Press Releases

BAHA is delighted to announce that it is forming its first ever ‘Hospitality Revenue Management Community Committee’, to provide a major forum for debate, education, and generally raising the profile of the evolving discipline of ‘Revenue Management’ within the UK hospitality profession.

The new BAHA ‘Hospitality Revenue Management Community’ (HRMC) Committee will include Warren Mandelbaum, Head of Revenue Management, Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants; Heather Hart, Director of RevExcel; Patricia Griffin, Regional Revenue Manager – Provincial, Travelodge; and Jennifer Keen, Director, Total Revenue Solutions.

The HRMC Committee, currently in the process of ratification by the BAHA Council, is in response to industry demand and the growing importance of the evolving practice of ‘Revenue Management’ within the UK hospitality industry – which is proving its worth as a discipline within hospitality management for addressing the challenges posed by the current difficult trading conditions.

Revenue Management is a technique to optimise revenues from a fixed, but perishable inventory. The challenge for revenue managers, specifically in hotels, is to sell the right rooms to the right customer at the right time for the right price. The role of the Revenue Manager (RM) is still evolving and developing. The ‘RM’ is often the link/middle-person, providing the relevant intelligence upon which clever decisions are made, between the finance and the sales and marketing departments – asking key questions such as: how can I mitigate the downturn in the low season; or how can I maximise revenue in the peak season?

Commenting on the formation of the BAHA HRMC Committee, BAHA Chief Executive Carl Weldon explains: “We are delighted about the formation of the new BAHA committee. At this early fragile stage in the nation’s economic recovery, the introduction of this BAHA committee is timely – driving a BAHA priority objective of providing a community for discussion and education about ‘Revenue Management’, whilst raising its profile, within the UK hospitality industry.

“BAHA will support Revenue Management through specific events and forums – devised and organised by the new Committee – where BAHA members and non-members alike can learn more through enhancing their knowledge and technique, with regard to all aspects of ‘best practice’ revenue management, whilst additionally benefiting from the knowledge shared. These events will also give our hospitality IT members and community generally, involved in developing the latest hospitality revenue management-related technology, the opportunity to come together with Revenue Managers and industry leaders to discuss the implications of the latest techniques and required technological advances.

The winner of the prestigious British Association of Hospitality Accountants (BAHA) ‘Hospitality Accountant of the Year 2009’ award is Andy Thomas, Group Financial Controller, Red Carnation Hotels. In the presence of 258 guests at the 2009 BAHA Annual Christmas Awards Luncheon – held 17th December 2009 at Radisson Edwardian’s The May Fair Hotel in Stratton Street, London –Andy Thomas was presented with his award by BAHA President David Cook, Chief Executive Carl Weldon; and Chairman of the Association’s Revenue Management Forum Michael Prager, who was also guest speaker at the event.

Nominations for this category, put forward by Members of BAHA to the BAHA Council, had to have: an exemplary track record; be willing to train and lead their staff; be totally dedicated to the hospitality industry, with the intention of remaining in the profession; demonstrate strong attention to detail; keep abreast of current codes of practice; and command respect within the hospitality sector and wider business community.

2009 BAHA Company Awards for commitment to training

In recognition of outstanding commitment in promoting and developing financial education in the hospitality industry, the BAHA ‘Corporate Employer of the Year 2009’ was awarded to Principal Hayley Hotels and Conference Venues; and the BAHA ‘Individual Property Employer of the Year’ was won by the Lancaster London hotel, also in the capital. BAHA Chairman Paul Dukes presented Carole Taylor – Group Operations Financial Controller, Principal Hayley Hotels and Conference venues; and Stephanie Timsit – Finance Controller, Lancaster London, with cut-glass trophies. Nominees in this category had to actively promote and sponsor education and development; operate a monitoring scheme; have a written education and development policy; and recognise and reward success and achievement.

2009 BAHA ETP education awards, including ‘BAHA Student of the Year’ The BAHA Education and Training Programme (ETP) is the entry route to Associate membership of BAHA for new and inexperienced finance personnel in the industry. The programme provides learning and skills development for aspiring hospitality accounting professionals wishing to gain the skills and knowledge required to manage hospitality finance divisions, or gain an understanding of the accounting function of a hospitality unit. The 3-stage blended learning programme, studied over three-6-month periods, provides the flexibility for accounts personnel to fit their learning around their busy working day. Stage 1 is an introduction to Financial Accounting; Stage 2 is Operational Management Accounting; and Stage 3 is Strategic Management Accounting.

At the luncheon, BAHA recognised the outstanding student successes in the three stages of the ETP programme. The top student award – the coveted ‘BAHA Overall Student of the Year Award 2009’ – went to Gary McQueen, Cluster Finance Manager with Jarvis Hotels at the Ramada Ayr Hotel, Ayr, Scotland. ETP September 2008 Stage 2 winner in ‘Operational Management Accounting’, Gary was presented with his top student award – a cut-glass trophy and certificate – by BAHA’s Head of Administration and Education Debra Adams and Education Committee Chairman Paul Mitchell, who also gave him a voucher for attending the 2010 BAHA Annual Conference.

