Hoteldata.com has released its Q1 2026 “Labor Costs Report,” finding that hotels used fewer labor hours per occupied room and operated with leaner staffing levels during the first quarter as labor costs continued to rise.
Labor Cost per Occupied Room increased 1.8% year over year, rising from $45.96 in Q1 2025 to $46.79 in Q1 2026. Hours per Occupied Room declined 2.3% over the same period. The report draws on aggregated data from thousands of U.S. hotels using Actabl’s Hotel Effectiveness labor optimization platform.
Productivity improved across several key departments. Housekeeping hours per occupied room improved 3.6%, guest services improved 1.9% and management improved 2.4%. Select-service hotels posted the strongest efficiency gains, with HPOR declining 4.2%. Full-service hotels improved HPOR by 2.3%. Average headcount declined 1.2% in full-service hotels and 1.4% in select-service hotels.
Room attendant minutes per occupied room improved 4.3%, falling from 24.99 to 23.91 minutes. Select-service room attendant productivity improved 7.2%. Wage growth remained steady at 2.9% among all tracked hotels.
“Hotels entered 2026 facing many of the same labor challenges they managed throughout 2025,” said Sarah McCay Tams, head of research and editorial at Actabl. “The first quarter data shows operators are improving productivity and deploying labor more efficiently as wage pressure continues. As we look toward the rest of 2026, that kind of labor discipline will become even more important if revenue growth becomes less predictable.”
The report identifies four trends for the remainder of the year: sustaining productivity gains, managing continued wage pressure, aligning staffing more closely with demand if revenue growth slows and addressing housekeeping overtime, which increased among several key roles despite broader productivity improvements.