The hotel industry has been breaking records for so long – years, in fact! – that we’ve almost conditioned ourselves to believe the good times will never end. But evidence is suggesting it’s time to think about mounting a strong defense so you can continue to play great offense.

One thing to keep in mind is the incredible volume of new hotels opening. According to the year-end United States Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics, the Total U.S. Construction Pipeline ended 2016 with 4,960 Projects/598,688 Rooms, up 12% by projects and 10% by rooms Year-Over-Year. That’s 19 straight quarters of pipeline growth!

Because of new entrants into the hotel market, it’s also being reported by STR that supply is now outstripping demand, something we have not seen in the United States in many years. The website, Kayak.com, is reporting average hotel prices in Las Vegas are down by 39% and New York City by 32%.

According to the STR report, a year-over-year comparison for the week of 14-20 February 2016 indicates Occupancy is down -3.2% to 62.2%. Fortunately, average daily rate is still doing great, increasing 3.1% to US$124.41. However, that occupancy dip caused Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) to dip slightly by -0.2% to US$77.36.

The two hardest hit markets saw a double-digit dip in occupancy: Orlando, Florida (-10.2% to 76.5%), and Dallas (-10.2% to 67.0%). It’s likely Orlando is being affected by a dip in international travel to the United States, most specifically from the UK. The British love Orlando based theme parks, but it’s getting very expensive for UK citizens. That’s because of the growing strength of the U.S. dollar against a weakening British pound is making trips to places such as Walt Disney World significantly more expensive than one year prior.

A softening market, constantly growing hotel pipeline, and easing demand, are making it harder for hoteliers looking to keep raising rates. However, there are ways hoteliers can help stay ahead in the rates game. For example, by investing in a cloud-based property management system (PMS) such as the SkyTouch Hotel OS®, hoteliers can have more control over their rates.

The SkyTouch Hotel OS® platform features automatic rate setting functionality, which helps to ensure your hotel is achieving the most effective room pricing to keep occupancy numbers robust. Automated revenue management allows the user to set rules assisting in managing inventory value. Simply, define rate alert triggers with minimum and maximum dates from date of stay. Then the right system automatically adapts BAR levels based upon changes in actual occupancy or number of rooms sold.  Plus, a technologically advanced hotel PMS allows for setting of shared selling limits among designated wholesale rate plans.

Also, the  SkyTouch Hotel OS® allows users to distribute rates with one mouse click to all distribution channels utilized by the hotel. Every time a pricing change occurs, it’s picked up wherever consumers can purchase a room in that hotel.

The future state of the hotel business may be uncertain, but one thing is clear, leveraging the power of a smart cloud-based PMS will make operating within a complicated future, easier.