HotStats Limited · 14 Oct

As COVID-19 continues its charge unabated, it's natural for hoteliers to feel like they're on loose financial footing. And as room revenue becomes less predictable, many hoteliers are seeing their revenue-only strategies give way beneath them.

HotStats Limited · 9 Oct

By now, most hoteliers are in the throes of budget season. Only this year's version is unlike any before. COVID-19 has made it so.

HotStats Limited · 22 Sep

In the age of COVID, numerous operating costs have decreased, as hoteliers have done all they can to reduce expenses to help offset the extreme reduction in revenue.

HotStats Limited · 17 Sep

With COVID-19 slicing into hotel profit, cutting food costs is more important than ever—especially with so many hotels now relying on food and beverage (F&B) services to meet guest expectations.

HotStats Limited · 14 Sep

In the hotel industry, normality has been put on hold, requiring hoteliers and stakeholders to rethink how to move forward. One example is budgeting season, which is quickly approaching. Zero-based budgeting, a method of budgeting in which all expenses must be justified and approved for each new period, is now fundamental.

HotStats Limited · 8 Sep

When a crisis strikes an industry, most hunker down to reduce damage. Amid the chaos, it's easy to overlook the opportunities a crisis turns up. As a hotelier, you don't have to sit back and absorb financial hits. There are ways to go on the offense.

HotStats Limited · 1 Sep

When the winds of crisis whip, and a hotel's cash begins flying away, it's easy to panic. During a crisis, it might feel like the whole market has been pulled out from under you.

HotStats Limited · 10 Aug

Among the many delicious scenes from the movie "Goodfellas" is one where the characters of Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci burn down a restaurant because its credit has run out, putting an end to their graft. "And then finally, when there's nothing left, when you can't borrow another buck from the bank, you bust the joint out. You light a match."

HotStats Limited · 6 Aug

A quote in the 2008 novel "Paper Towns" by John Green reads: "The rules of capitalization are so unfair to words in the middle of a sentence." This droll observation is not at the crux of this blog — well, not that kind of capitalization — but it may be similarly comic for those in financial accounting within the hospitality industry.

HotStats Limited · 28 Jul

The tidal wave of COVID-19 has left many in the hotel industry gasping for air amid choppy financial waters. Luckily, governments across the globe have tossed hotels a much-needed financial floatation device.

HotStats Limited · 21 Jul

The punches thrown by COVID-19 onto the hotel industry have been incessant. First, it landed a blow to public and employee health. Next came a punishing economic swing that knocked out nearly 200 million jobs globally.

HotStats Limited · 9 Jul

In 1969, Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross published "On Death and Dying," which posited five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

HotStats Limited · 25 Jun

COVID-19 hit the travel industry like a tidal wave, and hotels have spent the past several months being tossed around like a cork. Now, for hoteliers, it's time to find the surface and start swimming.

HotStats Limited · 22 Jun

Occupancy decimation isn't the only curveball COVID-19 has thrown at hoteliers. Turns out, accounting procedures have been hard to figure out as well.

HotStats Limited · 4 Jun

COVID-19 has smashed into the global economy like a rogue asteroid. And it has left a crater in the travel industry. However, as the dust settles, travelers will soon emerge from the wreckage and start traveling again.

HotStats Limited · 22 May

You wouldn't trust a doctor's mere intuition with your health, right? Of course not. You'd require testing and data. Operational benchmarking is the hotel industry's electrocardiogram (EKG), MRI, X-ray and ultrasound — the instruments that provide the cold hard facts. Isn't your bottom line worth it?

HotStats Limited · 14 May

COVID-19 has made breaking-even more tolerable than the alternative—going broke. It's not the hand hoteliers wanted, but it's the hand they've been dealt, forcing them to approximate at what occupancy rate they can operate their hotel such that cost and revenue are equal.

HotStats Limited · 9 Apr

It feels interminable now, but there will come a day when the coronavirus — this "invisible enemy" that continues to lay waste to normal, everyday functions and in a matter of weeks succeeded in leveling the world's economy — will subside and end.

HotStats Limited · 17 Mar

COVID-19 is putting an end to 11 years of unprecedented growth in the hotel industry. There is no sugarcoating it: the coronavirus has induced panic across the globe, throwing markets into chaos, postponing conferences, stamping out travel and emptying drugstore shelves.

HotStats Limited · 16 Mar

Hotel operating departments can be divided into two main groups: those that generate revenue and those that don't. Typically, hoteliers focus on the first group when analyzing financial performance— after all, that's where the money comes from!

HotStats Limited · 4 Mar

Let's face it: Parking isn't the flashiest hotel amenity, but it can have a massive impact on a guest's experience, not to mention a hotel's bottom line. Considering that the average driver spends 17 hours per year searching for parking, a hotel's parking facility can be a welcoming oasis in a parking desert.

HotStats Limited · 27 Feb

The World Health Organization says that COVID-19, more commonly known as coronavirus, has the potential to become a pandemic. It's already rocked the hospitality industry with canceled flights and forced hotel cancellations, even closures.

HotStats Limited · 24 Feb

For hoteliers and investors, it's easy to be dazzled by revenue numbers. Unfortunately, when labor costs jump, revenue can quickly disintegrate. This is why getting a grasp on payroll data is at the heart of driving profit.

HotStats Limited · 17 Feb

Let's face it, when it comes to benchmarking, most hotel professionals historically put their efforts into measuring room revenue. Sadly, if you're only focused on rooms, you're missing out on ancillary revenue and, ultimately, profit.

HotStats Limited · 10 Feb

Health clubs and spas have taken off in recent years. Revenue for health clubs in places like the U.S. has risen steadily for the past decade. But when it comes to benchmarking your hotel's health club or spa, focusing on these revenue numbers alone can actually cause your hotel strategy to crash and burn.

HotStats Limited · 3 Feb

Hoteliers can learn a valuable lesson in seasonality from boxing. Contrary to what some might believe, great boxers don't just roll with the punches. They study their opponent's every move, quickly plan, make adjustments, attack and counter attack. The same strategy should go for planning for the dips and swings of seasonality changes in the hotel industry.