Moneyball for Hotels: How a $12 Billion Asset Management Firm Finds Value

Michelle Russo has built HotelAVE into a $12 billion hotel asset management firm by taking a Moneyball-style approach: The Oakland Athletics used baseball stats to find undervalued players; Russo's team crunches hotel performance data to identify gaps between what properties should earn and what they actually generate.

"We don't think, feel, or believe," Russo said. "Instead, we find out: What is the data saying?"

HotelAVE (short for Asset Value Enhancement) has found millions in additional profit at properties by questioning conventional wisdom about everything from housekeeping schedules to room pricing strategies.

"The [hotel] operators are seriously busy dealing with day-to-day operational issues, so they don't have as much time to be strategic or analytical," Russo said. "Our value add is doing that for them and bringing those opportunities to them."

At the typical full-service hotel, improvements can include basic changes like implement