Finance Report and Company Assignment

Topic: Final Placement Report

Document Type: Assignment help (any type)

Subject: Hospitality

Citation/Referencing Style: Harvard

Financial Report

The most important thing in a hotel in the end is making revenue. To have a good overview of the incomes and payments of a business, making a P&L is crucial. Because of the importance of this revenue overview I wanted to focus on this for my financial report and dig deeper into the P&L of the Hilton Brisbane. The purpose of this financial report will be to improve my knowledge of a real P&L and to understand how this is created.

Company Assignment

During the summer, I work on weddings as a waitress and bar staff member. Working at weddings really excites me because of the enthusiasm of the guests and the way I can contribute to one of the best days of someone’s life. This is also the reason why I chose to help the wedding manager at the Hilton Hotel with creating a wedding proposal questionnaire as topic of my company assignment. This questionnaire will have the purpose of supporting the wedding manager when answering the many questions of guests with interests in the Hilton property as their wedding location and offering them an overview of the most accurate information.

Company Assignment

During my internship at the Hilton Hotel in Brisbane, the sales department wanted to challenge the process of sending e-mails to potential wedding clients. As I found the process of selling the Hilton property as a wedding venue very interesting, I wanted to spend more time digging into this part of the sales department to gain more knowledge about the way of handling these special events that always require some extra attention. Assisting the wedding sales manager with finding a solution to the problem concerning the process of e-mailing therefore became subject of my company assignment, which consists of three chapters. The first chapter will explain the problem definition and the research questions that together give me more insight in the actual problem. Chapter two will consist of the plan of approach, the research methods used, a SWOT analysis and the out coming findings. The next chapter, chapter three, will give insight in the possible solutions, which result in the final solution and the way of implementation further explained in Chapter four.

Chapter 1 Analysis of the problem

Problem Definition

First of all, I would like to start off my company assignment by defining the actual problem that needs to be solved in my department. By interviewing the wedding sales manager about her experiences with potential wedding clients, I came to the conclusion that a major problem occurring frequently is the fact that the clients interested in the Hilton property for their wedding almost never organized an event before, as it is a wedding instead of a business event which is usually a once in a lifetime experience. This often leads to them having many questions and uncertainties during the process of booking the event space. The wedding sales manager stated that the questions asked by all of her clients are nearly always the same. Having to respond to all those identical emails every day, like she said, is a very time consuming, inefficient, and unproductive way of working. The time she puts into e-mailing all these clients daily to provide them with the same information, which is approximately 1.5 hours a week in total, could be very well spend differently. For example, in working with more clients at the same time or spending a little bit of extra time on customer service. This could increase the wedding sales turnover in the end.

The desired situation for the wedding sales manager would be a situation in which she can answer all of the questions of her clients in a less time consuming way, still giving them all the information they require to choose for the Hilton Hotel as their wedding venue. At the Hilton, we work with a program called SALT which stands for Satisfaction Analysis Learning Tool. This program helps the sales and events team to send out surveys, to collect the customers’ responses and to analyse those to get a clear overview of the clients’ level of satisfaction. This makes it possible for the sales team to make possible errors right, which is one of the most important Hilton standards. Giving the clients a little bit of extra confidence by solving this problem and being able to respond to them more efficiently, what especially this target group requires, can lead to better SALT results and a positive word of mouth which could lead to welcoming new wedding business for the sales department of the Hilton Brisbane.

Research Questions

As stated before, the problem the wedding sales manager is dealing with is the fact that the communication via e-mail with her clients are inefficient, and that some clients may value more clarification and information than they are receiving right now. Having the actual problem clear, I can now come up with my research questions that can help me solving the problem. These research questions will create an analysis of the actual situation, as well as help me coming up with a suitable solution for this challenge. It will also include a brief explanation of the way in which I am planning to collect the answers on the research questions.

How are clients provided with information in the current situation? 

Stating in which ways the potential client’s gain their information in the current situation will show what the problems are in the communication process and what exactly goes wrong while planning the weddings. I will get the answer to this question by interviewing the wedding sales manager about the booking process with her clients, as well as reading the SALT responses of the clients that had experienced the actual communication with her.

How do people value the way of interaction with the wedding sales manager according to the current SALT results?

