We all know that the global economy rides the economic tides that wash in and out in the form of ‘boom’ and ‘bust’ cycles. One valuable lesson that we’ve learned from a healthy hospitality market is that a high tide read more...
No one is born knowing how to be a Manager. And no other job can prepare you for this challenging assignment: where you not only have to worry about your performance, but also have to worry about how others perform. As read more...
Basic logic argues there are only three ways to improve a company’s bottom line. Increase revenue, reduce costs, or both. Imagine attending a meeting where fresh strategies intended to resolve or improve the company’s bottom line are discussed. The eager-to-impress read more...
For hotel guests, it can be confusing how the cost of the same room, at the same property, can vary dramatically from one day to the next. But there's definitely a method to the seeming madness. Unlike running a convenience read more...
There is a tectonic uplift occurring within the industry, where a deluge of brands competing with each other, is leaving customers dazed. Are we seeing too many hotel brands and sub-brands? The hotel industry has some explaining to do. A little read more...
As Hotel management organisations formulate strategies and programmes regarding existing and future hotel facilities, services, and positioning, a question that arises is: What actually drives a hotel’s profitability? Should an owner be building a hotel that will command a huge read more...
RevPAR which has been the traditional benchmark to monitor a hotel’s performance is now been challenged by the emergence of the Revenue Generated Index (RGI). An Hotelier Middle East GM Survey carried out last year revealed that General Managers increasingly read more...
The relationship between hotels and OTA has always been complicated, but nobody can deny the impact that OTAs have had on global travel and hospitality, connecting travelers to hotel rooms with efficiency and ease. Despite this, major hotel chains are read more...
Marketing is crucial to building and maintaining success in business – and hotels are no exception. But in such a fast-paced and ever-changing world even luxury brands are struggling to keep up with the rules and trends of modern marketing. read more...
We love talking about millennials, and with millennials becoming the majority (not the entirety) of the workforce, an adjustment in how we communicate in business has exploded across many generations. Several months ago during a talk with a group of millennials, read more...
It is not uncommon for four and five star hotels to charge (high) room rates and not offer complimentary breakfast. There are five main reasons for this. While this might seem unreasonable considering two and three star hotels usually include read more...
You are about to check out from the hotel after a night’s stay when you are approached by a member of the hotel’s staff enquiring about your experience. Let’s assume it turned out to be mostly positive with just a read more...
Have you ever seen people fishing in the ocean from the beach shore? They may have driven their truck or SUV onto the sand and set up base with a few beach chairs, a bucket, and about four fishing poles. read more...
When examining the concept of word-of-mouth advertising, the words “Let our guests speak well about us, and we’ll succeed “is a profound endorsement that the consumers acceptance impacts positively on the restaurant operation. Lately however and especially in the world read more...
Hotels may be reluctant to invest in systems and software, but the swift implementation of automation in specific departments can payoff and payoff many times over. By investing in revenue management systems, for example, that adjust rates automatically in real read more...
Hotels may be reluctant to invest in systems and software, but the swift implementation of automation in specific departments can payoff and payoff many times over. By investing in revenue management systems, for example, that adjust rates automatically in real read more...
The hotel of the future doesn’t come with a housekeeping robot like the Jetsons. The hotel of the future is actually a zero-net energy facility. And what if I told you that the future is now?
Buildings account for nearly 40 read more...
If you are a revenue management practitioner, odds are people have asked you what you actually do for a living. This article will highlight a few of the ways in which revenue management has been defined in the past, how read more...
Have you ever wondered why we all hear so much complaining and downright all-around annoyance being expressed from hotels about the on-line travel agents? You would naturally think that because there is so much protest being made that hotels would read more...
This title belongs to a classic 1970 Canadian movie about two guys from Nova Scotia, Joey and Peter. They moved to Toronto to seek their fame and fortune. As luck and the writer’s pen would have it, they found little of either. My story read more...
It’s a recurring trend, and in today’s hyper-competitive world of branding, many are jumping on the bandwagon with a common goal: to become the next mega “lifestyle brand.” Although I carry admiration for those who have pulled off this monumental task, read more...
Those of you who run a hotel, or who are a key member of the management team – even a department head, are undoubtedly aware that there are hundreds of metrics, formulas and key performance indicators to grapple with. So read more...
It was the spring of 1995 and I had recently transferred from one hotel back to the regional base and into a newly created position as the regional operations analyst. The job was tailor-made for me. The position was the read more...
Interviews are tricky, for both the candidate and the interviewer. A GM’s job interview is a challenge for the incumbent because they need to be ready for just about anything. This is especially true as it relates to the financial read more...
Imagine what happens when the market gets tough and room occupancy wobbles. The majority of hotel operators begin to worry on how they can sell more rooms and on how they can find new customers. In a shrinking market place, read more...
I tell my Introductory Hospitality Financial Leadership Workshop participants that the concept behind the matching principle is “the most important concept today.” Why? When it comes to producing financial information, it’s the cornerstone of understanding why we do almost everything read more...
The other day, I was talking to an hotelier about the power of social media. The World Wide Web, by giving us worldwide accessibility to the internet, has reshaped the world as we knew it. It has also given birth read more...
The word "brand" is derived from the Old Norse brandr meaning "to burn." It refers to the practice of producers burning their mark (or brand) onto their products.
Taking a broad view, the hotel industry is fortunate in that we are seeing a rebound read more...
Taking a broad view, the hotel industry is fortunate in that we are seeing a positive rebound in travel over the past ten years - international and domestic crises notwithstanding. Arrivals to Sri Lanka since the end of the war read more...
