitable hotel has never been more complex, but the leaders are proving that technology is the lever that changes the game,” said Dustin Stone, analyst at Starfleet Research. “Top performers are operating leaner, faster and smarter by eliminating inefficiencies. This eBook shows exactly how they’re doing it.”

The 20-page report (click here to download) is structured to provide both data and practical guidance for hoteliers, covering:

• The Tech-Forward Advantage: How hotels are eliminating cost sinkholes like outdated scheduling, static pricing, and disconnected systems.
• The Automated Hotel of Tomorrow: Why automation, AI, and platform convergence are reshaping the next generation of operations.
• Conclusion and Action Plan: A step-by-step guide for auditing tech stacks, integrating platforms, and future-proofing operations.

The new resource was independently produced by Starfleet Research, the IT market research arm of Starfleet Media and a leading source of best-practices benchmarking for hospitality technology decision-makers. The research reflects insights from hotel executives, IT leaders, and operators across North America, Europe, Asia, and other global regions.

Underwriting support came from IBS Software, a global SaaS solutions provider to the travel and hospitality industries. IBS Software’s cloud-native iStay platform is designed to transform how hotels, resorts, and gaming providers manage the entire guest journey. By unifying reservations, revenue, operations, sales, marketing, and loyalty management into a single, intuitive platform, iStay helps operators reduce complexity, unlock new revenue opportunities, and deliver superior guest experiences.

The new eBook, How Top-Performing Hotels Harness the Power of Technology to Turbocharge Operations, is now available for complimentary download.

This research builds on earlier Starfleet Research publications. Recently, the firm released How Top-Performing Hotels Turn Big Data Into Big Wins, another global study underwritten by IBS Software. That report revealed that only 24% of hotels have fully integrated their core systems and just 34% manage guest data centrally, underscoring the hospitality industry’s ongoing “data problem.” The study provides a roadmap for closing this gap with unified, cloud-native platforms, highlighting how leaders are using real-time intelligence, predictive analytics, and personalization at scale to unlock new revenue opportunities and deliver superior guest experiences.