Doing research to the SALT responses of previous clients will also allow me to gain more knowledge about the level of satisfaction of the actual guests in the current situation. I will be able to answer this question by analysing the SALT responses of wedding clients from 2012 un till 2018 and by drawing a conclusion based on these responses of what exactly goes wrong and how many times this problem occurs amongst the clients. I will also calculate the average satisfaction rate on a scale from 1 to 10 and compare this number to the average response rate of the clients that had problems with the way of communication. This will show me how much the current problem affects the level of satisfaction of the clients and so, how much satisfaction we can gain by coming up with a suitable solution. Measuring the average satisfaction rate of the current situation will also be a good key performance indicator for the wedding sales manager and can help her to see if my solution to the problem actually works out after the implementation phase, by measuring the average level of satisfaction again and comparing this to the level of satisfaction before the problem wat tackled.

What do clients value during the communication with the wedding sales manager?

Talking to people who have been in the situation of finding a wedding venue or married couples who have been through this stage helps me to find out what clients want from the wedding sales manager during the process of booking the venue and how they want to be provided with information needed. The way I will get the answer to this question will be by contacting people in my environment that are in the same situation as the clients interested in the Hilton property, which is an approach of simulating the situation. I will interview them and draw a conclusion based on what these people’s needs and wants are when looking for a wedding venue and about the factors they find most important during the process of communication with the wedding sales manager.

What are the main questions clients have when looking for a wedding venue? 

Making an overview of the questions clients frequently ask the wedding sales manager will help me to create a final product that will answer all of their questions up front, or at least giving clients the opportunity to look up information themselves giving them certainty about what they can expect when planning their wedding at the Hilton. Interviewing potential clients will therefore also give me insight in what kind of questions people have, and which questions are asked most frequently. I will also answer this research question by brainstorming about possible questions I would have myself when I would plan a wedding, and discussing this with the wedding sales manager to make a summary of the questions that she has been facing the most. After that, we will answer these questions as clear as possible and start thinking about a way to present these questions and answers to potential clients in the best possible way.

Chapter 2 Plan of Approach 

4 Step Plan of Approach Chart

Now that I have my research question ready, I can start thinking about the way I want to do my research to answer them and so to solve the problem of the wedding sales manager. As stated in the previous chapter, I already came up with some ideas to answer the research questions. These ideas will be further explained in this chapter. To make sure that I take the proper steps to find my suitable solution, I made a chart that guides me through the process and clearly shows me my plan of approach making sure the main goal stays in perspective. Please find below the 4 steps Plan of Approach Chart and a short explanation.

Where do you want to be?

This part of the chart and first step in my plan of approach shows me what my goal and objective is. The objective of my research is helping the wedding sales manager with providing clients with information about the Hilton as a wedding venue in a more productive way to save her some precious time. In the end, I want to hand over a product that will be the solution for her by covering the most frequent questions asked by her clients. This product should be created according to the Hilton standards and ready to be used at the business development office.

Where are we now? 

As discussed in the problem description, the situation today is not ideal. The clients that are interested in the Hilton property are asked questions using the wedding checklist (see appendix 1: The Wedding Checklist), which often creates even more questions for them, causing that the potential clients are still left with a lot of uncertainties and questions throughout the booking process. The current situation is not beneficial for both the client and wedding manager: it creates uncertainties and frustration for the client which can influence their decision making process, leads to miscommunications between both parties, and is a very time consuming way of working for the wedding manager.

How will you get there?

The way to achieve my objective is to do inductive research to find the facts around this problem first, and so to come up with the answers to my research questions. The research process will, for example, consist of analysing the SALT responses to gain more knowledge about what the frustrations can be on the side of the clients. Also, I will interview a few potential clients – people who are going to get married soon and are looking for a wedding venue – to see what the clients initially want and value. The needs and wants of clients will always remain the most important factor in the hotel, and actually talking to them will therefore be a very important research approach. Last but not least, I will do a brainstorm session to come up with as much solutions as possible and break this down to come up with the best suitable one for the Hilton.

Key Performance Indicators

The testing period after the implementation of the new product will be crucial to monitor if the product actually solves the problem. For example, the wedding sales managers spends 1.5 hours per week on answering questions of clients right now, and by measuring these hours spend again after the implementation and comparing this will show me if the product makes her work less time consuming. Besides, analysing the daily SALT results in the testing phase of the product and comparing those to the SALT responses before the implementation shows us if the level of satisfaction actually increased. Last but not least, the wedding manager will analyse her e-mails and compare these with the ones she received before she used the product, to see if the communication with clients is perceived as being more efficient than before and if there are less questions coming in from the clients.

