Minimum wage is also a “fixed expense” by acting as a baseline, or “floor” for wage calculations. By lobbying together with your local hotel association to making legislatures and the administration aware of the problem, management can contribute to reducing this expense. The limits are high, the definition of injuries, the time limits and the bureaucracy all contribute to higher expenses than the surrounding states. In many places, the regulations have created a burdensome system. We had one workers compensation claim for an employee who tripped over a cat on the way to her car. Remember, even an injury sustained while walking out to their car can result in an accepted workers compensation claim. Any claims must be managed aggressively to keep the insurer’s outlay to a minimum by getting the person back to the work force as soon as possible and monitoring payments to object to unnecessary treatment. Records of previous losses must be reviewed and action taken, either through staff training, physical changes in the hotel or in methods of accomplishing tasks. Next, management should ensure that workers compensation insurance is being bought from the least expensive source available to a particular hotel.Īnother factor affecting workers compensation insurance is a particular location’s claims experience. The most obvious is to ensure that all employees are properly classified because different classifications have different insurance rates applied to them. Workers compensation insurance, in countries where it is required, can be attacked from several directions. Real estate taxes should be examined every three or four years, depending upon local circumstances.
Both can be retained on a fee or contingency basis. In addition to HVS Property Tax Services there are lawyers who specialize in this area of the law. In a simple case, much of the work can be done by management. If the assessments are apparently unfairly high and the assessor does not agree, management, with the owner’s approval, can begin the appeals process. In areas where there are personal property taxes, the system works much the same way. S/he will answer questions, ask for more information and possibly lower the assessment. If they appear to be unfairly high relative to the competition and the hotel’s circumstances, management can, at a minimum, sit down with the tax assessor and discuss the issue. By researching other hotels’ assessments at the county offices and understanding their calculations, management can begin to ascertain whether the taxes assessed their particular hotel are relatively fair or not.
Real estate tax assessments, their calculations and their payment are a matter of public record. This is also true of management company incentive fees. One way an owner can enhance these key employees’ interest in these expenses is to make their incentive pay tied to the owner’s real profitability. General Managers and Comptrollers (management) should not divorce themselves from these issues any more than an owner would. There are simply some expenses which take longer to reduce than others! Many of these are the same ones that should be controlled by planning and negotiation when the acquisition or development is planned. There are very few costs that are actually uncontrollable in a hotel. While not classified as fixed expenses payroll taxes, unemployment insurance and other benefits – both those discretionary to the operation and those which are mandated by government regulation – are commonly thought of as fixed expenses by many hoteliers. Other items that might appear there are equipment leases and miscellaneous costs that an operator or manager dismisses as out their control. This section includes items such as rent, real estate taxes, personal property taxes, building and contents insurance, interest expense, depreciation and amortization. I firmly believe that General Managers and Comptrollers created the former title for two reasons: Either owners handled the items bundled in there or General Manger and Comptrollers didn’t want to assume responsibility for the items they placed there. Before the 11th Edition of the Uniform System it was known as Fixed Expenses. Somewhere on most hotel financial statements, usually towards the bottom, is a major heading called Non-Operating Income and Expense.
0 kommentar(er)
