Finance, Op Planning & Forecasting

Planning for the future of your hotel business has never been more challenging or vital. Delve into key insights and resources for smarter forecasting.


Navigating Uncharted Waters

As leaders in the hospitality industry, we often embrace the mantra that "every day is different." It’s a sentiment that resonates deeply with us, for our field encompasses a kaleidoscope of guests, round-the-clock operations, and the occasional curveball thrown our way. Yet, it is precisely what fuels our passion and challenges us to constantly adapt and innovate.

The Benefits of a Small Hotel Management Company

The last few years have been fraught with mergers and acquisitions in the hotel management space. Companies have grown larger and less personalized, more streamlined, increasingly technologically advanced, and geographically agnostic. The benefits of a large management company may seem obvious: efficiency and economies of scale, technology and innovation, specialized knowledge and resources, and distribution channel advantages, among others. However, when choosing a management company for your hotel, I encourage you to look beyond the seemingly obvious and evaluate whether a more personalized and strategic approach is appropriate for your hotel real estate investment goals. This article outlines the benefits of selecting a small management company for the day-to-day operation of your hotel.

Building Brands: Trends and Challenges in Real Estate Branding

Creative Supply founder Youri Sawerschel and Frame Magazine’s Tracey Ingram get together for the fourth in a series on space and branding, bringing together insights from Sawerschel’s realm of brand strategy and brand design, and Ingram’s role as editor at large for one of the world’s leading interior-design publications. Here they discuss the current trends and (communication) challenges of the real estate industry.

Operational Benchmarking in Practice

Do you remember back in school when you learned about homographs? You remember, of course, those are words that have the same spelling as another word but have a different sound and meaning. What does this have to do with operational benchmarking? Is spelling important? Well, yes and no, spelling is always important, but when implementing operational benchmarking as part of the finance culture of the organization, it is important to understand what is significant in terms of your operation.

The Rise of Payments-Based SaaS and Inter-Vendor Integration Revenue Sharing

For decades, we have all seen the cost of doing business climb. Yet, companies investing in new technology stacks demand cost-effective solutions, with subscription-based platforms being preferred. So, how can big (and little) technology companies continue to grow and be profitable in the hospitality technology space? Enter the ever-increasing Payment-based Software as a Service and Inter-Vendor Integration Revenue Sharing trends. In payment-based software as a service, all or part of the core solution being purchased is paid for through a mandated or sometimes optional use of a card payment platform that the vendor owns or resells. For inter-vendor revenue-sharing models, vendors agree to divide the generated revenue of the sale of joint integrations. This is often done without the knowledge of the purchasing consumer company, with the split rarely being equal. So, how did this all evolve? I look back at my past to help lend insight.

What Hotels Can Learn From Amazon, Netflix and the OTAs

While online travel agencies and hotels are both in the business of marketing the same hotel rooms, OTAs don’t have to do all the things that hotels do - like clean the rooms.

How Embedded Payment Processing is Shaking Up the Travel Experience

The hotel payment processing experience is ready for a shakeup. Improving payment processing in hotels has been a major barrier for independent operators, and yet the closer payment processes are to a business’ core systems, the more benefits they provide operators. Hotels have embraced the value of integrated payment processing, which allows merchants to integrate their capabilities into a hotel’s point-of-sale systems, but this still necessitates a digital “handshake” between service providers to process a simple payment. The next evolution of this offering is embedded payments, which are helping independent operators control costs and simplify guest purchases.

From Fear to Opportunity: The Strategic Shift in Hotel Automation

In the fast-paced world of the hotel industry, automation has emerged as both a lighthouse of efficiency and a source of apprehension. While the benefits of automation in streamlining operations and enhancing guest experiences are widely acknowledged, fears surrounding its implementation and impact on the workforce often hold hoteliers back. This article aims to offer a new perspective on automation, addressing common concerns and highlighting the strategic advantages it brings to the hospitality sector.

Reducing Procurement Fraud Risk in Hospitality With Procure-to-Pay Automation

When it comes to fraud risk, one area of particular concern is procurement. In recent years, hotels have faced myriad challenges, including supply chain disruptions, economic volatility, and labour shortages. As travel volumes rebound, many hotels are concentrated on meeting evolving consumer expectations while ensuring financial stability. This focus means that many hotels are lacking in their procurement due diligence, creating lucrative opportunities for fraudsters. It’s estimated that hotels lose between 5% and 6% of their annual revenue due to fraud.

The Role of USALI and Operational Benchmarking in Financial Management

Operational benchmarking is a crucial practice in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, especially in industries like hospitality. In the hospitality sector, the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry 11th edition (USALI™) serves as a standardized framework, enabling hotels to utilize operational benchmarking effectively to assess and enhance their financial performance. When hotels adapt USALI™ reporting, leveraging its structured approach, they can compare their financial performance against industry standards and competitors.

Articles provided by:

Hospitality Net provides a daily feed of industry news, appointments, photos and option articles.


View Upcoming Events

Regular webinars and panel discussions featuring the top thought leaders of hospitality technology.

Check it out

View Our Partners

A global network of leading hospitality technology providers and expert advisors.

Check it out