Research Methods

The research I will be doing will be an applied research method, as I will be focussing on solving a concrete problem and apply my findings after doing the research directly in the working field. As stated before, I am doing an inductive research approach, as I will answer my research questions instead of testing any hypothesis. My research starts with a problem that needs to be solved rather than an existing product or theory that would need to be questioned. I will be interviewing potential clients and I will analyse the SALT responses of past clients. The interviews will consist of open questions, and will contain questions about what people’s main questions to the weddings sales manager would be and what they value in the way of communication with the manager of a possible wedding venue. This will provide qualitative data, which is data gained by questions that mainly focus on gaining insight in people’s opinion and allows them so explain in their own words what their needs and wants are. The SALT surveys will provide both qualitative and quantitative data, as clients can rate their experiences with a number but are also able to write down some comments if needed.

SWOT Analysis

When looking at the SALT surveys, the questions applicable to the sales department are divided by the 3 main phases the clients goes through when booking a room for their wedding: the selection phase, the contracting phase, and the planning phase. The selection and contracting phase are handled by the sales department which contains finding out the client’s needs and wants, the negotiation phase and finally signing a contract. These two phases are not being done by the wedding sales manager. However, the contract will be handed over to the wedding sales manager during planning phase. During this phase, she works together with all other departments in the hotel to execute the wedding in the best possible way. After analysing the SALT responses of the weddings held at the Hilton over the last few years, I could draw the conclusion that the points of improvement mainly lie in this planning phase. The average rate given to this phase from 2012 till 2018 was a 7.2. The selection phase came to an average of an 8, and the contracting phase was worth a 7.8. Therefore, we can conclude that the weakness of the wedding sales process is the way of planning as every rate lower than an 8,9 or 10 is seen as insufficient at Hilton. People that had negative experiences during the booking process mainly rated the planning phase lower than the selection and book phase. On the other hand, lots of people that filled in the SALT survey where very satisfied about the selection and contracting phase. Both satisfied and unsatisfied clients rated these phased very high, seeing a lot of 8’s, 9’s and 10’s. These two phases can therefore be seen as the strengths of the department.

Also, the clients gave a lot of comments when filling in the survey, something that is very helpful to see what the actual problems occurring during the phases where. After analysing these comments, I wrote down the most frequent mentioned problems, but also the things the clients very much appreciated. The main problems I found in the SALT response where frustrations about a lack of pro-activity of the sales manager in providing information and responding to e-mails of the clients. Something that was also mentioned was that she came across chaotic and that she was late for an appointment. These last two problems could as well be caused by the inefficient way of communication via e-mail, as the communication could be unclear not only for the clients, but also for the manager. On the other side, clients were very content about the communication skills of the wedding manager, as well as her helpfulness.  Clients often called her an amazing person to work with and recognized her many times.

Now that we analysed the SALT responses and found out what the problems are in the opinion of the clients, we can now look at the positive effects solving the problem could have on the business. The opportunities here for the wedding sales manager could be finding out what her clients really want, being able to respond to their questions faster, making the way of working for the manager more efficient, receive higher SALT results which shows us that our performance in the wedding industry is increasing, and so a chance of welcoming new business to the hotel as well as repeating business. Having an amazing experience at the Hilton during a wedding will make guests that attend the wedding as well as the bridal couple interested in the venue for future events. There are also threats when implementing a new way of communicating with clients. This could be that the product does not work out the way we want it to, leading to ongoing repetitiveness, time restraints and inefficiency or it could even increase it, leading to lower SALT responses of the clients and a lower chance of welcoming them again at the Hilton in the future.

The discussed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats above all come together in the SWOT analysis below. This gives us a clear overview of the current situation and what opportunities and threats are important to keep in mind aiming for the best suitable solution.

Findings 

After creating the SWOT analysis, the next step was doing the actual research. I had an interview with potential clients, I analysed the SALT responses of clients in the past and I brainstormed about possible questions I would have myself for a wedding sales manager. The results that came out of this research are the answers to my research questions below.

How are clients provided with information in the current situation? 

Besides the contact via e-mail, there are some other ways in which the wedding sales manager provides the client with information. At first, she sends out an eBrochure. This is a standard electronic brochure with basic information and packages that are available to the guest, sent at the initial point of contact. The second step is sending out an eProposal, which exists of a personalised electronic quote based on individual needs. The eProposal will be sent out once all details of the client have been received. After that, the contract will be created, which is the legal documentation between the hotel and the booking party including all terms and conditions. At last, the wedding sales manager creates and event order. This sheet entails the detailed run sheet of the event and is a clear overview of what the day of the wedding will look like and what the costs are.

How do people value the way of interaction with the wedding sales manager according to the current SALT results?