With two large shortcomings I can’t see why the average person who has a basic understanding of how the travel world works would ever use an online travel agency. In making this statement it occurs to me that—obviously—most people don’t know read more...
To huff is ‘to make noise empty threats, to bluster or to inhale the fumes of a volatile chemical or substance as a means of becoming intoxicated’. So, what then is Puffing? It is an opinion or judgment that is read more...
For almost 10 years our industry has been a rocket ship of top line growth driven almost exclusively by big gains in RevPAR driven by solid increases in occupancy and rate. You also can’t go too far inside the online read more...
My primary responsibility as the head of the finance and accounting departments in the hotel was to ensure the books were clean and balanced. What I really got paid for was serving as the “chief financial information officer.” The reality read more...
Some consider women to be the most important guests. Arguably, they could be right. Go on, ask yourself who is actually reserving the rooms at your hotel? When travelling on business or with the family, who decides on the hotel? read more...
CFO to CEO: “What happens if we invest in developing people and they leave?” CEO: “What happens if we don’t and they stay?”
I found this exchange in, of all places, the internet. Go figure. It’s an interesting back and forth read more...
Today’s market moves dynamically. Market dynamics means the factors that affect a market. For hotels, it goes beyond price, demand and supply and the Hotels most likely to succeed are those that learn to adapt to the new market dynamics. In read more...
In a recent interview the founder and CEO of TripAdvisor said: “Trust, it’s all about trust. It is in our best interest to build and maintain trust. And it is working – people are coming back.” During a recent post-project review, however, read more...
I have been around awhile and it’s not like I’m ancient or anything, but I have seen some BIG changes in how we as an industry look at numbers and what numbers we focus on. What’s important and what people read more...
A hotel or restaurant’s guest service quality is determined by how well it actually treats guest, not by how well it tells them they’ll be treated.
What exactly is the purpose of your company’s tagline? Consider Audi’s “Truth in Engineering” tagline - how read more...
Just like baseball has an unearned run as a scoring feature, in business we have unearned revenues. In this piece I will discuss the difference between earned and unearned revenue and how it applies to the hospitality business.
First off though read more...
Last month, six people died in Chile in an apartment they had rented via Airbnb. They were poisoned by carbon monoxide, which came from a heater that was not properly functioning. Airbnb did not take direct responsibility for the situation, according to a statement.
Legally read more...
Once a “nice-to-have,” the role of revenue management for any property is now mandatory. It is at the epicenter of hospitality operations: Practitioners directly impact top-line performance – and the great ones strongly influence profit.
Sure, foundational skills related to the read more...
Marriott. Hilton. IHG. Wyndham. Choice. For years these chains have publicized the advantages of working with them: advanced loyalty programs that promise to bring consistent customers, low fees, tough negotiations with OTAs, and preferred financing options. Not so fast.
Are the brands’ read more...
Expedia once stated that “Of all the consumers searching Hotels.com, less than 0.5% is searching for specific large brands.” If the impact of the brands’ name and associated brand value was so important to a consumer, why would they choose read more...
Accounting was a trade that had a global language much like carpentry or plumbing. There were universal rules that applied and these principles were exactly the same in the hotel business. That was good news. Accounting principles are universal. The read more...
The Business Entity Principle
This principle dictates that - unless a sole proprietor - the assets of the business and any rights to use these assets are separate and distinct.
For example, if Henry Ford was still alive and CEO of the read more...
In the last twenty years, the travel booking scenario has been completely turned upside down. Up until the mid 1990’s or so, travellers had two options: contact the hotel directly or book thru a travel agent. That all changed with read more...
When you are preparing your budgets, an incredibly valuable tool is what I refer to as the “citywide supply and demand analysis.” I didn’t come up with this, however, I am going to explain how it works, why it’s so read more...
This thing in the title of this piece, I want to say was a fad that died already. Benchmarking and KBI’s were all the rage a decade ago and now, today, you don’t hear much at all about their usefulness read more...
(Continued from article "Benchmarking and Key Business Indicators (Part 1)".
Here is how to lay out the foundation to collect the data:
Record every single bit of your data in your financial system (general ledger) and financial statements. Create GL codes for read more...
I recall reading about a popular Lebanese restaurant in Qatar that was closed down for two weeks over the sale of Samman fish labelled as Hamour. The restaurant was also directed to publish the decision on its administrative closure on the read more...
According to one global commercial real estate company, Hotels are dynamic income producing assets that if bought, developed, operated and disposed of at the appropriate time would yield superior returns. Let’s however assume that you are in the hotel business read more...
This is a question I have been asked many times. Exactly what is financial leadership and why hospitality? Finding the three words together “HFL” in a sentence three years ago was not possible. I know because I tried to google read more...
Tis the season and most hotels are already well under way with their annual grunt work to prepare a 2020 plan for the regional and corporate teams to review and then it is onward to ownership seeking their approval.
In most read more...
It is common sense to know: With more knowledge and skills your career prospects and advancement possibilities are enhanced. In hospitality it is not quite as well understood.
There exists a counter culture to growing up, to raising one’s self out read more...
Does your hotel rely on OTAs for bookings? Would you prefer to have more reservations made directly with your hotel? What can hotels do to take the initiative back from OTAs and implement a successful direct hotel bookings strategy that will minimise their read more...
Just like your auto mechanic checks your car’s health you can completely review your hotel’s financial performance and get a clear reading on as many as 21 different flow thru performance points. Further to that you can even see what read more...
Have you ever walked into a shop or restaurant and left before you were served? I have…and as I recall…many times. Mostly, these were in places that had a product or service that I was looking out for, and, where, read more...
Bob Ansett ran the most successful rent-a-car business in Australia for 25 years. During that time, he did some creative and yet unorthodox sales methods. Example: on one occasion they had run out of cars and a customer called asking read more...
