When preparing the first edition of the Uniform System of Accounts for Hotels in 1926, the Hotel Association of New York City set out to establish a uniform “responsibility accounting system” for the lodging industry. This dictum recognizes that one of the main purposes of the hotel operating statement is to provide a logical presentation of hotel revenues and expenses that enables management to act upon the interpretation of the data.

To serve as an effective management tool, the operating statement should present the revenues and expenses that are most critical to the operation of the subject hotel. In-depth tracking of complimentary breakfast expenses is important for management at a limited-service hotel, while expansive resorts will have detailed sub-schedules for their golf and spa operations.

The evolution of the lodging industry also influences the data presented in a hotel operating statement. Ice (for refrigeration) could be found as a prominent expense item in the food and beverage department during the early 20th century. Recently, in preparation of the 10th edition of the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI), accommodation was made for contemporary items such as Internet revenue and e-commerce expenses.

For the past 72 years, PKF Consulting has been collecting and processing hotel operating statistics for our annual Trends in the Hotel Industry report. Like the USALI, we routinely update the financial benchmarking data captured in our database based on input from our clients and the readers of our reports.

For our 2008 Trends in the Hotel Industry survey, PKF Consulting has added several new revenue and expense items. In the following paragraphs, we present some of these new statistics that reflect recent operating trends, as well as current accounting standards.

F&B Revenue Sources