According to the SALT results form 2012 till 2018, clients rate the way of interaction with the wedding sales manager quite high. The average rate given over these years comes down to a 7.7. This means that the client’s overall level of satisfaction is just sufficient, but there is definitely some room for improvement to lift this average up to a full 8, 9 or even a 10. The phase that needs some more attention, as discussed in the SWOT analysis before, is the planning phase which scored the lowest with a 7.2. Based on the comments of the clients, we can conclude that they are very satisfied about the way their wedding was handled by the wedding sales manager, but that the communication via email frequently takes too long. This problem could be solved by implementing a new product to provide clients with information in a less time consuming way, which will lead to higher SALT scores in the future especially for the planning phase.

What do clients value during the communication with the wedding sales manager?

To find out what potential clients value during the booking phase, I interviewed 5 people I know that have been married recently or are that are currently planning their wedding. The question I asked them where all open question to get a better insight in their opinion.

• What are the most important aspects for you when communicating with the contact person of a wedding venue?

All 5 of the interviewees said that they value a clear and prompt communication, with a person that comes across helpful and is easy with their special demands. Some interviewees stated that they chose for a location that was less appealing to them than the others, just because the communication with the contact person was going so smooth and this made them feel very confident about their decision.

• What do you expect from the contact person you are dealing with?

The interviewees overall expect a contact person to value their needs and wants and to understand them, and so to be willing to do whatever they can to accomplish this for their special day. They also expect them to be prompt and clear with their communication, giving them all of the confidence they need to organize their wedding.

• Did you have any positive and/or negative experiences concerning the communication and what where they?

One interviewee said that she had negative experience with the communication about prices. The prices on the invoice e-mailed to her where 3 times higher than initially communicated with the contact person. This gave her a negative feeling about the location straight away, causing her to choose for another location. Unexpected surprises is something all the interviewees where not satisfied about. Therefore, it is important to give a clear overview of all the important information up front. Another interviewee said that it took the contact person she was dealing with too long to respond to her, with the consequence of having many insecurities and questions left even a few days before the wedding.

• What are the most important questions you would like to get answered for the contact person of the wedding venue?

The answers to this question will be further discussed in below.

What are the main questions clients have when looking for a wedding venue? 

After scanning e-mails with clients, brainstorming about what kind of questions I would have for a wedding venue and interviewing 5 potential clients, the wedding sales manager and I made a list of the most important questions people could possibly have for her (see APPENDIX 2: The Question List). Together we answered these questions and formulated them properly to make sure they are ready to be used for implementation.

Chapter 3 Possible solutions

The outcome of my research showed me how we currently provide clients with important information, what the current level of satisfaction is amongst our clients, what people value in their way of communicating with the wedding sales manager and what the most frequent asked questions are. Having all this information clear, the wedding sales manager and I brainstormed about what the possible solutions are to make sure the booking process will be handled more efficiently in the future. We broke all the ideas down to 3 options that could be a possible solution.

Wedding Check-List

Initially, the wedding check-list had the purpose of getting the needs and wants of the client straight and also to give the clients clear information about the possibilities when booking the Hilton as their wedding venue. While asking the client question about what they are looking for, the client has the possibility to ask the manager questions about all these aspects. In practise, the wedding sales manager concluded that this wedding check-list creates even more questions than that it answers. It is still useful to make an overview of what the actual wedding will look like, but it certainly does not give the clients enough information.

Reducing workload

The other option was to reduce the workload of the wedding sales manager. This could be brought into practise by handing over some incoming weddings to her colleagues. The downside of this idea is that the wedding sales manager is the only one in the sales department that knows everything about handling weddings, meaning that if she would divide her workload, the other colleagues would have to do trainings to get at the same level of knowledge as her. This costs a lot of time and money, and besides, could lead to confusing situations as everyone now would be doing different kind of jobs.  Also, recruiting a second wedding sales manager would be an unnecessary expense compared to the next and final solution.

Wedding FAQ

The last solution was the one we both agreed on as being the best possibility. This entails making a wedding Frequent Asked Question template, covering all of the most frequent asked questions we collected while doing research. This templated will be sent together with the eProposal which together should provide with all of the information the clients require. We chose for this solution because it gives the clients a clear overview which they can refer to whenever they want, giving them the confidence and clarity they want based on our research. It also has no costs and comes across very professional showing clients that the Hilton is experienced with holding weddings at their property.