Continuation from "How to use 21-point flow-through inspection (Part 1)" by David Lund
13. Minor operating departments. Depending upon the variety and size of these operations we need to pinpoint one by one the variance in revenues and profits. Zeroing in read more...
Who was the one person in your career you would have done anything for?
Be you for a moment and re-live the experience you had when your career really took off. That place in your past that had you really growing read more...
The pros and cons regarding brand affiliation versus independent operation has been a long standing debate in the hotel industry. The shift from the more traditional dominance of independent privately owned small operations to large multinational conglomerates and multiple brand read more...
When I work with hotel clients around their financial leadership it’s often centered on getting the team to do their monthly financial forecast. A greater interest in doing it produces better and more consistent results. When doing financial leadership workshops read more...
It was the spring of 1995 and I had recently transferred from one hotel back to the regional base and into a newly created position as the regional operations analyst. The job was tailor-made for me. The position was the read more...
Recently I have been working with a client who has four hotels and we worked on putting together an incentive plan for his executives. This is a story about how we structured the incentive and the goals around the plan read more...
In the early 2000’s a study of 364 guests at two big-city hotels by Cornell University’s School of Hotel administration recommended hoteliers to consider redirecting some of their frequent-guest expenditures towards strengthening human resources and improving the guest experience through read more...
When I do financial leadership workshops with hotel teams we often talk about liabilities. I tell my audience that I know for a fact that each one of them have at least two liabilities. I get some puzzled and Kreskin-like read more...
Being a branded or franchised hotel is an expensive endeavor. Especially when you consider the average agreement is 20 years in duration and you’re on the hook for the fees outlined in your agreement plus anything else the management company read more...
Food cost is a never-ending battle in a war that does not end. You can never take your foot off the gas, if you do you will slow down. When you slow down in the food cost world it is read more...
Creating a financially engaged leadership team takes time, commitment, respect for fair play, resources and a sense of adventure.
When creating something new, for me there was always an element of the unknown. In writing my book, it occurred to me read more...
Delegation has three dimensions that are powerful tools. Delegation is also quite often misunderstood. In this article I am going to explain my thoughts on how to use delegation to be more productive, to grow your own abilities and to read more...
Forget the explosion of brands – now comes a new type of hotel to add to the confusion of Full service and Limited service hotels: the select service hotel. The demarcation that separates one hotel asset class from another is read more...
I know a lot of people have some confusion and a slight frustration when it comes to the financial information that’s available in a hotel and the way it’s presented.
The 11th edition of the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry read more...
I help hotels manage their profits more efficiently and in the hospitality world, there are only two main cost types that need a system and a strategy to properly control them. The two culprits are payroll and expenses. In this piece, I am read more...
A Swiss hotelier has started a “Covid -19 Service” aimed at those who are accustomed to luxury and can afford to pay for it. Indeed an ingenious marketing approach to generate some income during the coronavirus crisis.
Alexander Hübner, the co-founder read more...
In the business world protecting your assets is a critical strategy. Without it, you are open to “things” happening that can cost you a fortune. I was trained with the concept of separation of duties as a foundation so in read more...
Over the years I have seen a lot of messes in my career. Not only the ones that catch your eye because of the clutter and disorganization you see in the back spaces of your hotel but I’m talking about read more...
With the lockdown over now, many people are itching to travel again—and wondering whether it will be safe to stay in a hotel during COVID-19? Unfortunately, there's no real ‘yes-or-no’ answer to the question of whether it's safe to travel right now read more...
The Public Relations Manager of a city hotel recently wrote to us, asking “When our hotel opens after Covid 19, we have implemented several processes in line with the recommended best practices. However, we know that there will be some read more...
In the business world protecting your assets is a critical strategy. Without it you are open to “things” happening that can cost you a fortune. I was trained with the concept of the separation of duties as a foundation so read more...
There is no doubt that shocks to our industry bring about significant changes, and COVID-19 won’t be an exception. I believe that hotel guests’ buying behavior and motivations will be very different tomorrow from what they were yesterday.
So, how will read more...
The hotel business is a retail business and in order to stay on top of your business you must fully and completely balance your daily revenues and settlements. Every day we begin anew and every day is a story unto read more...
You can increase the way you lead your team financially. Create an environmentthat has your managers working together on the “business” of running your hotel. It all starts by knowing that it is a team effort and it can’t be done properly read more...
In the 19th century, Italian engineer and economist Wilfried Fritz Pareto observed that 20% of Italians held 80% of the country’s wealth. Expanding on his ‘law of the vital few,’ Pareto held that a multitude of different events and social read more...
The Coronavirus pandemic has created havoc all over the world. Looking back, nothing like this has ever been experienced before. So, there is no way of learning from the past. Nor is there any certainty in predicting the future. For read more...
Applies to financial leaders’ and operational managers’ roles:
On the eve of starting my financial leadership course for the third year with Royal Roads University it occurs to me that most people have it somewhat wrong when it comes to how read more...
Dan, the President of ABC Hotels firmly believed that having the best Customer Relations Management (CRM) system was the solution to achieving the hotel’s ROI goals, motivating his sales team and delighting hotel guests. He then hired a CRM vendor read more...
Applies to financial leaders’ and operational managers’ roles:
On the eve of starting my financial leadership course for the third year with Royal Roads University it occurs to me that most people have it somewhat wrong when it comes to how read more...
If You Can’t Measure It,You Can’t Improve It. Management thinker Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” Drucker means that you can’t know whether or not you are successful unless success is defined and tracked.
In read more...
