Measuring what matters: Creating KPI Unity across Stakeholders

HSMAI Europe Curate brings together senior commercial leaders to explore how shared metrics, better communication, and cultural alignment can turn data into performance – and redefine future success.

By HSMAI Europe journalist, Gemma Greenwood

What does success look like when every stakeholder measures it differently?

That was the question driving HSMAI Europe’s latest virtual Curate, ‘Measuring What Matters: Creating KPI Unity Across Stakeholders’.

Staged on October 22, the lively 90-minute session brought together senior commercial leaders from HSMAI Europe’s influential membership network for a fast-paced, solutions-focused discussion on redefining KPIs for today’s hospitality landscape. Voices from across revenue, sales, marketing, and operations explored one of the industry’s most persistent challenges; how to align performance metrics across departments, hotel companies, and ownership groups.

The KPI Challenge: Why Alignment Matters

Opening the session, Ingunn Hofseth, President & CEO of HSMAI Europe, explained the topic was chosen in direct response to feedback from HSMAI’s Revenue Management Leaders attending the HSMAI Europe Leadership Day earlier in the year. “KPIs and commercial strategies are often misaligned across departments and companies,” she said. “This Curate explores how shared metrics and strategic alignment can empower leaders to deliver on both short-term and long-term goals.”

Ingunn Hofseth

Brian Hicks, HSMAI America and Global President & CEO, outlined KPI challenges, the purpose of the debate, and set the global scene. “Data has become more complex, we have multiple metrics to consider, and there are different views on what is considered ‘good performance’,” he said. “Strategies and metrics are complex and continue to evolve; we need to bring some clarity and create a shared language for success.”

He highlighted several trends in global KPI strategy:

• A shift toward unified commercial dashboards that break-down departmental silos and merge revenue, sales, and marketing data.
• Growing emphasis on cost of acquisition and customer lifetime value (CLV), plus integrating acquisition costs into RevPAR.
• A need to balance profit-driven and growth-driven goals among owners and operators.

Brian Hicks

Hicks also noted that alignment begins with education: “One Americas-based group now trains both its revenue managers and its operations teams in HSMAI’s CRME (Certified Revenue Management Executive) programme; that sense of shared ownership makes all the difference. We need revenue management discipline to be understood by both sides.”

Moderated by HSMAI journalist Gemma Greenwood (Director, Content Inc.) the headline debate featured Gianni Di Fede, Global Senior Vice President Commercial at Radisson Hotel Group, and Pär Augustsson, Vice President Profit & Distribution at Strawberry Hotels.

Their discussion focused on how the industry defines performance success in 2025 and whether traditional metrics like RGI (Revenue Generation Index) still measure what matters.

Gemma Greenwood

Gianni Di Fede

Pär Augustsson

Augustsson argued that while each stakeholder focuses on different KPIs, success must ultimately “roll up to a shared goal”.

He gave a practical example: combining RGI with GOP% (Gross Operating Profit Percentage) to balance competitiveness with efficiency.

“If you sit on one KPI, it’s not good enough,” he said. “You have to succeed in more than one; and understand why.”Di Fede agreed, stressing that communication is king. “Alignment comes from communication that flows both ways,” he said. “As long as someone orchestrates – usually the revenue manager – the different views converge.”

Both panellists agreed that RGI remains relevant, but the industry must evolve toward a Total Revenue Generation Index (TRGI) to reflect holistic profitability.

“RGI is still the standard,” Augustsson said, “but TRGI is the future, and we need to move faster.”

Di Fede cautioned that fragmentation remains a challenge: “We’d all love to benchmark full P&L, but multiple systems, countries, and vendors make that complex. For now, RGI is still the most widely adopted and comparable metric.”

Aligning owners and operators, they agreed, requires transparency, regular reviews, and clarity on time horizons.

“We shouldn’t try to do everything in one meeting,” Augustsson advised. “Have one session to discuss current performance and another to plan ahead.”

Di Fede added that revenue managers must manage both “days with compression” and “days without”, ensuring overall profitability rather than chasing isolated peaks.

“A revenue manager must make sure the month performs across both constrained and unconstrained days,” he said.

