A Platform for All Seasons

By Grace Freeman, Percipient

As the festive season approaches, hotels will not only be decking the halls, but also rolling out the strategies and promotions which have been carefully planned throughout the previous 11 months.

Seasonality offers a significant opportunity to enhance profitability and counterbalance quieter trading periods. Yet as markets become harder to predict and incessant change continues to shape the sector, making the most of this opportunity remains a challenge for hotel CFOs.

Whether it’s the summer holiday rush, Valentine’s Day getaways, or the busy Christmas–New Year period, hotel CFOs need accurate data and agile financial insights to refine strategies and optimise performance when it matters most.

Modern Tools for Modern Demands

One thing is clear: consolidating intelligence across the many variables that influence hospitality peaks and troughs is almost impossible with legacy systems, spreadsheets or manual processes. And CFOs relying on outdated tools are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk, flying blind in the face of a perfect storm.

Whether you operate a single boutique hotel or a large multi-site group, a well-orchestrated seasonal strategy can unlock significant revenue uplift across multiple channels, including room types and themes, restaurants and bars, spa and leisure packages, and events. Managed well, it can represent a powerful lever for profitability.

Managed poorly, however, it can lead to cash leakage, missed opportunities and even reputational damage.

Sage Intacct accommodates this variability, providing a meaningful like-for-like seasonal view without the need for manual adjustments. Sage Intacct also supports trend analysis, so McKeever’s team can examine typical food and beverage spend per occupied room and set tolerance ranges to identify when guest spending is above or below expectations, and the impact of seasonality on these numbers.

Victoria Walton, Director of Finance, explains:

When it comes to tracking demand, if we know wedding bookings are lower than capacity or expectations, we can launch promotions on corporate hospitality packages to offset this. And in a world where change is ever more present, this capability represents a massive competitive advantage for us.

How Sage Intacct Helps Hotels Manage Seasonality

• Real-Time Visibility in Key Hotel Metrics – Dashboards and reports highlight hospitality-specific KPIs such as RevPAR, labour-to-sales ratios and occupancy. These insights enable rapid decision-making, whether it concerns staffing, pricing, or cost structure adjustments.
• Improved Forecasting and Budgeting – Sage Intacct and Sage Intacct Planning replace fragile spreadsheets with dynamic, data-rich forecasting tools. This supports more refined, granular and accurate planning to underpin seasonal peaks and troughs.
• Multi-Entity Consolidation – Sage Intacct’s multi-entity architecture delivers a fast, accurate, group-level view of performance. Finance teams can identify underperforming sites, replicate successful strategies across properties, and maintain a consistent seasonal planning approach.
• Seamless Integrations Across Hotel Systems – Integrations with core third-party systems such as property management, EPOS, payroll and CRM ensure real-time visibility, which is crucial in understanding seasonal patterns and P&L.
• Automation – Automated AP, reconciliations and inter-entity processes allow finance teams to focus on seasonal strategy and promotions rather than repetitive administration tasks.
• Standardised Hotel Accounting – A lodging-specific solution based on USALI supports consistent structures and reporting across properties and seasons.
• Enhanced Visualisation – Simple dashboards and reports deliver the right insights to the right people, enabling teams to identify trends and communicate seasonal insights effectively.
• Scalability for Growth – When hotel groups expand or add new properties, Sage Intacct seamlessly incorporates new entities and locations. This ensures seasonal best practices can be replicated without rebuilding systems or reports.
• Faster, More Efficient Month-End – Reduced close times deliver timelier data, enabling hotels to respond faster to seasonal shifts.
• KPI Tracking – Measure success across seasonal campaigns, cross-selling opportunities and staffing strategies.

Seasonality Doesn’t Have to Be a Guessing Game

If you’re ready to turn real-time insights into genuine competitive advantage, we’re here to help. Get in touch to book a discovery call, and let’s explore how Sage Intacct can enhance your seasonal strategy, strengthen performance, and unlock new opportunities for your hotel.