Normally around this time of the year most hotels would start the process of preparing the budget for the next fiscal period. For many that would be from April until March of the following year. The process usually begins by read more...
Most hotels measure payroll as a percentage of revenue or, as it is commonly referred to, labor cost percentage. This is not helpful. Why, you ask? Well, first of all, if sales magically increase because of an increase in the read more...
The hotel business is unique with owners, brands and assets all vying for their individual needs and attention. All the while this delicate balance has some interesting business characteristics that are essential for hospitality financial leaders to understand. It’s not read more...
Imagine that you are an Army General tasked with invading enemy territory. Before you lead your troops into the unknown, you would obviously study available maps, showing what lies ahead the surrounding landscape including key structures like bridges, roads and read more...
“All Children, except one, grow up” – Peter Pan
In the hotel business we don’t want to grow up either. That’s why so many people find our business so exciting and interesting and that’s why they stick around and work crazy read more...
The chapter below is an excerpt from my new book. It’s fiction but some of the characters and story lines are based on people I have worked with and events that have taken place in the hotels I have worked read more...
Hands down - one of the best experiences I ever had in my career was being part of the team that reviewed the financial performance of the hotels in my region. The reason I enjoyed it so much, and have read more...
Now it’s time to review the MOD’s – any other department that makes revenues in the hotel. Here we take a different approach and do a top-down review looking at the whole picture. My boss is always looking for the read more...
In the hotel business if you want to get ahead you better be ready to move. It’s the way in which you can multiply your opportunities and increase your chance for greater personal prosperity. That’s the way it was explained read more...
The sales environment we return to will be different than the one we left pre-pandemic, so preparation now is key.
As I write this article for Hotel News Now, most hotel sales teams in the U.S. are beginning to experience the read more...
By someone’s estimate there are roughly one million hotels in the world. I take it that number includes all the different kinds of hotels from small inns and hostels all the way up to your full-service multi-outlet mega hotel operations. read more...
I’ve long said that our hotels are overpriced, for many years. Granted, the cost of food and electricity, to name a few are higher than other countries in our region. But labour costs are relatively low – the Service Charge read more...
What the past year showed us is that customer service appears to have suffered a quick, painful death. Perhaps a bit exaggerated, but when one is confronted with masked staff upon entering a hotel or restaurant, and the addition of read more...
In the hotel business, there are three pillars: the guests, the colleagues, and the money. They are not equal.
They are not equal because we ignore the third pillar and we do so at our own peril and out of a read more...
Pillar 3 – The Money
The money, the P&L, the owner, it all boils down to the same thing, providing a superior return for the stakeholder. How is this pillar different? Well, really it is not different. We just treat it read more...
I am a big fan of the Uniformed System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI), or as she is affectionately called “You Sally.” It has been the guide that our industry uses to properly present financial information for a long…long time, read more...
Getting your hotel leadership team excited about accounting is like someone thinking its fun to go to the dentist. Your average person wants nothing to do with it because they have a predisposed notion that it’s yucky, boring and better read more...
Although the pace of change has accelerated during the pandemic era, the hotel sales habitat has been evolving rapidly for years. Yet when our KTN team conducts group sales shops and our sales “lead flow” audits, we find that most read more...
Almost 40 years ago now I was a busboy at a large and busy resort in the Canadian Rockies. I had transferred west a few months earlier from another hotel in the same chain where I had worked for two read more...
We humans are social creatures. This is why we find COVID-19 so hard to endure. Apart from the fear of infection leading to possible death for the more vulnerable, our tribal urge is so intense that we cannot stay in read more...
In the hotel business if you want to get ahead you better be ready to move. It’s the way in which you can multiply your opportunities and increase your chance for greater personal prosperity. That’s the way it was explained read more...
We all have predisposed ways that we look at our world and the things, people and circumstances inside of it. It’s what makes us human and we either have an open mind or one that’s closed. Another way to express read more...
I like to talk to my workshop participants about this important view of their world before we begin. I know that most have come to my workshop thinking we are going to talk about accounting and for most people, that’s read more...
In my career, I have worked in some incredible hotels and resorts. One of my resort experiences included a summer where a group of us would gather each morning and play nine holes of golf before work. This story is read more...
The hotel business is a retail business and in order to stay on top of your business, you must fully and completely balance your daily revenues and settlements. This means dotting the eyes and crossing the Ts, examine them. Every read more...
Covid-19 has impacted the global hospitality industry, causing havoc across all segments –business travel, leisure, health and wellness tourism, MICE, weddings and even dining-out. Whilst many hoteliers have focused on the B2C and leisure segments with creative offerings, such as read more...
Practice is what we are missing. Practice with the financial piece is somehow a foreign concept. But in the hotel world practice is everywhere, right? If you and I worked in banquets and we were both rookies, we would show read more...
What do you think would happen if you drive a car down the road at a speed and fashion of your choosing, without paying attention to other road users, pedestrians, laws, etc…? It’s highly unlikely you will get to your read more...
Forecasting is incredibly important because we need a fresh and current plan to help us execute our financial strategy and as the saying goes, “Without a map any road will take you where you want to go.” I know for many hotels read more...
We ‘re not talking of Henry – one of two characters (the other was Liza) in the children’s song “There’s a hole in my bucket (or”…in the bucket). This is about another HENRY who not many are aware of or read more...
Forecasting is incredibly important because we need a fresh and current plan to help us execute our financial strategy and as the saying goes, “Without a map any road will take you where you want to go.” I know for many hotels read more...
We have just completed a year that has been so unprecedented. It has re-written the goalposts for so many things, especially for the hotel and other service industries where people are the main ingredient in what we offer. This article read more...
