Any trip up and down the Georgia highways reveals the many hotels and motels available for patron use.  Many are small "single property" motels and others are large hotels that are one of many properties belonging to a common owner.  Each hotel, big or small, has a common set of financial accounting and reporting challenges requiring experienced and professional advisory services are often needed.

Some of the common issues encountered by such property owners may include:

• Internal audit.  The lodging census must be accounted for an a daily basis.  Often times the number of employees working at the front desk may be very few or even singular.  Having the appropriate internal controls couples with a meaningful, well-designed internal audit function is crucial to minimizing losses from calculation errors and is one of the key deterrents to management fraud. 
  
• Use taxes.  Almost all taxing districts employ a Hotel/Motel tax system to supplement its general fund.  These taxes are unique to the lodging industries and, coupled with state and local sales taxes, can be a complicated reporting task.
  
• Franchise agreements.  Most likely your hotel and motel properties are already part of a larger regional or national franchise.  Or, perhaps you have accumulated a number of properties that are not franchised but for which a franchise opportunity may develop.  Franchise agreements are varied and can be complex or cumbersome.  Utilizing experienced and professional advisory services in developing your franchise agreements or in complying with an existing agreement will go a long way to minimizing franchise cost and maximizing franchise income.
  
• Financial reporting.  The effectiveness and efficiency of dealing with any of the above issues is greatly impacted by the design and implementation of your company's financial accounting and reporting systems.  There are a number of specialized software packages to aid in this process though they can often be cost prohibitive if not properly deployed.  We can help you decide if specialized software is warranted and how to adapt it to your business.

Our group of professionals have valuable experience in the hotel and motel industry not only as advisors to our clients, but also as owners and key management in hotel ventures.   Please contact us to see how we can assist in your hotel & motel business endeavors.