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increase 8% last month, compared with April 2012

Global corporate bookings set a new growth record of +8.8% over prior year in April, according to Pegasus Solutions, the single largest processor of electronic hotel transactions

LBA Hospitality Partners with M3 Accounting + Analytics to Enhance Accounting Processes and Increase Efficiencies July, 31 2013 M3 Accounting + Analytics Seeking to update and streamline accounting processes for its 70-plus Southeast properties, Dothan, Ala.-based Larry Blumberg & Associates, Inc. (LBA Hospitality) recently announced an expanded partnership with M3 Accounting + Analytics, the national leader in hotel-specific accounting software, operations reporting, and business analytics. “If we are to continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  LBA sought the ability to swiftly handle budgets, forecasts, and reports, and to dissect business data, all while insuring that the back-office accounting platform functionality was state-of-the-art and industry-specific.  In choosing M3, Benton cited how the company integrates accounting, business intelligence, and reporting, while eliminating most redundancy, software investment and annual hardware/software maintenance. In addition, Benton and LBA were looking for continual and automatic upgrades, backup and disaster protection, and minimized downtime.  LBA is implementing the full suite of M3 products: accounting through the AccKnowledge platform, time, attendance and labor management through the newly released RightTime solution and LaborWatch, and payroll services through RightPay. The company will also continue to use M3 Link business intelligence reporting, as LBA will be expanding it to bring financial data, operating stats, Smith Travel feeds and guest satisfaction data (including verbatim responses) into one completely customizable dashboard. LBA, which launched its business by developing a Sheraton Inn in 1973, is rapidly growing its management business and securing more and more agreements from sophisticated owners and investors.   Scott Watson, M3 Vice President of Sales & Marketing, said, “While our core product remains our accounting solution, we’ve continued to evolve and offer new products and services that meet the current and future needs of the hospitality industry. It is truly exciting that our product platform will help Beau and LBA achieve the aggressive growth they are anticipating over the next five years.”  The implementation and training process for all LBA properties is expected to be complete by December 1.  About LBA Hospitality Based in Dothan, Ala., LBA Hospitality is a hospitality management company focused on maximizing return, safeguarding assets and enhancing value. Founded in 1973, the company now manages 70 properties throughout the Southeast, from Texas to Virginia. More information is available at http://www.LBAHospitality.com.  About M3 Accounting + Analytics M3 is the national leader in hotel-specific accounting software, operations reporting, business intelligence and analytics, processing more than $8 billion in financial transactions for more than 3,000 properties. M3’s integrated suite of hospitality accounting products includes: AccKnowledge, Link, payroll and labor management services, and document imaging and retrieval – all designed to help provide hotel operators, owners and managers unsurpassed access to the information they need in the most integrated and cost-effective manner. The company was founded in Gainesville, Ga. in 1998, and also has a base of operations in Tampa, Fla. More information is available at www.M3AS.com. 

“If we are to continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  

continue to be an industry leader, we must have the ability to meet the requirements of our stakeholders and provide accurate, real-time and relevant information for our management team and owners,” said LBA President Beau Benton.  

It could affect hiring if restaurants continue to be faced with additional costs and burdens to comply with government mandates and regulations,”

thanks to an IRS ruling, restaurants are being thrown into the debate — and are faced with a decision of their own: Should tipping for large parties be left solely to the customer or should the restaurant tack it on to the bill?

“When they spend $200 and leave $20, you’re losing out on about $16 or $17 when we already pay a tip out to a host, bartender and bussers. It really makes the income of a server go down.”

Call accounting, the ability to track and analyze phone calls, was originally invented in the 1970s as a way for businesses to manage phone usage within their organizations. By the early 1980s it had been adapted to the hospitality industry, allowing hotels and resorts to more easily track guest phone usage, recover telephone costs, and generate extra revenue through the resale of phone calls.

During the 1980s and 1990s call accounting systems were in high demand due to the fact that hotels could often generate thousands of dollars each month by marking up long distance calls.

In today’s world, major business and hospitality organisations strongly suggest that their properties use call accounting systems, and many require that their systems are up-to-date and accurate. They do this for four main reasons: (1) to recover the cost of long-distance calls, (2) to properly allocate, account for, and charge customers for phone usage, (3) to generate revenue through the resale of phone calls, and (4) to track phone calls made to and from their property for marketing, planning, and other purposes, and especially for handling and tracking emergency calls.

perhaps hotels need to focus less on being the providers of the service and more on being the facilitators

Prior to certification, the LEED-certified hotels had an average daily rate that was $10 higher than the noncertified hotels. In the two years following the certification, that average premium jumped to $20, according to the study.

"The LEED hotels quickly made up the occupancy deficit recorded in the year prior to certification, and they outperformed competitors for two years following certification."

Security has always been a key issue for hoteliers.

Technology plays a major part in meeting today’s security requirements, but there are other important factors in implementing effective security measures.