Have you ever gone to a restaurant and experienced a great meal with excellent service only to wait for 40 minutes for the check as the service intensity gradually declined throughout the evening? Perhaps the wait staff got tired or read more...
Based on the conversations I'm having with clients and contacts it seems that demand for groups and events is coming quicker than expected. At most hotels, salespeople have either been recalled from furlough or from helping to cover hotel operations. read more...
When we think about solving a problem or fixing a situation and especially when it is a complex issue, we tend to put our head in the sand, throw up our hands and say, “This is not working. It’s so read more...
For years now, hotels have been fighting desperately to win back market share from third parties such as Online Travel Agencies and thus reduce the cost of customer acquisition. Huge sums are spent on strategic initiatives such as ad campaigns, read more...
When I was an assistant controller, my boss at the time was fond of saying the following about our general manager, “I could do his job, probably not as good as he can, but I could still do his job.“BUT,” read more...
A lot gets written about certain things in the hotel industry and others not so much as a mention. I am not saying it is simply a matter of blatant favoritism or anything like that but it is not lost read more...
Giving the proper credits to your food and beverage operation is an important task. You want to ensure it is done consistently and fairly. This article examines all the usual credits, different types, the proper way to take them and read more...
One of the most overlooked tools hoteliers have is the ability to create and use rooms market segmentations. Market segments are customer types not geographical. In the manufacturing world, like the old days with VCRs, you have one company making read more...
I do not know about your experience, but for me growing up in the hotel world, and especially my first decade working in F&B and rooms, the adage, “Look after the guests and the money will look after itself,” was read more...
A lot has been speculated about what could and should change because of the pandemic. There is one aspect of the hotel business that desperately needs to change and the Covid crisis is not to blame. However, it will most read more...
The ‘holidays’ are coming up fast, and before you know it, December will be here. With Sri Lanka trying hard to attract foreign tourists, exciting times are no doubt ahead. In this context, hotels’ gearing to deal with the competition read more...
When it comes to investing in oneself many times people overlook the outcome and instead concentrate on the up-front cost. When we look at the opportunity to improve our own personal prosperity, we need to see the full picture. We read more...
Continued from last week
Don’t forget the locals
This is something that many hotels are guilty of juggling around. The ‘on-off’ courtship with Staycations is somewhat disconcerting. Sri Lankan hoteliers may well remember that during / in the aftermath of the read more...
Interviews are tricky, for both the candidate and the interviewer. A GM’s job interview is a challenge for the incumbent because they need to be ready for just about anything. This is especially true as it relates to the financial read more...
Due to the continuing presence of COVID-19, it behoves those in the hospitality industry in Sri Lanka, to not expect significant increases in international tourism any time soon. The figures tell the story; 13,547 visitors in August this year, rising read more...
As I make the rounds with my contacts on the buyer’s side of the hotel sales equation, I’m once again starting to hear comments starting to surface about their biggest frustrations with hotel salespeople, especially the following three.
Slow response times read more...
Continued from last week
Interviews are tricky, for both the candidate and the interviewer. A GM’s job interview is a challenge for the incumbent because they need to be ready for just about anything. This is especially true as it relates read more...
Managing labor costs is a never-ending battle in any hotel. No wonder it adds up to on average 50 percent of the total revenue in hotels around the world. To say labor cost is important is an understatement so in read more...
Continued from last week
Managing labor costs is a never-ending battle in any hotel. No wonder it adds up to on average 50 percent of the total revenue in hotels around the world. To say labor cost is important is an read more...
Productivity is like our health and fitness. We are never just staying in one place for long. You are either moving toward a better picture or you are moving away from the ideal shape you want to be in.
In your read more...
With organisations under additional pressure due to COVID-19, I anticipated encountering service and supply problems. Whilst businesses struggled to adjust under these extraordinary circumstances, I understood clearly that customer service will fall short of the levels of service that we read more...
As travel restrictions gradually relax and cross border movements open slowly but surely, hotels are beginning to re-open. Some are doing so in-the-blind, whilst others are calculating their Break-Even Point (BEP) to try and establish their cost of operation and read more...
Setting price is inevitable in business. The amount you charge matters. Charge too much and you drive customers elsewhere. Charge too little and you may lose money. It’s all about finding that ‘sweet spot’ between charging enough to meet room read more...
I heard this about 40 years ago and it has stuck with me. I was a newbie cocktail waiter working part time in my hometown hotel. One of my regular weekend customers was the controller and he was telling me read more...
First of all, managers must first be able to calculate the total fixed costs in the hotel. Fixed costs include staff (permanent) salaries and payroll related expenses and benefits, insurance, taxes, utilities. Total fixed costs are the sum of all read more...
If you complete a regular monthly close in your hotel, and I certainly hope you do. And if closing your books takes longer than three-five working days, then this is meant for you. Doing your month-end and having a final read more...
In my earlier articles I said that hotel managers must be able to establish the total fixed and variable costs in the hotel before setting the selling price for each guestroom. Then I touched on the need to fully understand read more...
I do a fair bit of social media management for a variety of companies across several industry segments and have been a social media user since 2007. Over that span of fifteen years, I’ve seen social media grow, evolve, change, read more...
You may have come across the term Millennials. Who are Millennials? Did you know that your marketing efforts need to be tailored in order to effectively reach them? Let me break it down for you. Firstly, contrary to popular belief, read more...
The hotel business is a form of retail business. Every day we must balance our revenues with our settlements, just like you would if you owned a store. Or for that matter any business that has sales every day and read more...
GO PAR is the new and exciting measurement everyone is talking about in the hotel business. But let’s be honest. It is a bit of a stretch to comprehend. It is a little more complicated than REVPAR.
