Financial Aspects Every Hospitality Business Leader must be Aware Of

In a recent interaction with Prisila, Correspondent, Asia Business Outlook, Norbert shared his thoughts on the current hospitality industry and various financial aspects to take care of in a hospitality business. Below are the excerpts from the exclusive interview –

Norbert Bonnet boasts a 14 years long career in the hospitality industry, where he has  worked for 13 years with Hilton in different properties including corporate level before joining the corporate office of Sunset Hospitality Group overseeing the pre-opening and finance operations of 21 venues.

Suggest ways to formulate efficient financial strategies to remain adaptive in an ever evolving industry such as hospitality.

When we do our annual budget process, we plan for the next year ahead to give us an indication of where to put our resources to achieve our desired target. As the year commences, we always make sure to constantly relook at our strategies due to the various external factors that might impact our industry. This can be achieved by having a flexible mindset to be able to react promptly to changing market dynamics.

"There be must a careful analysis of the various pros and cons of implementing new technology and then take a decision accordingly."

How can hospitality companies effectively manage cashflows in times of seasonality and demand fluctuations?

Cashflow management is no doubt one of the most critical aspects in running a successful business. We identify potential risk areas that might disrupt our cashflow well ahead during the initial budgeting process and then monitor continuously. Thus, I strongly believe that planning well in advance for the unforeseen crisis situations that might arise in the future is paramount for every business, especially for an industry like ours.

Throw some light on some of the latest tech advancements that are enabling the hospitality businesses to streamline their financial operation.

We mainly look at two aspects when it comes to fintech. First is customer interaction, which is the kind of technology customers expect from us to facilitate their experience in our outlets. The second point is linked to internal factors related to our back office like finance. There has been a tremendous shift in the kind of systems and technologies that are being used for various financial functions. A lot of tasks that used to be done manually are now automatically being done by automated systems in a quicker and more efficient way. For instance, through AI integrated systems, we can just scan an invoice and let the system automatically pick and fill-in the necessary details. This has been a game changer for the hospitality industry.

Another critical aspect of tech advancement is the support provided for finance departments to meet compliance and data security standards. Whenever they opt for any kind of third-party systems/service providers, hospitality businesses must make sure to perform thorough analysis of the regulatory compliance and data security practices. Being 100 percent compliant with various regulations is vital to businesses in the hospitality industry. This can be checked regularly through internal audits.

What are some of the effective ways in which hospitality business leaders can stay updated with the latest market dynamics?

We refer to various industry publications to understand the emerging trends, latest tech innovations, prospects and many other valuable insights. While it is important to be aware of the latest trends in the market, one must not go forward to implement them in their operations just because it is being done by others. There must be a careful analysis of various pros and cons of implementing the new technology and then accordingly take a decision. However, we also need to have internal strategies in place to build a strong USP for ourselves to be able to easily expand and forge new alliances & partnerships which is one of our key strengths currently.