Hotel Accounting Software

Working in the hospitality industry can be challenging. Having to keep customers happy and keeping all your checks & balances in place can become a fine balancing act. Implementing hotel accounting software can take some pressure off your never-ending task list.

Hotel accounting software helps you to keep track of your high customer turnover rates and labor scheduling. AmongIt can also assist with invoicing customers and controlling food cost among other functions. The goal of any business is always to earn a higher return on investment by increasing efficiencies across all your operations.

We’ve compiled this buyer’s guide to help you make an informed decision regarding the different software solutions available. We’ve listed the core features that should be included in any hotel accounting software solution as well as key performance indicators (KPIs) to maximize revenue.

The hotel industry is a niche market that needs specific features included in its accounting software to yield maximum results. Here are key features that should be included in any package:

• Reservations: Managing reservations is the bloodline of the hospitality industry. Your accounting software must be able to integrate reservations made online, telephonically, and in person. All these functions must tie together effortlessly in one cohesive system.
• Daily activities: In a hotel, there are many operations taking place daily; functions such as housekeeping, maintenance, concierge services, front desk, and many others. All these activities must integrate smoothly into your accounting software. This ensures all income and costs are linked to the correct department.
• Scheduling: Labor costs rank as one of the most expensive budget items in the hospitality industry. Some accounting software helps you schedule staff based on demand and supply only, helping you cut labor costs. It also controls overtime costs and assists managers to streamline processes. This feature ensures you're using historical data effectively by looking at sales trends and employee availability.
• Customer Service: In any industry, it's important to provide excellent customer service but more so in the hospitality industry. The entire industry is built around customer satisfaction. This software can help you turn leads into sales. It manages the lead from the first contact point up to the final stage where the customer makes a reservation. The customer's details are then stored in your database to include in future marketing campaigns.
• Reporting: Reports are generated from various touchpoints to display total income and expenses. It also provides some forecasting in terms of average daily rates and what your occupancy levels are. It uses historical data for you to extract trends from it and plan better.
• Food cost control: Controlling food costs is one of the top priorities in the hospitality industry, especially in restaurants. Hotel accounting software can help you identify if there's excessive waste or theft and how to get to the ideal food usage levels.

There are specific KPIs attached to the hospitality industry. It’s all geared towards reaching optimal levels in terms of occupancy levels and earning the maximum income from all your available space. To give you a full view, let's unpack the main KPIs and explore how accounting software assists in calculating them efficiently.

RevPAR

This stands for revenue per available room. The calculation allows you to see what the total revenue was over some time if you divide the overall room income by the total rooms. It’s important to know what income was generated per available room.

TrevPAR

Total revenue per available room is the next KPI. Hotels earn income not only from the rooms they have available but also from conference facilities, restaurants and perhaps spa facilities. This calculation focuses on dividing the overall income of the entire property by the overall available rooms. It gives a good indication of the true financial standing of a property.

GOPPAR

It stands for gross operating profit per available room. This calculation gives a sobering view of the financial position of the hotel as it factors in the operational cost and not only income. To calculate the GOPPAR you divide the gross profit by the total rooms.

REVPAM

This is revenue per available square meter. Industry experts use this calculation to ascertain the total utilization of space. To get to the answer of how much revenue is generated for all the space you divide the overall income by the available space.

REVPASH

This means revenue per available seat hour. Time is of the essence when you look at the high customer turnover hotels and restaurants deal with. To calculate how profitable the property was per hour you simply divide the restaurant’s income by the open seats and multiply that by the operating hours.

As with most accounting software the cost is determined by factors such as the features you would prefer included and the number of users. For every additional user, a fee is levied.

To pick between a monthly subscription and a perpetual license requires fair consideration. If your budget allows then spending a large sum of money upfront for the perpetual license is more viable because you’ll never have to pay for the software again.

With monthly subscriptions, you'll always be tied to the software vendor to ensure consistent access to use the system. It can all add up quickly over time and ultimately translate into paying more for this software.

Software vendors usually offer a free trial which allows you to try it out before investing in it. Prices also differ from one software vendor to the next. To get the real cost of hotel accounting software it’s best to ask for a quote from your preferred software vendor. They’re usually happy to meet you halfway if you specify an available budget.

Conclusion

Thriving in the hospitality industry requires not only a passion for people and exceeding customers' expectations. It also requires a fair assessment of where you can improve and what tools can give you the advantage to perform better.

Hotel accounting software can help you use customer data more profitably. It can help you report on your KPIs more effectively and keep your accounting records up to date. Contact a software vendor today and enjoy the many benefits hotel accounting software offers.