Why you ask? Well, read more...
In your hotel internal controls are a mission critical element you must have up and working well to adequately safeguard your assets. If you forgo these controls, you leave yourself wide open for – and I hate to use this read more...
For the majority of people who spend a weekend in a hotel, Sunday morning brings closure to their weekend as they check out of the hotel to return home, to prepare for the new week ahead. And that’s been the read more...
Not exactly a new trend per se, but recently haunted hotels, under the broader banner of ghost tourism – have gained a niche following, with many promoting their stories of their spooky pasts as a means of drumming up free read more...
Having a monthly financial statement for your hotel is the key to creating an effective management process inside your business. But, like many things in life, hotel financial statements are not all equal. To be effective your statement needs to read more...
I heard this message from several corporate customers lately. “We are willing, ready and able to book a program, but the hotel is taking so long to provide us with a contract.”
“The program just ended, and the client would like to read more...
You might be reading this and saying to yourself, “Well, for sure every hotel needs a daily pick-up report.” But I bet you would be surprised how many hotels do not use their pick-up report and or they do not read more...
With all that has happened during the past twenty four months after COVID-19, hotels and restaurants have had to carry out a total revamp of how they operate. Ensuring the health and safety of both customers’ and employees was the read more...
The budget is a BIG deal. Heck, it consumes so much time and energy in the hotel. Getting it right is a critical element to any branded, managed hotel. If you are reading this and you do not prepare an read more...
As my workshop participants and frequent readers know, I often talk about the new era of "Silent selling," - where most correspondence is happening via email, app message or text. My recent train-the-the trainer articles have focused on a "tech read more...
In our lives we are continuously evolving as people. When thought of most of the time, this evolution seems like a continuous stream of challenges to overcome. This persistent development is both personal and professional.
The bridge is what I refer to read more...
I am willing to bet that title got your attention; you’re probably wondering what that is all about. Jetstream is a Canadian company that has developed software and a platform of services that I think will revolutionize our industry. I read more...
As I write this piece, I am proud to say I am 58 years young. So far, my life has been great. Many challenges to overcome like anyone and many bumps in the road for sure. Someone once said that read more...
As I often say in my hospitality workshops, we in the hotel industry are in a very unique business of selling space and time, so we had better be REALLY good at the intangibles. Although we charge them for rooms, read more...
I recently watched a documentary on fraud and why the auditors were unable to detect anything even when they were right on top of what was so obvious to the person featured in the interview. The narrator also explained very read more...
For as long as I can remember, hoteliers have focused on measuring the conversion of most key distribution channels. For example, digital marketing and revenue leaders look at website conversion metrics. In other words, how many website visitors actually make read more...
Having a financial system that produces regularly scheduled information about your hotel and the direction it is going is paramount to your survival. Without this regular reporting, you are really flying by the seat of your pants. But what exactly read more...
Bad copy can be a huge turn-off.
Did you know that proofreading can save you money? As a writer, editor, proof-reader, and content creator, let me tell you how that simple step of proofreading – whether it’s asking one of your read more...
If you do not have all three of these metrics on your radar screen at the same time, you are flying the profit picture in your food operation with at least one eye closed. All three metrics must work together read more...
Contribution Margins
The third part of my radar screen is the most powerful and, in my experience, the least understood aspect: food contribution margin. It is the inverse of the food cost relationship.
When you boil it down, it is: What’s my gross read more...
Based on the conversations I’m having with KTN sales training clients, it seems that demand for groups and events is coming back quicker than expected, so sales revenue targets for 2023 have been raised accordingly. With all the continued uncertainty read more...
With my workshops and speaking I often do an exercise where I challenge each leader to find a minimum of $250 in next month’s forecast that can be savings in the form of reduced payroll or expenses. It can also read more...
Preparing a five-year financial plan for your hotel might sound daunting, but it is all in your head.
Let’s lay it out. You are either dreaming about a business that does not exist yet and you need a plan, or you read more...
They go by many names: owner’s commentary, monthly commentary, executive commentary and more. The names can be different but in essence, they are all the same thing – a review of the prior month’s results plus a forward look into read more...
What’s the next step one takes after deciding where to go on a trip? Choose a hotel most likely… which means probably checking out various hotels in the planned area or destination of visit.
Most travelers look into a hotel’s classification read more...
The skills required to succeed in hotel group, event, and BT sales are going to be hugely different here in 2023, but the disruptions that have caused these changes began much earlier. Traditionally, succeeding in hotel sales was more about read more...
The word “expenses” needs to be defined and refined for this article. Expense broadly refers to any cost a business has including payroll, goods and services and cost of goods, “the cost required for something; the money spent on something.” That is read more...
Well, I am now more than halfway to the target word count of this article, so let’s now take a look at the solutions to these challenges and explore what everyone from the top-tier hotel leaders to the most novice read more...
This is not the case for all GMs, but it is definitely the case for many. The reason is simple: the GM has not been given any formal accounting training and they are intimidated by the numbers and their lack read more...
A lot has been said about why we have such a labor crisis in hospitality. Some would say it is no wonder because we have forgotten – or better still allowed – the forces that be, to drive the agenda read more...
Face-to-face contact, even virtually, is critical to making connections.
While the transition to working remotely was certainly hastened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift was already underway for the profession of hotel sales.
As brands and management companies moved toward a regional read more...
Bootstrapping is a statistical metric that uses random sample replacements. That definition is not for me, so bootstrapping also has a broader slang meaning that most people get.
It means you are stuck or at least unable to take big strides read more...
The headline makes a big statement because if you are involved in the budget in your hotel and you have played baseball then you are probably saying to yourself that I am off my rocker.
