Tag: Balanced Scorecard

It happens that Balanced Scorecard turns into said waste of time and money. This explains critical reviews of Balanced Scorecard submitted by top managers with a negative BCS experience. The problem is that Balanced Scorecard is often considered and magic business management tool that can solve any problems. BSC is a strategic management tool and thus some top managers think it can substitute strategy. Balanced Scorecard mistakes are quite typical, although they differ throughout various industries. Sometimes sets of key performance indicators and implementation guidelines are taken from online sources without proper revision and harmonization with company strategy, organization structure, goals and objectives etc. This also concerns implementation of Balanced Scorecard in hotels. As known, hotel industry is extremely competitive. In order to maintain competitive advantage and revenue rates hotels have to make unique offers to customers providing them with top quality services at competitive prices.
This is only possible if everyone in the company is thinking of ways to improve his or her performance and contribute to implementation of strategic goals.

Balanced Scorecard is perhaps the best tool for these purposes. It does not only serve as performance evaluation tool but also as a powerful strategic management system. It communicates operational in strategic management and takes strategy from presentations and strategic plans to real actions. Implementation of Balanced Scorecard in a hotel has its own peculiar features which are mainly represented in the choice of key performance indicators and customer oriented strategies.

The first thing top managers and hotel owners have to do before making a final decision to implement Balanced Scorecard is to develop a strategy. Do not hope that Balanced Scorecard will substitute the strategy. One should think of future. There is nothing wrong in earning immediate cash, however, you will lose in the long term since competitors make plans for three, five and even ten years. In this sense Balanced Scorecard is just perfect. BSC makes it possible to design long-term strategic plans and control their implementation in real time. Previously, hotel top managers analyzed only financial indicators which represented financial results for past periods. With Balanced Scorecard it is possible to be kept informed on implementation of hotel strategy all the time.

Once the strategy is developed, top managers and maybe Balanced Scorecard consultants have to look for key performance indicators which will be measured in order to obtain information on strategy implementation efficiency. Key performance indicators cover critical success factors in various spheres and aspects of running hotel business. KPIs fall into several categories: financial, customer, internal processes, as well as learning and growth. Names of categories are quite explicit and it is easy to imagine what key performance indicators can be found there. It needs mentioning that implementation of financial goals is only possible through implementation of goals in the other categories. Big profits are made only when more and more customers are coming to hotels, which is only possible through optimization of internal processes, development of unique offers and improvement of personnel professional skills and knowledge.

What is needed for the hotel management to optimize hotel performance? Perhaps, the first thing they need to know is what problems and weaknesses they have a moment. The next thing is to design strategy for future development. Yes, in a modern business world it is impossible to survive without having a comprehensive strategy. This is explained by a tough competition in the markets. Hotel industry is not an exception here. It is possible to say that the competition is even tougher in a hotel industry than in other business areas. Indeed, if business owners do not know where they are driving at it is very difficult to achieve positive results, especially if competitors and rival hotels are looking for a chance to wipe them out. Strategy is a protection method. A strategy is about dealing with problems even before they occur. Strategy helps and organization to focus on most important thing and problems both in internal and external environment. Use of a reliable and effective strategic management tool is a must for every company that wants to achieve success. Perhaps, you will not find a single hotel that is not happy to welcome guests. However, the hotel management wants that these guests will come back next time. In such a way hotel creates customer database which consists mostly of regular customers. It should be noted that Balanced Scorecard is so far the most effective strategic management tool used to drive strategy into action.

There is a very simple principle behind Balanced Scorecard. It consists of four categories: financial, customer, internal business processes, learning and growth. Each category contains key performance indicators, which are measures to be evaluated. KPIs represent critical success factors for various business aspects. Having found the right combination of key performance indicators, the hotel management will possess up to date information on current hotel performance. Choice of key performance indicators is the most important stage of Balanced Scorecard implementation. Every individual business has own indicators, and hotel is not an exception here. Lets review a couple of key performance indicators that are widely used in hotel benchmarking.

Occupancy % of rooms. This indicator will demonstrate efficiency of marketing and advertising campaign. If hotel has 100 rooms and only half of them are regularly occupied, such a hotel will most certainly suffer losses because of expenses for maintenance of all rooms. Evaluation of this indicator will help optimize hotel performance and its booking policy.

Average cleaning costs per room. This KPI is related to the first one since all rooms have to be cleaned and maintained while not all of them are regularly occupied by guests. This indicator will help top management of a hotel optimize cleaning costs and introduce some measures that will save costs.

Average length of stay per guest. This indicator will help top management figure out what services guests would need during their stay and for how long (on average) rooms have to be clean. If guests stay mostly for several nights they would need additional services.