Chapter 4 Plan of Implementation 

When sending out any type of template to clients, this should be created according to the Hilton standards to create consistency. Therefore, I have spent some time with the marketing manager to turn our Question List into a proper template. She explained to me which kinds of fonts, pictures and programs she uses and what the Hilton standards are. After we all agreed on our final product, it was ready to be sent out with the e-Proposals

(see appendix 3: The Final Product). My recommendation for making sure this wedding FAQ solves the actual problem is to stick to the key performance indicator. As discussed before, the key performance indicator concerning this product would be to measure the level of satisfaction again after 6 months and after 1 year of implementation, and compare this to the measured level of satisfaction before the product was being used. Because there are not enough weddings happening at the Hilton during 6 months, we have to measure it again after 1 year to make sure our conclusion is reliable.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Hilton Hotel Brisbane is doing well according to their wedding events with an average satisfaction level of a 7.7. As only rates above an 8 are seen as sufficient, there was still room left for improvement. We concluded based on my research that the main point of improvement laid in the planning phase, and that both client and the wedding sales manager desire a situation in which the communication between them is clear, efficient and less time-consuming comparing to the current situation. With the created wedding FAQ, our goal is to lift up the level of satisfaction above the 8 and decrease the workload for the wedding sales manager. If this goal can be accomplished with the wedding FAQ will be measured after 6 months and again after a year by calculating the new average level of satisfaction and comparing this to the old one. This key performance indicator will give us the opportunity to conclude if our goal has been achieved, or if further research concerning this topic is required.

Appendices

Appendix 1: The Wedding Checklist

Wedding Details

Reception room:		Reception date:
Attendee’s to date:	Adults_________ Teenagers (13-17yr)__________ Child (4-12)__________ Child (under 4)_________
Reception package:

Bride and Groom Details

	Bride	Groom
Name
contact phone:
contact email:
Mother and father of:	________________ & ________________	_______________ & _______________

Reception Contact Details

	Person 1	Relation to Bride and Groom
Reception contact:
Reception contact phone:
Reception contact email:
Authorised signatories:
MC for the evening:	Phone:

Event Order Details

		Lobby Directory & LCD Room Screens			Menus
Reception Signage		Please provide below:Image to be provided           Yes / No			Please provide below:Image to be provided		Yes / No
Event times *Madison has filled in some recommendations below
Room access (setup)			Entree served
Bridal party arrival			First dance
Guest arrival			Speeches (detailed below)
Pre-dinner drinks			Main served
Doors open			Dessert served
Guests seated			Tea and coffee served
Orders taken (if required)			Beverage’s conclu Bride and groomdeparts	de party
Bridal party introduction			Bride and groom departs	party
Cake cutting/sparkling toast			Reception concludes
Speeches (alternatively run sheet can be provided)
Please advise if there is to be discreet or no service during any meal times or speeches

Appendix 2: The Question List

Questions I would ask the wedding venue

Basic room info

• What rooms are available for a wedding?

This would depend on the number of guests attending and the vision you have for your wedding day. We have rooms that fit 14 guests through to 500 guests. Our Queens Ballroom is the most popular room hired for weddings which can fit up to 140 guests.

• Are there any pictures of those rooms to get a first impression?

Yes, we do have photos of our rooms available as well as a virtual tour of the hotel. However, we do suggest viewing the spaces in person as sometimes, depending on the theming in the room, the photo may not be an accurate representation of the space. 

• What dates are the rooms available?

This would depend on the date you would like to have your wedding. We do suggest having a second date preference as well in case your preferred date is not available.

• How many people will fit in the rooms?

We select a function room based on the number of guests you are expecting at the time of your initial enquiry. We are happy to work with you should your numbers increase/decrease and will keep you up to date on maximum capacities of the room as well.

• What are the rental costs of the room and what is exactly included in this price?

Our rooms are hired based on a minimum number of guests based on the selected wedding package. This means, there is a certain amount you need to spend on catering in order to avoid room hire costs. If you do not reach this minimum spend, the difference is simply charged as room hire.

• For how long can I use the room?

We are happy to work with your timeline pending availability of the room. Our liquor license does conclude at midnight and therefore most events finish by this time.

• Can the room be setup a day prior so I have enough time to decorate?

If you require the room a day prior to the wedding for styling requirements, there will be a room hire fee involved should you wish to guarantee access at that time. However, if you do not need to guarantee the earlier access time we are happy to advise, 1 week out from the wedding, if the room is available the day prior and we can give access complimentary.

• Can you provide a stage and other music equipment?