The budget is a mean and read more...
Chip Klose knows more than a thing or two on marketing. He also knows that if a process is too complex, people will lean towards totally abandoning it. Hence, he came up with his ‘ABCDE of Marketing’, which the renowned read more...
I’ve had my share of dealing with external auditors in my several decades of working in hotels, particularly midway during my hoteliering career, as Front Office Manager. The fact of the matter was that many of the auditors that were read more...
A few years ago, finding the three words "hospitality financial leadership” together in one sentence was not possible. I know because I tried to Google them in 2014 and came up with a grab-bag of ideas on leadership, consulting, courses read more...
As hotels bring their sales teams online, sales managers have plenty of work to keep them busy with managing date changes for previously booked groups and events, yet the most vital task is to bring in new business. Meanwhile, the read more...
Efforts at standardization are generally limited to granting star ratings based on the overall quality of the hotel and not on room rate pricing. Room rates are simply a supply vs. demand procedure. When demand is high, room rates can read more...
You might think that getting your hotel leadership team excited about accounting is like convincing them it is fun to go to the dentist.
Your average person wants nothing to do with it because they are predisposed to think it is read more...
Hotels charge customers different room rates during different periods. One could pay $125 for a room in January and be charged $75 for the identical room in June. It all depends on the hotel’s occupancy levels or seasonal pattern. High read more...
Most hotels measure payroll as a percentage of revenue or, as it is commonly referred to, labor cost percentage. This is not helpful. Why, you ask? Well, first of all, if sales magically increase because of an increase in the read more...
First there was no ‘free lunch’. And now comes its sequel; there is no ‘free relish’.
Steadily and stealthily, firms have found many ways to raise prices by embracing ‘unbundling’ – a technique first introduced by low-cost airlines when they began read more...
In my life, there are few if any financial moments that have created a lasting positive memory. At least that is how it has been for me. Not too many earth-shattering activities, but one on the money side stands out. read more...
Pre-arrival emails certainly help, but personalization requires a human touch.
Despite what digital marketing and tech providers may say, I believe upselling can best be accomplished when welcoming front-desk colleagues have authentic, human conversations.
That’s not to say that pre-arrival emails marketing read more...
Packages are, on the one hand, straightforward. They are a well-established offering in most hotels, customers love them, and they are not going away. On the other hand, most hoteliers are at a loss to properly set up and manage read more...
Marketing is an art form. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not something that everyone can do, or may want to do. There are exceptional marketers who do not have an iota of formal marketing qualifications, and there are mediocre marketers read more...
There is a critical understanding that all hospitality financial leaders need to clearly understand and communicate when it comes to expenses. It is a simple distinction that is many times missed or not clearly understood. That is what this piece read more...
The President of Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) recently stated that Colombo City hotels ended 2023 with an average occupancy of around 60%. He claimed that, were it not for the existing minimum room rate (MRR) policy, which has read more...
Front-desk employees have the power to encourage known regular guests to book direct. Here are some tips on how to help train your front-line staff on increasing conversions.
When I attend hotel industry conferences, it seems that hoteliers everywhere are talking read more...
Is it lawful for hotels to ‘join together their independent decision-making power’ to raise prices? Due to one’s inability to convince others, is it proper to use the government to get those who might not agree otherwise, to simply ‘make read more...
In our industry, we tend to pay great attention on attracting new guests, so much so that it dislodges our focus from nurturing loyalty among past guests.
In the article titled “Do as I say, not as I do” by Phil read more...
Cash is King. That’s an old expression but it’s also one that still rings true today. Everyone likes cash even if we don’t carry so much with us personally anymore. It’s important to recognize that some people will help themselves read more...
“An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises.” – Mae West
The power of marketing is immense. For hotels it can fill rooms, boost traffic, and create a din noisier than fanatical fans at a soccer match during the weekend.
The read more...
Determining the current selling or asking price for a hotel is a bit tricky. Compared to estimating the present value of a house it’s more like a detailed math exercise rather than a Google search on Redfin. That’s what this read more...
“AR” as we commonly refer to the sub department of the accounting function is a mainstay in any larger group-based hotel. In these juggernauts the importance of efficiently collecting your money is mission critical. Not only do we take the read more...
Nowadays, many hotels offer similar products and services. Glancing through the websites of several independent hotels in Sri Lanka, it soon dawned on me that many of them simply did not communicate how they truly differentiated themselves from the competition.
What read more...
Despite the pundits’ predictions, the phones continue to ring with incoming reservations leads even now in the mid-2020s, and yes, even at branded hotels across all segments. I’m sure some readers are thinking “Well not us. The majority of our read more...
With my workshops and speaking, I often do an exercise where I challenge each leader to find a minimum of $250 in next month's forecast. That can be savings in the form of reduced payroll or expenses. It can also read more...
Off Premises Growth Academy senior partner Erie Dardick wrote something in the Catering Specialist that caught my eye. Whilst eating burritos in a certain grocery store, he looked up their website which listed catering as one of the services the read more...
As I make the rounds conducting hotel sales training, I am afforded the opportunity to peek into how hotel group and event salespeople are using a wide variety of what I collectively call “Sales CRMs.” This is because as part read more...
Now that’s a big statement to put out there, but I’m very confident that I’m pretty close to 100% correct with my observations. The reason why I’m so sure is that I know most hoteliers are not financial people and read more...
Today's hotel and event salespeople work in completely different environments than most of their leaders experienced. Meeting and event booking sites have created a flood of leads, which can be overwhelming for those working in a sales role equipped and read more...
Rolling forecasts are nothing new but I must point out that most hotels don’t use them, and they really should. It’s an incredibly useful tool that is literally worth its weight in gold. That being said, it doesn’t weigh much read more...
