In sports, a playbook lays out a clear, step-by-step plan for building a team culture that will lead to consistent wins. The playbook is filled with detailed
maneuvers and predetermined options to respond to unexpected game time deflections. The best playbooks include real-world tools that are flexible and can
be reset quickly to achieve success in a dramatically changing game.
The playbook is not static. It includes accumulated knowledge and best practices, learned from previous games, honed by time and adversity. It offers play by
play guidance—updated after every game and every season to develop a smarter and more consistent culture of success.
In hospitality, as in sports, it pays to be prepared. Over the past few months, hoteliers have been seeking advice on rewriting their playbooks for 2021 and
changing their standard operating procedures to better prepare them for reopening and operating in the year ahead. Operators are asking:
“Given the recent circumstances, how do I budget for 2021?”
“How do we forecast labor, especially in areas where more intensive cleaning is needed?”
“How much will the added cleaning procedures cost?”
“Where is the bottom line?”
Flexible technology is key to navigating the coming season. Having the right financial management tools in place is a strategic advantage. Tools comprising
enterprise accounting software, business intelligence applications and budgeting/forecasting tools will help owners and operators formulate the new plays to
keep their properties running smoothly and profitably in the long term.
Pre-pandemic, the hospitality industry was hitting records and selling more rooms than ever before. People were relying
on technology to squeeze out every dime from travelers and guests to optimize revenues. Everyone was winning. Then
COVID-19 hit. Not only did occupancy evaporate, but revenue did too, and managers had to sharpen their pencils on
the expense side to avoid closing their doors for good. Those properties with flexible financial software in play were
better prepared to adjust and make swift, better-informed decisions. Even the most difficult decisions must be thoughtful
and informed, not guesswork.
To be truly flexible means having a leading-edge enterprise back-office system that is scalable and features easy-to-use
financial reporting. It means having a highly secure, web-based GAAP compliant system enabling finance teams to
work remotely if doors are closed or if on-site staffing is reduced. It means having a secure front end that gives users
access to specific system areas while keeping the primary system protected. It means having the ability to integrate,
organize and analyze data to make effective business decisions and leverage that information for future-looking budgets
and forecasts.
Consider these examples of behind the scenes technology at work:
A quick survey indicates that most of our clients qualified for and enrolled in the Paycheck Protection Program.
Early on, when the amount of available PPP funds was unknown, speed was critical for the application process.
An owner shared that having payroll data quickly available via their business intelligence application made for a
very efficient application process.
As the pandemic forced temporary hotel closures, benchmarking performance using STR data changed and STR
introduced “economic methodology” (an alternate benchmark which assumes no temporary hotel closures).
Using flexible technology, owners were able to apply economic methodology to their own portfolio for advanced
analytics. (STR is the parent company of HNN).
As the focus shifted to cash management, a hotel management team pivoted their forecasting tools to the balance sheet. Having the ability to forecast
cash and then sync those values to their GL system cash flow statements provided invaluable insight.
Without a playbook, teams will be left scrambling to find information and items they need to meet their goals and complete their deliverables. Without flexible
Opinions
By Jay Troutman
Copyright © 2008-2020 CoStar Realty Information, Inc. Page 1 / 2
introduced “economic methodology” (an alternate benchmark which assumes no temporary hotel closures).
Using flexible technology, owners were able to apply economic methodology to their own portfolio for advanced
analytics. (STR is the parent company of HNN).
As the focus shifted to cash management, a hotel management team pivoted their forecasting tools to the balance sheet. Having the ability to forecast
cash and then sync those values to their GL system cash flow statements provided invaluable insight.
Without a playbook, teams will be left scrambling to find information and items they need to meet their goals and complete their deliverables. Without flexible
technology, hoteliers will be left behind, unable to access the financial data needed to operate on a very fluid playing field. Operators with advanced flexible
technology in place have an advantage. For those that don’t, it’s a good time to get in the game and leverage the flexible technology solutions needed to drive
revenues to your bottom line and guests to your door.
Jay Troutman is an ISHC member and the owner and founder of Aptech.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or its parent company, STR and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the
freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with
any questions or concern.
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