Stage pieces and a dance floor are included in the hire of the room complimentary. A standard lectern and microphone with access to the house speakers is also included in the wedding packages. These speakers however are better suited for speeches, and we find that your DJ or Band will have their own music equipment.

• What time does the music has to stop?

The only noise restrictions apply to our Pool Terrace. As this is an outdoor space with guest rooms directly above, the music is required to cease by 22:00. Also, there can only be acoustic music in this space. The other spaces have less restrictions, however our team reserve the right to manage noise levels at any time should this start to impact guests of the hotel.

• What can I change in the room and what do I have to leave as I found it?

Nothing can be applied to our walls. We do have rigging points in our ceilings which can be used to hang decorations such as chandeliers and draping etc. 

• What kinds of setups are possible in the room?

A typical wedding setup involves a stage with dance floor, bridal party on the stage and ‘oval’ tables. However we are happy to work with you on the vision you have for your wedding day regarding the setups of the room. 

• Can you provide name tags for my table setting?

As certain decoration items such as name tag & bonbonnieres are so personal to each couple the hotel does leave this up to the bridal couple to arrange.

• Can you provide a seating plan?

We are happy to print your chosen seating plan that you provide to us on A3 paper and display on a pin board outside of the room for your guests to view.

Payment info 

• What does the payment plan look like?

We are happy to work on a payment plan that suits the bridal couple. We do require a minimum of 20% on signing and the full amount owed must be paid prior to the wedding day.

• What does the cancellation policy look like?

This will be reflected in your contract and is calculated based on the amount of time between signing the contract and the date of the wedding.

• If we want to stay longer in the room, would that be possible?

Yes, however there is a fee involved if staying passed the pre-arranged contracted finish time and liquor service will still cease at midnight.

• What are the costs of a suite?

As the bridal couple have a complimentary accommodation room included in the wedding package, the cost to upgrade to a suite on this night is $430.00. Additional nights will be offered at the advertised rate.

• Can we get a discount when we invite more guests on the room rental price?

As additional guests mean additional food, drink and additional labour costs, there is not a reduced rate for inviting additional guests.

• If we spend our honeymoon at the Hilton elsewhere, can we get a discount for this?

No, however as part of your spend on the wedding you will earn membership reward points with Hilton Honors which can be used towards complimentary or reduced rate stay. These points however can take a number of weeks to process following receipt of final payment for the event.

About the location

• What time can I arrive on the location on the wedding day?

At the room set-up or accommodation check-in time. If your guests arrive early they are most welcome to enjoy a drink in our Vintaged Bar.

• Is there a service for coats/handbags and who is responsible for this?

Our concierge team are happy to assist with coats and bags where necessary, or you can book a second room as a ‘cloak room’. However the hotel does not take responsibility for this property.

• What kind of decoration can the hotel provide?

As we find decorations are very personal to the bridal couple, the hotel provides the standard necessities. These include white linen table cloths and napkins, chair covers with a sash of your choice as well as tea light candles for the table.

• Is there any signage available to direct the guest to the location?

Yes, we have digital signage around the hotel that can direct guests to your function room.

• Can the guests welcome the bride and groom in front of the hotel when they arrive?

As most bridal couples like to make a special entrance after their guests have been seated, the guests will be directed to the function floor on arrival.

• When can deliveries be sent to the hotel?

Deliveries can be accepted up to 5 days prior to the event. However most bridal couples choose to personally deliver items the day before the wedding.

• How many staff members will be present during the day and what will their tasks be?

This will be dependent on the number of guests at your wedding. Each Wedding will have a dedicated supervisor leading an event team on the day of your wedding.

• Can we arrange our own staff?

The Hilton Team specialise in our venue and equipment and therefore we do not use outside labour hire

• Who is responsible for any damage/incidents during the day?

The person listed as signatory on the contract is responsible for payment of any damages incurred

• Where can the guests park and what are the costs for this?

The hotel has a limited number of valet spaces at the hotel which are a cost of $58.00 per car. The hotel does also have direct access to the Wintergarden Car Park owned by Secure Parking. You do have three complimentary valet car parks included in your wedding packages which you can allocate as needed.

• Is there any place available for changing clothes?

The accommodation room would be best suited for this, however you are most welcome to hire an additional function room as a ‘change room’.

• Is there another event happening on my wedding day and will that interrupt our wedding?

Whilst there may be other events happening in the hotel at the time of your wedding, our function floor has been designed to cater for multiple events at once with limited to nil disruptions.

• Is there a special place available to make pictures (indoor/outside)?

