A Balanced Score Card

The most important thing to having a successful business is to have the most up to date information. If you have all the information at your fingertips it can help you to make the best possible decisions. What kind of information is available and how do we sort through it and use this information? In the hospitality industry the amount of information received everyday is overwhelming, and it isn’t possible for staff to be able to sort through it and organize it properly.

In the hospitality industry the information technologies are the tools that the staff uses to sort and manage the information and the balanced score card is just one such tool. The Balanced Score Card is a very useful tool for managers because it organizes information from different departments to create a picture of the hotels operations and the success of those operations. The Balanced Score Card is a tool that is used by business professionals, the information that this found on this card is useful to the managers for a variety of reasons.

However the primary use is to monitor the organizations progress towards it vision and its mission. The information is like a snapshot of the health of the business. This tool allows manager to identify areas that need improvement, ones that are doing well and what might be future opportunities. (Nyheim &McFadden, 2007) In the balanced score card the data that is used is collected by many different departments. One of the main types of information found on the balanced score card is financial information.

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Some other information that can also be found on the card includes such things as information on employees, the turnover rate, and also promotions. There is also equipment functionality and learning and growth of the company that is found on the card. One last thing that is present on the card is customer information and it may include such things as customer satisfaction; 3 returning customers, and the overall experiences and suggestions made by the customers.

With all the information collected from many departments in the hotel this is used to create the finished product which is known as a balanced score card. There is a vast amount of information that is collected by departments using a PMS or RMS that deals with customers such departments includes housekeeping, front desk and the food and beverage department. There are some other departments that collect data such as accounting, marketing, and sales.

All the information that is collected from these departments is used to create the balanced score card, and this information is used to show strengths and weakness within the hotel. The different departments can then focus on their area of information that pertains to them; this allows emphasis to be focused where it is needed to make the changes necessary to get the departments where they need to be with goals, missions and visions for the future of the hotel.

One important thing that the balanced score card can do is determine room rates for different times of the year and different days of the week. These initial rates of a room are computed by using wage cost per room, annual operating profit per room, and the cost of maintenance on each room, then by comparing the score card from prior years management can tell where occupancy is higher or lower and be able to adjust for that with the room rates. If the hotel has a slow time then marketing and sales can create special packages or rates to get people to fill the rooms.

It is better to rent the room at a lower rate than to fill the room instead of leaving rates the same and the room stay empty, because if it’s empty there is no profit. Within the hotel industry the food and beverage department uses a form of RMS, it contains three components to compile data for their department, a point of sales system, inventory and 4 menu management, and also reservation and table management. The information is then taken and is used to create the balanced score card along with information from other departments.

There are many ways the food and everage department can use this information, such as staffing needs, and also the efficiency of the current staff. It can also help to access the relationship between the food and beverage department and its vendors and then changes can be made if necessary. Managers can use the information to make sure that the department is meeting their budget and its goals for the hotel. There is also customer experiences that are collected on the balanced score card, and this information can help managers improve to better fit the needs of customers.

The information on the card can also show the managers the busy time of year and the slow time which helps in ordering inventory, when specials need to be ran and when the department may need to hire more staff. The balanced score card information is very helpful for managers to be able to know when to hire for different departments. Because of the hotels off seasons in spring and fall, the hotel may need less employees for one department and still need the same amount in another department so by looking at the balanced score card it is easier to determine.

It can be used by managers for staffing, such as extra weekend staff during the busy season, or a holiday weekend and this information is all found on the balanced score card. There are some other examples of information that can be found such as to much staff in one department, unnecessary overtime, if a full time employee is receiving hours due to the off season, and even if a staff can be promoted or moved to a different department.

The success of any hotel is dependent on its staff and the information provided by the balanced score card is valuable in learning this information. 5 When management looks at the balanced score card they have many choices they should consider. Some of these choices might include profit and employee satisfaction within the company. It is very important as far as profit because a company needs profits to stay open, and as far as employees it is important because to do a job to the best of their ability it helps to have happy employees.

The profit is one of the information that is shown on the balanced score card, accounting can look at this and know if marketing and sales need to make adjustment in rates of rooms, or other areas. One way to increase profits through marketing would be making changes to rooms, what kind of amenities are offered and doing promotions or discounts to help bring the profits up. The satisfaction of employees and their environment the input of employees are also included in the balanced score card.

This will help management to adjust the environment to help with the employees so they are happy and more willing to perform well on their job and that is an important key in customer service. The Balanced Score Card is a very important tool for the use of management to make changes and improve areas or departments when needed. The information or data that is found on a balanced score card has so many valuable uses for all departments of the hotel and is so important in all areas from staffing to making up profits. It is by far one of the most useful tools in the hospitality industry today.

References

Technology Strategies- Nyheim,P.D.,F.M.,& Connolly,D.J. (2007) http://www.prenhall.com/nyheim
Technology Strategies for the Hospitality Industry
http://www.hospitalityguild.com/books.technology_strategies_for_the_h.htm

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