Pandox Case Study
Achieving Productivity Management Excellence with PMI
This Pandox case study shows how Pandox AB has achieved remarkable results since integrating PMI into their operations. As a result, the company improved productivity, optimized staffing, and strengthened profitability across its hotel portfolio.
Start of a journey – a case study of Pandox AB progress
Moving the center of gravity might sound like something out of a Captain Kirk mission—or perhaps the powerful forces at work in a galaxy far, far away. For Pandox AB, however, it’s a guiding metaphor for business agility.
Pandox AB, a Swedish hotel property company, is recognized as a global leader with specialist expertise in both hotel and property operations as well as active ownership. Since its founding in 1995, the company has repeatedly shifted its own center of gravity—adapting its business model to local markets and choosing strategies that best fit the realities on the ground.
As a result, Pandox successfully launched its journey in the middle of a financial crisis. Despite challenging economic conditions, it grew into Europe’s leading hotel-focused property company in terms of geographical spread, number of hotels, and brand diversity.
Since its start, Pandox has completed acquisitions and sales transactions covering 181 hotels, with a total value exceeding SEK 20 billion.
Don’t fall for the illusion of average and aggregation
We can’t claim to be in an optimal state if our feet are on a burning hot stove while our head rests in a deep freezer even if the average body temperature is 37°C. In the same way, two understaffed days followed by two overstaffed days don’t balance out. They still result in inefficient and far-from-optimal staffing.
Focus on progress
“Moving” can mean many things, depending on context. For Pandox, it means focusing on progress toward a state in which their business model can adapt to new operational realities. In other words, it means shifting the center of gravity within their operating model to remain agile.
As Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a pioneer in continuous organizational improvement, highlighted: true transformation only happens when everyone in the organization moves together toward a common goal.
For Pandox, effective revenue management has long been pivotal to growth and success. However, extensive use of these practices has created market price efficiency, which paradoxically makes top-line growth harder to achieve. Consequently, profitability now depends less on pricing alone and more on productivity management excellence.
In addition, new guest behaviors are reshaping the industry. Shorter booking windows, fueled by technology and social media, require hotels to be more agile. To succeed, Pandox must manage resources in near real-time boosting productivity, reducing waste, and protecting the guest experience.
Moreover, conventional reporting often hides inefficiencies behind aggregated averages. These averages can conceal the true cost of daily overstaffing and understaffing, which undermines performance. For Pandox, progress means moving beyond averages to precise, real-time productivity management.
Center of productivity management excellence
In partnership with d2o—the hospitality industry experts in productivity management—Pandox AB has positioned itself as a thought leader. To formalize this ambition, the company proudly launched its in-house Center of Productivity Management Excellence.
This center ensures hotels receive the right blend of intelligence, tools, targeted coaching, and management support. As a result, it safeguards both competitiveness and long-term business viability.
Through a dedicated collaboration between d2o specialists and Pandox team members, the center provides a centralized focus on maximizing resource productivity, analyzing labor patterns, and identifying best practices across departments and properties.
Since its inception in 2000, d2o has led the industry in real-time productivity management. The company was founded on the belief that true productivity cannot be achieved through period-end reports or deadline-driven controls. Instead, it must be managed continuously, in real time.
Real business happens in a continuous, seamless flow of transactions and decisions. Therefore, managing hotel operations should follow the same rhythm.
The Productivity Management Intelligence (PMI) tool was designed to support this philosophy. PMI is an integrated suite of performance navigation solutions that guides hotels and resorts to uncover untapped profit by dynamically managing resources and eliminating waste.
Moreover, PMI empowers operations to collaborate, share insights, and plan for the future. Its functionality includes enterprise- and department-level budgeting and forecasting, food cost control, employee scheduling, labor productivity tracking, and much more.
Pandox hotels have now introduced this innovative productivity management tool across their portfolio. Consequently, they are able to increase productivity without sacrificing service quality or placing extra strain on employees.
Remarkable results
Since the start of the PMI business integration process, Pandox AB has achieved truly remarkable outcomes across its hotel portfolio. This Pandox case study shows how the company not only embraced the concept of Productivity Management Excellence at every organizational level but also realized significant improvements to the bottom line.
As a result, the impact on both labor productivity and revenue generation has been substantial. The graph below illustrates how productivity gains and revenue growth have gone hand in hand.
Moreover, a consolidated analysis of eight Pandox hotels using PMI highlights the tangible results. These numbers confirm that real-time productivity management delivers measurable and lasting financial benefits.
Consolidated highlights
An increase in GOP of 3.7M USD over a 12-month period.
101.000 saved labor hours over a 12-month period. *
Corresponding saving in salary costs: 2.75 MEUR
* Last 12 months since PMI Go-Live vs. same period last year
Case study fig 1. (above) shows the positive impact on productivity at portfolio level, both when it comes to driving revenues as well as creating labor efficiencies.