Yes, our public spaces within the hotel are available for your wedding photos. This includes our concierge area, our lobby floor and our Pool Terrace if the bridal couple are staying in the hotel.

• Are there any facilities for kids?

You are most welcome to book an additional function room and baby sitter should this be your preferred option.

• Will the manager be at the location during the wedding?

Your event will have a dedicated supervisor and there is always a manager on duty.

• What kinds of suppliers does Hilton work with?

Depending on your requirements and vision for your wedding day, the Hilton have numerous suppliers that may be able to assist with your needs.

About catering

• Can I provide my own beverages/food or hire a catering company?

The Hilton provided all catering services for your event. The only thing you need to provide will be your wedding cake from a reputable supplier and accompanied with a waiver form.

• Can we add any food/beverage items during the day if needed?

Our event menu is ordered and supplied on a per event basis, based on the number of guests confirmed for your event no later than 3 days prior. 

• Does the Hilton provide cakes as well?

Yes, however we do not specialise in wedding cakes and recommend ordering from a reputable supplier

• What if I want one special dish to be served during the wedding, is that possible?

We are very happy to collaborate with our chef and the bridal couple to design a menu that fits the vision you have for your wedding day. 

• Can you arrange special wines to be served during the wedding?

We are happy to liaise with our suppliers to see if we can offer the specific wine you are after. If we are not able to arrange, we are happy for you to bring along for a corkage fee.

• Can I bring an extra person to the menu tasting?

We offer a complimentary menu tasting for the bride and groom – 2 items per course. Additional guests are welcome to attend or additional items can be arranged to be tasted at the standard menu cost.

Is there any special dish available for entertainment/photographer?  The hotel can arrange crew meals for your suppliers.

Financial Report

Introduction

A hotel consists of many departments, which all have their own incomes and expenses. In the end, the most important thing for all these departments is to make revenue. During my internship, I realized how complicated it can be to keep track of all these numbers and actually make sense out of them. All these incomes and expenses of a business come together in the P&L statement, which I chose as my main focus for my financial report. How do all these incomes and expenses of all the departments in a hotel come together? What does a real P&L statement consist of? What team members are involved in making a P&L statement? And what information can the P&L give us to improve the hotel performance? These were the main questions I was asking myself, and the reason why I chose to analyse the P&L of the Hilton Hotel Brisbane (see appendix 1: The P&L Statement).

Objective

Making a P&L statement was in my opinion the most difficult part of my management week at the NHTV. Because I think that understanding the P&L and so to analyse business performance is crucial, I wanted to improve my knowledge about this while making this report. The objectives of this report therefore are mainly to gain more knowledge about the P&L statement of a real business and what is exists of, to learn how to analyse a financial statement and to draw relevant conclusions based on the key performance indicator of a company. To gain this knowledge, I had meetings with the finance manager who helped me analysing a P&L with me and explained what her role is in making the P&L statement.

Description

The P&L of a company is basically a summary of the expenses and incomes of a company that result in a profit or loss. Hilton’s P&L consists of the following sections:

        –     Income 

The incomes from the Hilton come from their rooms, Food & Beverages, OOD and other income. The OOD contains for example the income generated from the WiFi which the Hilton sells, call fees for the phones that are placed in the guest’ rooms, fees for watching movies in your room and parking costs. The income at placed in the ‘others’ section is income which is not directly linked to a specific department.

        –     Costs 

The costs of the hotel consist of 3 sections: the costs of sales, payroll, other expenses. The cost of sales are the food costs, team member food costs, beverage costs, the OOD and again the ‘F&B others’ section. This ‘F&B others’ section contains for example the flowers that the Hilton receives every day, the chair covers and AV costs. The payroll contains costs for staff members, divided in the rooms, F&B and OOD department. Finally, the other expenses are cleaning and operating supplies, covering the rooms, F&B and OOD departments as well.

        –     Operating Department Profit

This part of the P&L shows how much profit each of the departments make. This can be very helpful when analysing the P&L to see which department needs extra support. The gross operating income is the operating profit of all the departments together.

        –     Non- operated departments

The non- operated departments section are costs for doing business, without gaining direct revenue from doing so. It is a costs centre instead of a revenue creating centre but still necessary to run the hotel. These are the hotel administration costs, costs for human resources, information Systems, Marketing, POMEC and Energy costs. I found it rather strange that the marketing department was a part of the non-operated departments section, but this is because marketing is not generating any revenue like F&B and rooms do. The POMEC part is the engineering, which is also a supporting department. When we subtract the total undistributed operated expenses from the gross operating income, we get the gross operation profit, better known as the GOP.

