One of the speakers at last month’s Lodging Conference threw out this statistic: 70 percent of hotels in the U.S. are undermanaged. He didn’t cite the source for such a difficult-to-prove concept, but the factoid soon went viral. At least two other later speakers at the event brought up the statistic as though it was proven fact.

No matter the veracity of the comment, or even its motivation (someone suggested the originator of the remark was president of a management company looking for business), one interpretation rings true. There certainly are thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of hotel managers who aren’t doing all they can to maximize their operations. It’s not an indictment, just a fact that many GMs got a little lazy or sloppy during the good times and seem to have forgotten that the hotel business is a game of blocking and tackling. It’s not high tech; it’s not brain surgery; it’s just doing a long series of little things consistently and constantly. Here are several priority issues every GM should focus on every day:

In an environment of depressed rates, revenue management should be a GM’s second-most important priority, after taking care of staff. Even if the property has a seasoned and savvy revenue manager on staff, the GM should work diligently to make sure the property’s rate structure is maximized for profitability at all times.

As business begins to improve, it’s important not to lose sight of sound staffing decisions. It’s critical to successfully walk the fine line between providing additional service to guests and needlessly inflating payroll. Like revenue management, staffing must be a daily priority for management and ownership.

No matter the decisions a GM, owner or asset manager make, they should be certain to keep staff clearly and regularly informed of what may occur in the future, even if it is bad news. Uncertainty will kill employee morale, and ultimately their performance, quicker than anything else.

Open communications must also extend between the GM and the owner and/or asset manager. If a hotel is about to go into default or worse, the GM should be told. The rule about uncertainty killing performance holds just as true in the owner/manager relationship.

Owners pay a lot of money to their franchisors, so it’s imperative managers take full advantage of every promotion, program, discount, assistance and more offered by the brand companies. Hotels pay for these services, so it’s absurd not to take advantage of what’s available.

No matter how big the property’s sales staff, or how much res contribution comes from the parent company, a hotel’s primary marketer should always be its general manager. Whether it’s two or 20 hours a week, the GM should be knocking on doors, calling on key customers, attending trade shows and other selling events and serving as the hotel’s chief PR person. Customers are more apt to buy when they’re dealing with the person at the top.