hotel budget
Methods in the Madness: Insiders Share Their Budgeting Approach
HotStats | October 15, 2024
Budgeting is like training for an Olympic marathon. Days are spent creating a plan to address weaknesses, build on strength and endurance, and hedge against unfortunate events. Money is earmarked for activities that hopefully will generate income or sponsorships to procure better equipment. A significant amount of time is spent too in scoping out conditions in the field and closest competitors. The goal, after all, is to be in business for the long haul while staying lean and nimble in the short term. Like all athletic training, there are no easy ways to go about budgeting. “There’s a lot going around in my head,” says Neetu Mistry, ...
Where Your Hotel’s Finance Team Should Be at This Point in Budget Season
Jill Wilder | September 17, 2024
By Jill Wilder, President of Aptech It’s that time of year – budget season. "Budget" – even the word sounds daunting to most people. The good news is the budgeting process for your hotel doesn't have to be overly difficult. The key assets when building a budget for your hotel company are: ✓ Organization ✓ Teamwork – with all departments supplying their input and information without delay. ✓ Hotel-specific software – to help your finance team gather accurate data across your portfolio and easily provide their recommended budget on time. Let's Start with the Basics A hotel budget is essentially a financial plan and strat...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Why You Want to Use a Rolling Forecast
David Lund | September 9, 2024
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 but once you start to use one it’s an indispensable tool that you must have each month, and its impact and importance usually gains weight and momentum into the final few months of the year. Like the plot in a good mystery, it can take a sudden turn and produce an unexpected ending. To start out we need to define how we produce a rolling forecast and point out the best practices around its creation. Then, we w...
How Dashboards Put Your Finance Team in the Driver’s Seat
Jill Wilder | July 30, 2024
By: Jill Wilder, President of Aptech I recently heard an interesting metaphor about a specific hotel accounting system feature: Having a dashboard moves you from driving with your eyes in the rearview mirror to facing forward. You wouldn't drive a car solely using the rearview mirror, you would want to look forward and have a full, clear picture of what is in front of you. It's the same with your hotel's accounting software; just like the driver of a car, a hotel's finance team needs a dashboard right in front of them to make quick, educated decisions. The hotel and resort industry market size worldwide reached 1.5 trillion USD last ye...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: The Top 10 Accounts Receivable Controls
David Lund | July 2, 2024
“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 chance that the group will come and stay after we hold all those rooms, but we also roll the dice and give them credit. In today’s business world it would shock many to realize that credit is a common element in these group hotels. It’s common because we need to be competitive; that other hotel around the corner offers a master account and we need to as well. But be warned. Offering credit comes wi...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: $600,000 Trash Can
David Lund | May 6, 2024
David Lund is the Hotel Financial Coach, a thought leader and trainer on using financial data to drive your business decisions and your career. A 30-year hotel vet, David has seen everything, a lot of which he shares in his book, The Prosperous Hotelier. Susan and David talk about railroads, scams, and Russians. What you'll learn about in this episode: Why it is so important to ask questions How to get better at understanding the P&L What railroads have to do with luxury hotels How much time to spend on your expense checkbook What GMs and owners who don't share numbers are up to [00:00:00] Susan Barry: This is ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: The Top 10 Cash Controls
David Lund | April 15, 2024
By David Lund 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 to your cash if you let them. That might sound extremely clinical and you’re right it is, but it’s also a fact. The only way to minimize your risk is to have a set of controls in place to keep honest people honest and the less than trusty, on their back foot. That’s what this piece is all about – keeping more of what’s yours and making sure it’s properly controlled. Cash contr...
Gaining Control of Utility Costs
Robert Mandelbaum | April 2, 2024
By Robert Mandelbaum, Joe Snider Over the past four years, utility costs at U.S. hotels have increased at a pace greater than total operating revenue. As a result, utility department expenses increased from 2.9 percent of total revenue in 2019 to an estimated 3.3 percent in 2023. As hotels have struggled to recover from the pandemic, any rise in cost ratios is an area of concern for owners and operators. The good news is that the pace of growth appears to be slowing down. Year-over-year growth rates for utility expenditures have declined on a dollar per-available-room (PAR) basis from a high of 21.4% in 2022 to an estimated 4.0% in 2023...
