The hotel sector is one of the most competitive and demanding, which forces hotels to always be aware of the latest trends and technologies to stay relevant in the market. In this context, reporting has become a key tool for hotel management teams, allowing them to make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date data.
In this article, we explain what strategic reporting is and explore its importance in hotels, as well as strategies and best practices for creating effective and comprehensive reports.
What is strategic reporting?
Strategic reporting is a process of collecting and analysing data used to inform top-level managers and executives about a company’s performance. In the specific case of hotels, it focuses on gathering relevant information for hotel operations, such as room occupancy, pricing, guest satisfaction levels, reservation cancellation rates, and other key performance indicators.
The rise of this practice is closely related to technology and digitalization, as both have radically changed people’s habits, behaviours, and decision-making processes. Digitalization needs to be understood not only from a technological transformation perspective, but also from a resource optimization point of view.
This optimization of resources has led users to adopt an agile management control methodology, implementing recurring and periodic routines and feedback, where the strategy must be oriented towards analysing opportunities due to changes and uncertainty.
How to perform a good reporting?
Reporting is an aspect that generates a lot of work. If we ask controllers which activity they spend the most time on, they will almost certainly say that reporting, or sending information to different stakeholders (business units, investors, etc.).
However, many times, the reports or information that are provided do not have much economic significance, living in a framework of data or indicators that are not connected to each other or are barely significant. Therefore, a first aspect is to assess and decide which reports or information are necessary, which can result in reports being modified or even vanished.
In this sense, a series of basic premises must be fulfilled for reporting:
- Who is the recipient and what is the relationship with them?
- What is the objective?
- Who is responsible or in charge of doing it?
- What information is the subject of analysis and what indicators or KPIs are used (if they are risk indicators, KRI)?
- What is the periodicity of the report, that is, what deadlines must be met for information gathering and sending?
Of the aspects mentioned above, the recipient and the relationship with them are particularly relevant. It is not the same to report to a department head as it is to a unit head, a country head, or a shareholder (linked or not to management).
It is recommended to work with lists or questionnaires that allow for delimiting or commenting on risks and ensuring that proper internal control is being carried out. The existence of these types of reports helps establish a control environment in the company and communicate internal control and strategy policies.
What other key elements should be considered in reporting?
To ensure proper policy and effective monitoring of reporting, certain objectives must be pursued, and some important keys must be taken into account. We should aim for reporting to be visual and accessible through web tools, with downloadable graphics and data in Excel, accessible at any time, place, and device, updated in real or near real-time, and with segmented permissions and information by authority.
In this way, this document should allow us to improve the quality of accounting by enabling users to identify problems more quickly, reduce user queries and doubts, as they are autonomous with the tool, freeing up time for the management control or asset management department, and improve awareness and impregnation of budgetary culture in all units, departments, or areas of the company, not only in the management but also in the academic field.
What are the advantages of reporting?
The advantages of hotel reporting are as follows:
- Improved decision-making: Reporting provides valuable real-time information about hotel performance, allowing for more informed and efficient decision-making.
- Analysis and tracking of key indicators: It allows the analysis and tracking of key business indicators such as occupancy, average rate, RevPAR, among others. This helps to identify trends and opportunities for improvement.
- Time and resource savings: By automating report generation and avoiding the use of manual reports, reporting saves valuable time and resources for the hotel.
- Improved communication: It facilitates communication between different departments and areas of the hotel by allowing real-time information sharing and joint decision-making.
- Identification of improvement opportunities: By analysing business data and trends, reporting can help identify areas for improvement in the hotel, such as cost optimization, improved customer service, among others.
- Increased competitiveness: It allows hotels to be more competitive by providing access to key information in real-time and enabling more efficient and effective decision-making.
How can we help you?
Our reporting solutions offer our clients valuable information for decision-making processes. Using advanced data analysis tools, we collect and process key occupancy, revenue, expense and profitability information, presenting the data in clear and concise reports tailored to the addressee.
In this way, we help our clients identify trends and areas for improvement in their operations, adjust financial strategies and make informed decisions that help maximize the profitability of their establishments.
Contact us for more information!