McShane emphasizes that the people link to technology is critical in the successful use of any security system. The attitude of the hotel staff must be oriented toward security and the proper use of the equipment that is installed.

Outsourcing your hotel accounting is an unintelligent move

One good thing that comes from outsourcing is being trendy. Many brands are doing it and it is the trendy thing to do.

A negative aspect of outsourcing is the reduced level of service.

5 Benefits of Using a Hotel Accounting Software That Integrates With Your Cloud PMS

Accounting in the hotel industry has moved on from the traditional methods of using spreadsheets to the modern hotel accounting software.

make the whole process error-free and to save time.

With the help of property management systems hotels have been able to improve their quality and standard.

Being web based adds to their functionality and makes them the perfect choice for properties of any kind.

If you are planning to acquire one such web based application know the advantages of property management systems and be completely sure you are getting the right thing.

Knowing that not all hotel PMS solutions are created equal, StayNTouch® has released a comprehensive PMS Evaluation Scorecard designed to help hotel operators select the right PMS for their needs and budget.

The criteria-based approach is created on a quantitative assessment of the PMS in terms of functionality, flexibility, maintainability, and usability.

Hoteliers can use the step-by-step scorecard to determine the total score for each PMS vendor and then consider only the technology providers with the highest grades.

Small Business Owners (SBOs) especially should take note of any vulnerabilities that could leave a trail of irrevocable damage and potentially sink their business.

The average total cost of a data breach in the United States has increased from $7.01 million to $7.35 million, according to the Ponemon Institute. The severe financial loss and potential reputational harm caused by a breach is overwhelming for any sized organization, but especially for small businesses that may not have the resources to recover.

Hard Drive Destruction

Now, it appears as if WDW is toying with the idea of bringing in a TSA PreCheck-style line for Annual Passholders.

Earlier this year, Walt Disney World changed up how security was done with the checkpoints moving away from the front of Magic Kingdom. Now, the Transportation & Ticket Center and surrounding resorts have security checkpoints done there, and it has opened up the area in front of the park.

. Not only would this speed up the process for them, but it would take more out of the security lines and speed up everything for everyone as well.

Almost 2 billion data records around the world were lost or stolen by cyberattacks in the first half of 2017

There were 918 data breaches which compromised 1.9 billion data records in the first six months of 2017,

The number of lost, stolen or compromised records increased by 164 percent compared to the same period in 2016.

Hilton Hotels, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Mandarin Oriental and the Trump Collection have all admitted that their payments systems were compromised this year as hackers hunting for credit card details switch their attention to the leisure industry. This week Hilton and Starwood said guests’ personal details had been taken after hackers gained access via payment systems.

Fortunately, new technology lets restaurants adopt some of ecommerce’s best practices. From an IT perspective, this requires four key elements:   A system to close the loop at the guest level on promotional offers. It’s not enough to have a POS discount key for “Father’s Day promo” anymore. You need to know which dad (or mom!) responded to that offer, what they bought, and who they brought in with them.   The ability (either directly or through your credit card processor) to access payment data in order to identify individual guests when they return. This data set is essential – it’s the lifeblood of ecommerce. Fortunately, the ecommerce players have pioneered safe, secure ways to get at data without compromising PCI safeguards.   A guest-centric data warehouse to store all the key data sets — check level POS data, payment data, marketing data, loyalty program data if available, reservations, online ordering, guest responses, and third party data such as Prizm or Mosaic.   An analytics layer. The requirements here go way beyond static or standardized reporting. Marketing needs to be able to cut data in an ever-changing variety of ways to identify key patterns and segments.   Marketing, in turn, must partner with IT on determining goals. What is the restaurant trying to accomplish and what can be left out? Take joint meetings with IT to look at vendors to help give a sense of what’s possible. But then let IT do their job. Next, build the business case. Moving to a data driven marketing strategy will require shifting budget from other media, or finding new budget dollars. Determine appropriate metrics and the desired payoff. Setting up high level, high visibility “report cards” is critical. For example, “Our 2015 goal is to grow the annual spend of our top three customer groups by 4%, thereby delivering $17.5M of incremental sales.” That will get the CFO’s attention and the goal is doable. Finally, design and execute the marketing plan. That will likely require a trained data and analytics expert, and/or a close partnership with a company that analyzes data 24/7. Either way, it’s important to not over-reach in the beginning. Year one is about becoming familiar with the data, drawing insights, and learning a new language—segments, deciles, annual spend, customer acquisition costs, and lifetime value. The good news is there is usually a great deal of quick wins, such as offer optimization.     Introducing data-driven marketing may seem like a daunting task, but the ability to predictably drive sales should incent even the most cautious. The benefits of bringing an early mover are huge. These restaurants will have more data to work with two to three years out. More data, gathered over a longer period of time, becomes its own competitive advantage. Just ask Amazon.