david lund
Hotel Budget Guide for 2022: Everything You Need to Know
September 12, 2022
By Josiah Mackenzie With David Lund I used to think of the budgeting process as a necessary evil, but speaking with David Lund, who has 30+ years of operational and financial leadership experience working with companies such as Hilton, Best Western, and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, changed my view on this. In his view, hotel budgeting is a way to engage your teams, align on goals, and deliver financial results. The hospitality industry has experienced unprecedented volatility over the past few years, which may make creating a budget for 2023 seem intimidating. But as Lund advises, “the only thing we know about a budget is that it...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Why You Need an Internal Control Review Program in Your Hotel – ICR
David Lund | September 6, 2022
By David Lund Here’s the scenario. You have finally got a full-blown accounting policy manual in place. It has taken several months and a lot of work, but it’s done. Something to be proud of indeed! But wait a minute, it seems like no one knows about these policies and whenever you speak about such and such internal control not being followed, you get the deer in the headlights look. This all too familiar stare means one thing, these people have no idea what you’re talking about. Your policy manual might be complete but you’re still a long way from compliance. What’s the solution? The answer is you need a regular program to ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: What Hotel Brands Don’t Know – The Secret to Creating Great Financial Expertise
David Lund | August 15, 2022
By David Lund What brands don’t know is, they can create great financial bench strength in their hotels and their owners will pay 100% of the cost. Brands also don’t know that they can create this bench strength with resources that are readily available. Lastly, brands don’t know that their non-financial managers are literally dying to get these financial skills and abilities now and they want to apply them. Brands need to evolve. Brands need to stand still long enough to realize they sell one thing to owners, expertise in running and managing hotels. Brands sell expertise for all aspects of running and managing a hotel. Not just ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – How to Do a Breakeven Analysis Using REVPAR
David Lund | July 18, 2022
By David Lund I have recently read more than one article on breakeven analysis and they all miss the mark in my books because they focus on what occupancy is needed. Occupancy is only half of the final recipe. You also need rate and really in the end you come up with your real break-even point using REVPAR. The key ingredients that need to be assembled and analyzed are fixed expenses, variable expenses based on occupancy and finally the expenses that are directly related to revenue. I will lay out examples of these in the paragraphs below. For the sake of time and simplicity were going to assume this is a limited-service hotel without...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Why Auditors Miss the Mark
David Lund | June 27, 2022
By David Lund I recently watched a documentary on fraud and why the auditors were unable to detect anything even when they were right on top of what was so obvious to the person featured in the interview. The narrator also explained very clearly that the audit function is set up to fail. This piece is about what hotel auditors do and what they really should be looking at to find inconsistencies that lead to detecting financial problems in the hotel. Auditors are set up to fail because they are so green. I remember we had a revolving door of both internal and external auditors at the hotel for what seemed like years. Funny thing is ot...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: The First Fifty
David Lund | June 13, 2022
By David Lund As I write this piece, I am proud to say I am 58 years young. So far, my life has been great. Many challenges to overcome like anyone and many bumps in the road for sure. Someone once said that success is simply going from one disaster to the next and the trick with that is no stopping to lament on the carnage left behind. That might be a little tongue and cheek, but you get the point. Things happen to us all and our ability to move on and keep going without the permanent thoughts about what happened and why, I believe is the key to my life. That does not mean I do not learn from my mistakes, but it does mean I go easy on ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: The Bridge
David Lund | May 16, 2022
By David Lund In our lives we are continuously evolving as people. When thought of most of the time, this evolution seems like a continuous stream of challenges to overcome. This persistent development is both personal and professional. The bridge is what I refer to when I think of my advancement in the hotel profession from a 20-something leader who knew nothing about the financial goings on in the hotel to a 30-something controller who was on fire. This is all about what it takes to cross that financial bridge and what it looks and feels like once you are on the other side. I have said this is my articles many times: The hotel bus...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: What Is the Only Thing We Know for Sure About the Hotel Budget?
David Lund | April 25, 2022
By David Lund The budget is a BIG deal. Heck, it consumes so much time and energy in the hotel. Getting it right is a critical element to any branded, managed hotel. If you are reading this and you do not prepare an annual budget, you are probably scratching your head and wondering what I am talking about. Read all about how to prepare a budget right here. In your average hotel, the budget process is a two- to three-month deal. It means, or it should mean, each key manager is implicated in doing their part by preparing and negotiating the payroll and expenses for the department they manage. The annual gut-wrenching process we call...
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