The panel concluded by identifying emerging KPIs for 2025 and beyond. Par identified:

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
• Market share growth in key segments
• Direct booking ratio
• Customer acquisition cost
• Employee engagement

Di Fede added two more: product and service quality and repetition rate  “how often a customer returns”.

“Quality and repetition,” he said, “that’s where lifetime value becomes real”.

Curate attendees then split into two groups – one led by Tim Browne, Lecturer & Coach at Breda University of Applied Sciences, and the other by Jonathon Liu, Chief Commercial Officer at Verdi Hotels.

Tim Browne

Jonathon Liu

Discussion points included: which KPIs best represent total business performance; which metrics are outdated or misleading; what causes misalignment – and how it can be resolved; and what new or emerging metrics the industry should consider.

Beyond ADR: Measuring Profit, Not Just Price
Browne’s group tackled some of the most debated topics of the day: pricing power, RGI relevance, direct revenue growth, and the persistent need to benchmark net rather than gross metrics.

The conversation quickly turned to how short-term incentive structures often distort decision-making. “Bonuses are still tied to short timeframes,” one participant noted, “which encourages reactive rather than strategic behaviour”.

Participants agreed that occupancy and ADR can be misleading when disconnected from market share or profitability, and that commission tracking needs a rethink. Currently, many hotels focus on OTA commissions and fail to include their own web and staff costs in commission calculations, resulting in an incomplete view of distribution efficiency.

Benchmarking and transparency were also debated: “If competitors won’t share data, start benchmarking internally,” both Browne and Augustsson advised. “Don’t wait for others to move first.”

A new concept that resonated strongly was pricing power as a forward-looking KPI, indicating both market strength and future growth potential. The group also discussed how access to reliable data often depends on a culture of transparency: when teams share data openly, collaboration flourishes, they stressed.

Liu’s group explored how profitability and purpose must coexist in KPI design. They identified their Top 3 KPIs:

1. 1. GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit per Available Room) as a holistic profitability measure encompassing all revenue streams.
   2. Quality Index / Service Quality Metrics as a proxy for long-term sustainability and guest experience.
   3. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), linking loyalty, repeat business, and overall revenue contribution.

Their Top 3 Alignment Strategies were equally action-oriented:

1. 1. Foster data transparency and shared KPI understanding.
   2. Link KPIs to tangible actions – “a KPI is meaningless if it doesn’t drive behaviour”.
   3. Combine metrics across departments: “there’s no magic KPI; success is a combination.”

The group also discussed the culture behind the data, observing that transparency in reporting directly correlates with organisational health.

“When the data’s strong, the culture is open,” one participant observed. “Weak data usually hides weak communication.”

Across the Curate, these themes consistently emerged:

1. 1. Communication is king. Alignment depends on open dialogue, shared language, and consistent data.
   2. Combination KPIs deliver clarity. RGI + GOP% or TRGI offer a truer picture of business health.
   3. Actionable insight is the goal. Metrics must drive decisions, not just describe performance.
   4. Data quality = cultural quality. Transparent data builds trust and collaboration.
   5. Employee engagement is commercial. A happy team equals a profitable operation.

In closing, Brian Hicks offered a powerful analogy: “Think of commercial teams as cars on a three-lane highway – revenue, sales, and marketing. All going at different speeds, but in the same direction. The key is understanding the rules of the road and avoiding collisions.”

Ingunn Hofseth wrapped up by emphasising that KPI alignment is “a work in progress”. The conversation will continue at HSMAI Europe’s next Leadership Day, taking place on January 14 in London, and at the Commercial Strategy Conference, both held at the InterContinental Park Lane as part of Commercial Strategy Week 2026 (January 14–16).
For more information: https://hsmai.eu/csw_2026/

She also reminded everyone about the next Curate, which will take place in London on November 5, focusing on AI in hotel distribution.
Read more here: https://hsmai.eu/event/hsmai-europe-curates-london/

The 2025 Curate made one thing clear: KPIs alone don’t define success: alignment does.
When communication, data transparency, and shared purpose combine, revenue and commercial teams can turn numbers into narrative – and performance into profit.