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 the customers pay for their purchases at the time of the sale.
After spending a few days with 1,800 or so hotel industry participants at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit at and around the J.W. Marriott L.A. Live hotel in Los Angeles, the prevailing mood can best be described as “eager to move ahead.”
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 financial statement each month within one week is the benchmark for a team and system that works well. Taking any longer just means you are really wasting valuable time. If you are not the one who closes the books, but you would like the statement faster, then this is also for you.
Its January 2022, cold in most of the U.S., and we are all dreaming of our next vacation.
When buying or selling a hotel, there are many steps to conducting a hotel appraisal. Previously, we highlighted the needed market research including environment, supply/demand, location and highest and best use in our guide to practical hotel appraisals.
That’s 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.
COVID-19 and the ensuing travel restrictions have wreaked havoc on the travel and hospitality industries all over the world. To mitigate the impact, governments around the world have taken a variety of measures over the last two years, ranging from prioritizing vaccination for tourism employees to providing financial and liquidity support as well as making policy changes to aid the recovery of their respective travel and hospitality sectors. In fact, with low international travel demand, governments in some countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Thailand, have even introduced incentives and refunds to encourage citizens to travel within their own country.
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 he needed an income auditor for the summer line-up. I suggested my brother who was recently out of work at his articling job at a CA firm.
Interest rates are low, consumer confidence is stronger, oil prices are high and employment is very uneven. The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is at 58.7 in December 2021, down from 60 in November and 61 in October. Any number over 50 shows that the economy is expanding so the PMI is good news. Threats from COVID-19 variant Omicron should peak this month. Perhaps the biggest threat is inflation as that is starting to impact the middle class as well as the poor. The silver lining is that this inflation might cause hotel room rates to grow beyond the 6% inflation rate.
COVID-19 has been devastating for the hospitality industry. Hotel occupancy rates are still well below normal. While some lenders are still granting relief to borrowers, lenders increasingly have been foreclosing on properties.
Interest rates are low, consumer confidence is stronger, oil prices are high and employment is very uneven.
At the start of this year, we predicted our top 10 Hotel Trends to Watch in 2021. But after 12 months of unexpected twists and turns, which of those trends actually held strong this year? Keep reading this article to find out.
In the hospitality and travel industries, experts can perform an opportunity analysis of a hotel or property. This is a helpful tool that shows more about the value and risk of the property. Let’s take a look at what an opportunity analysis precisely entails and how to go about it through a three-step approach.
As hotel lodging performance continues to recover from the effects of Covid-19, there have been increasing signs that investors are again buying, selling or refinancing of hotel assets. This comes sometimes in spite of mixed messages as to the speed and strength of this recovery.
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 this piece, I will highlight the key controls and features to make sure you are on the right track with this all-important aspect of hospitality.
The supply chain crunch and inflation are compounding what’s already a nettlesome recovery for hotel owners and operators.
The Indian hotel sector is finally breathing a sigh of relief as demand has recovered dramatically in recent months, even helping push occupancy and average rates closer to pre-pandemic levels in a few markets. However, the hotel sector, like most others, is reeling under the pressures of rising prices, affecting not only operations but also hotel development plans in the country.
Given the significant traction in distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines throughout the United States and general international travel restrictions, leisure travel has begun to recover in 2021 and is expected to continue increasing, with Americans seeking so-called “revenge travel” to a domestic getaway. Business travel is also beginning to show signs of recovery, and some group business related to conference attendance is returning.
That’s right, your eyes and the headline are not fooling you. I learned this from a client in a backwards kind of way and now I want to share it with you. It is a powerful way to justify and prove a return on investment (ROI) for financial leadership training. I use this story as well to show my clients what they are leaving on table in the way of profits and asset value if they are not using financial leadership in their hotel.
Between the rising cost of labor, decreased demand and ever-changing COVID-19 protocols, hotels have taken numerous hits to profitability. Conditions likely are going to remain challenging for some time to come, but Chris Cylke, COO of asset manager RevPAR International, has a quintet of tips for hoteliers to manage costs more effectively.