A capitalization rate, or cap rate, is a measure of the income return on an asset, such as hotel or rental property, relative to its purchase price. It is calculated by dividing the net operating income (NOI) of the asset read more...
As I have said in many of my earlier posts, Food and Beverage is special. And I mean that with all sincerity because it's an integral part of our business especially with a full service offering. However, there are challenges read more...
Now I bet you’re wondering, excuses for what? Excuses me for not jumping in the deep end with the financials in your hotel career. What’s your imagination telling you that’s wrong in your hotel that holds you back from owning read more...
Effective service recovery is vital to maintaining customer and employee satisfaction and loyalty, which contribute significantly to a company's revenues and profitability. Yet most customers are dissatisfied with the way companies resolve their complaints, and most companies do not take read more...
I discuss this question with hoteliers way too often. It’s not their fault, but the reality is they don’t understand what this statement means and, in this piece, I’m going to lay it out for you. I will say that read more...
It is the worst lie financial leaders can tell themselves. Nothing is more important than the health of your books. If your books are not caught up and if your account reconciliations are not clean and up to date, nothing read more...
Why do people prefer to stick to a brand or repeatedly buy known things? It’s because that particular brand has successfully built a bond with its customers by delivering exactly what their customers were looking for. In the case of read more...
TikTok is facing dire straits in the United States. I’m not going to go into the reasons which have a distinctly political flavour to them. The app was supposed to be banned on 17th January, but new president Donald Trump read more...
Managing a hotel involves juggling various responsibilities, and purchasing is a critical aspect that can impact the bottom line. Here are ten essential hotel purchasing controls to ensure efficiency and compliance, with practical examples for each:
Mandatory Use of Purchase Orders
Why read more...
The hotel business is perhaps the second oldest business in the world. I read that somewhere long ago, and it stuck. The kind of live-in arrangements described in this article are not about that but, rather, what our industry provided read more...
Creating beautiful experiences for your customers is more than a purely physical attraction. To create experiences that work well for your business and for your customers, it is important to ensure that every element of them is choreographed to ensure read more...
Prepaid expenses play a crucial role in hotel financial management, ensuring that costs are allocated correctly and financial statements remain accurate. When handled properly, prepaids improve cash flow management, compliance, and audit readiness. However, misunderstandings around what qualifies as a read more...
Hotel insurance is a critical component of risk management in the hospitality industry. Ensuring that a property is properly covered and that insurance policies are effectively managed can safeguard the hotel from financial and legal risks. Below are the top read more...
This week we’re zooming in on the Front Office—a hub of guest interaction and a critical checkpoint for revenue assurance.
Front desk controls are more than procedure—they’re your hotel’s first and last line of defense against errors, losses, and missed opportunities. read more...
Emotionally important events require more than an automated reply.
Although the jobs of catering & event (wedding) sales manager and hotel group sales manager are often thought of as similar, the real-world skills needed are quite different.
Why? Increasingly hotel sales jobs read more...
In the hotel business, operational complexity and high transaction volumes create fertile ground for financial missteps. From front desk transactions and night audits to food and beverage operations and procurement, the potential for error or misconduct is significant. Solid internal read more...
“They buy it for comfort. Always show how what you’re selling improves their life. Features are facts; benefits are feelings.”
“Spanish Theme Dinner, an enchanting culinary journey, will be held at hotel XYZ on every Thursday evening this month. Indulge your read more...
Let’s talk PCI compliance. Yeah, I know—just saying it makes some people yawn. But here’s the truth: in the hotel biz, PCI compliance isn’t just an IT thing. It’s a guest integrity thing. It’s an asset protection thing. And it’s read more...
What hotel brands don’t know is that they can create great financial bench strength in their hotels and their owners will pay 100% of the cost. Brands also don’t know that they can create this bench strength with resources that read more...
Eliminate overused email templates to illustrate your seriousness in chasing business
When you ask sales leaders what’s most important about replying to inbound requests for proposal and inquiries, the majority will mention some version of “responding promptly”.
Perhaps this is as a result read more...
While the buzz of a well-run bar is what guests experience, true beverage control begins behind the scenes—in storerooms, receiving docks, and administrative offices. This is the domain of procedures, paperwork, and policies. It’s where bottles are tracked, costs are read more...
In the hospitality industry, controlling food and beverage costs is a central part of driving profitability and ensuring operational integrity. Many operators believe that tracking each outlet's cost of sales separately — by calculating costs for the bar, the restaurant, read more...
Wording, required fields and placement matter.
With all the constant, fast-paced changes to both paid and organic search engine optimization, and now the need to monitor your GEO (generative engine optimization), there’s no doubt your digital marketing rep is busier than read more...
Recently a prospective new client said “We actually don’t get many phone reservations anymore, but we do get a lot of questions.” Because they record their incoming 800 calls, our KTN team was then able to audit actual conversations their read more...
Creating a great commentary for your owners and corporate is a monthly mainstay in almost every hotel. It can also be a large dose of drudgery. This article is about how you can create an effective system in your hotel read more...
Just a few extra steps can help set your sales pitch apart, even if it's remote.
Increasingly, prospects that are planning weddings, meetings and events are foregoing traditional site tours and instead meeting virtually with hotel salespeople. Even those who do read more...
I recall a one-night stay at a hotel midway between the airport and the city during one of my frequent overseas trips I made, at some stage of my time in the hotel industry. It was a transit-stop stayover. The read more...
Creating a financially engaged leadership team in your hotel is no different than creating a strong guest service culture or a team that has colleague and leader engagement as their mission. What you attend to grows, it’s that simple. What’s read more...