Cash prizes and certificates were then given to the top students in each of the BAHA ETP categories, studied in both September 2008 and February 2009, by Debra Adams, Paul Mitchell and members of BAHA’s Education Committee: Cathy Burgess and Sarah Dovey. The recipients of the awards, based on the results of the September 2008 ETP examinations, were: for Stage 1 in ‘Introductory Financial Accounting’ – Branko Milovanovic, Food and Beverage Cost Controller, Brown’s Hotel, London; for Stage 3 in ‘Strategic Management Accounting’ – Felicity Wan, Finance Executive at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai.

The winners, based on the results of the February 2009 ETP examinations, were: for Stage 1 – Nora Miczak, Hotel Accountant, Crowne Plaza Marlow, Marlow, Buckinghamshire; for Stage 2 – Fabien Ecard, Financial Controller, London-based Castlechain Ltd (including Bleeding Heart restaurants); and for Stage 3 – Alberto Osorio Ruiz, Income Auditor, Hilton London Metropole hotel.

A new guide that will add significant value to hotel management accounting by providing an industry standard for the implementation of Customer Profitability Analysis (CPA) in the international hotel sector, was published and launched at the 3rd BAHA Annual Conference and Technology Exhibition, held at the Sofitel London Heathrow.

At the two-day event on 'Managing to Sustain Future Profitability', the new BAHA guide - entitled 'Recommended Practice Guide: Developing Customer Profitability Analysis (CPA) for Hotels' - was officially presented to conference delegates on the opening afternoon by the two people responsible for the body of work leading to its publication: Professor Peter Harris and Dr Vira Krakhmal, from the Business School: Department of Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management at Oxford Brookes University.

What are the benefits of the CPA model to the international hotel sector? Professor Harris explained that for management accounting to add value to the business decision-making process, the information presented should be perceived to have relevance to the decision maker. To be seen to be relevant, the information should reflect both the decision-maker's responsibilities, together with the nature of the product and/or service to which the information relates.

"Whilst, to the observer," he commented, "this may seem to be obvious, all too frequently this is far from what actually happens in the business situation where, for instance, management accounting functions are seen to be 'producer', rather than 'consumer', focused and therefore falling short of decision makers' expectations."

He cited a particular case in point - the mismatch of information that exists in the hospitality industry, where established international hotel accounting systems emphasise the collection and analysis of financial information by 'department', whilst managers are making decisions by 'market (customer) segment'.

Dr Vira Krakhmal's PhD research was, therefore, aimed at unravelling the practical complexities of implementing activity-based costing for customer profitability purposes. The development and evaluation of the model was achieved by using a constructive case study of a full-service four-star hotel business.

"The direct benefit of customer profitability analysis in this study lies in the insight into the uneven distribution of costs and profits over customer groups," said Dr Krakhmal, who added that the customer profitability analysis research had prompted learning on three different levels:

• On the first and most basic level, the study uncovered what each customer's contribution had been to the firm's operating profit and how this information could be used for cost management through activity-based cost analysis, revenue management, and marketing management.
• Second, the study provided detailed description of how revenues and costs are best assigned to individual customers. It is anticipated that the first attempt described in this research is only the start of a continuous improvement of such allocation methods.
• Third, the case-study in the hotel provided knowledge about the various factors that determine the value of each individual customer - such as customer profitability.

The final draft of the new BAHA guide was recently approved by a specialist BAHA CPA Technical Committee led by Chris Upton. The publication represents the culmination of an industry-funded PhD programme - sponsored by Corinthia Hotels International, De Vere Group, Kempinski Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Moat House Hotels, Mövenpick Hotels and Rezidor Hotel Group - as well as subsequent funding for the transformation of the doctoral thesis into a professional practice guide, sponsored by the Dorchester Hotel Group, Hilton international, InterContinental Hotel Group and Raffles-Swissôtel Hotel & Resorts.

Professor Harris stated that particular recognition and thanks for the success of the research leading to the guide's publication should go to Knut Kleiven, Chief Financial Officer of the Rezidor Hotel Group, who not only part-funded the project, but also provided wide ranging access for the detailed data collection stage of the constructive case study.

"The work and subsequent BAHA practice guide not only demonstrate the mutual benefits of collaboration between academia and industry, as well as the commercial value of applied research, but also represent an exemplary example of the best of 'research to practice'," said BAHA Chief Executive Carl Weldon.

In addition, Carl commented that "special acknowledgement should go to Dr Vira Krakhmal whose research and development work resulted in the CPA model and the preparation of the practice guide under the expert supervision of Professor Harris at Oxford Brookes University". He added that the success of the project was also due in no small measure to senior BAHA members - Howard Field who encouraged the original idea of developing a segmentation accounting system for hotels; and Ian Graham who provided the arena for raising the funding.

The cost of the new BAHA practice guide is £35 (exclusive of VAT, postage and packaging) and is now available from the BAHA Administration Office, on telephone: 01202 889 430; fax: 01202 887 967; or email: admin@baha-uk.org .