        –     Fixed costs 

The last costs that we subtract from the GOP are the Rental and Owners Return,

Depreciation and Amortisation, and Other Additions/Deductions. The Owners Return means that we rent the building but that it is managed and belongs to the brand Hilton, which we have to pay. The others sections can be an income or an expense, depending on if you for example sell assets, pay bank fees, have had no shows, have had an exchange rate difference or other miscellaneous costs or expenses that need to be taken into account as well. Finally, if we subtract these fixed costs from the GOP, we get the Hilton Net Income. The last item on the P&L is the Hilton EBITDA (earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization), which is the GOP minus the Rental & Owners Return so excluding the Depreciation & Amortisation.

Analysis

The Hilton also makes a summary of the P&L, consisting of the Key Performance Indicators (see appendix 2: KPI’s). These show the profit made by every profit generating department expressed in a percentage, and also shows the increase or decrease of the actual percentage to the numbers of last year and the planned percentage. This makes it very easy for the finance manager to compare the Hilton’s performance with the previous year, and so to conclude what is going better and what needs some extra attention. One of the things that stood out to me while analysing the KPI’s, is that the F&B profit % is 13.37% lower than last year, which is quite a lot. The total covers served and the average food check are both lower this year than last year, and the food, beverage and payroll expenses where lower last year compared to this year. On the other hand, the Rooms department is doing a better job. The profit % increased with 3.20 % compared to last year and is 0.63% higher than the planned profit for this department.

InterpretationF&B Profit

The F&B profit % this year is 13,37% lower than last year, which is quite a significant difference. One of the percentages that could be a possible reason for this that stands out the most to me is the increase in F&B payroll expenses. This is 9,76% higher than last year, which could be because of over staffing or that the hired employees this year are more expensive than last year due to their age or title. It could also be that more staff members worked at night, which is more expensive for the Hilton than hiring employees during the day. To me, overstaffing is the most obvious reason because of the decrease in the total covers served compared to last year as well. This means that there were less guests in the F&B outlets, while the payroll expenses increased which means that overstaffing of the F&B could be a possible problem. Another number that could be a reason for the decrease in F&B profit, is the average food check which decreased with $2,99 compared to last year. This has to do with upselling in the F&B outlets to make sure guests order a higher quantity or food and beverage items with a higher profit margin. $2,99 sounds like a small difference, but if all 26,158 covers served in the F&B would have a higher check of $2,99, this could make a very big difference.

Rooms Profit 

The Rooms profit % increased compared to the percentage of last year and the planned percentage. The reasons for this are that the occupancy rate increased, as well as the average room rate compared to the decrease in payroll expenses for this department. One of the most outstanding items in the summary is the revenue per available room, which is $20.36 higher than last year: this is quite a significant difference.  When I look at the Rooms Income on the P&L, it shows me that the OOD increased compared to last year with $17,469. Because the OOD exists of the Wi-Fi fees, call fees and movies fees that are only used in the rooms, this increase can be one of the reasons for the increase in the revenue per available room. Also, the average room rate decreased with $13,50, which could have made the rooms more attractive to the potential guests and could be a reason for the increase of 330,841 of room revenue and why the occupancy % increased with 4.36% of the available rooms, as more people booked a room at the Hilton this year.

Conclusion and Recommendation

F&B Profit

After analysing the numbers of the F&B profit % and comparing these with last year, I can conclude that the main problem concerns the staff in the outlets because of the high payroll expenses compared to the decreased of the average food check. What I would recommend, is to focus more on quality over quantity in the F&B concerning the staff members. This means that it could be more profitable to decrease the scheduled staff members, which will decrease the payroll expenses, and meanwhile to make a bigger effort to train the staff members more on their upselling competences to increase the average checks of the guests. When the average checks increase and the payroll expenses decrease, the F&B profit % will eventually rise.

Rooms Profit 

Based on my analysis of the Rooms profit %, I can conclude that the Rooms department is doing very well compared to both last year and the plan. There were more rooms occupied, the average room rate increased as well as the revenue per available room, and the payroll expenses decreased per occupied room. On the other hand, there is always room for improvement. The ‘other expenses’ section per occupied room, for example, was $2.85 higher than last year. This means that staff has to be more careful with the amount supplies they use per room, for example with their cleaning supplies, to bring down this number again. What could also be a reason, is that the laundry costs per room increased due to the purchase of new materials. One example is that the Hilton purchased new beds which could also be a reason for the expense increase per room.