Financial Management Challenges in the Hotel Sector: When Growth Does Not Generate Value

The post-pandemic recovery of the hotel sector has been primarily associated with revenue growth; however, there is limited evidence on how this process translates into the generation of financial value. The aim of this study was to carry out a descriptive and exploratory financial analysis to examine how commercial growth translates into sustainable financial results in four-star hotels in the province of Imbabura, Ecuador, during the period 2019–2023. The research was carried out using a descriptive and exploratory financial analysis based on a ‘small-sample financial diagnostics’ approach, involving a longitudinal analysis of 45 firm-year observations (nine hotels × five years), compiled from complete and comparable public financial statements for the period 2019–2023. The data was organised by hotel and year, enabling an analysis of trends in operating revenue, the structure of costs and expenses, operating profit, net profit, net margin, and, as supplementary indicators, immediate liquidity, return on assets, and indebtedness. The results show that the recovery in revenue did not uniformly translate into an improvement in financial performance due to differences in operational structure and in the capacity to generate sustainable profits. As a contribution, the study proposes an integrated approach to financial diagnosis that broadens our understanding of the process by which commercial growth may or may not translate into the generation of sustainable financial value in emerging tourist destinations.