A useful performance review connects a change in the numbers to an operational decision. Establish what changed, investigate the explanation, assess the impact and choose an action that supports your property’s goals.
Choose the investigation that fits the question
| What you are seeing | Start here |
|---|---|
| Revenue is above Forecast but workload productivity is lower | Understanding productivity when revenue and workload differ |
| Figures are missing, unexpected or inconsistent with the source | Checking data reliability before making decisions |
| Planned staffing differs from expected demand or service needs | Reviewing staffing against demand and service requirements |
| Revenue growth is not producing the expected profit improvement | Investigating forecast deviations and profit conversion |
Use a repeatable coaching routine
Spot: identify the most relevant change or upcoming decision for your role. Check: confirm the data, comparison and likely explanation. Act: agree a feasible operational response. Follow up: review whether the action was completed and whether the intended result occurred.
Use the routine at different time horizons. Evaluate completed periods against the agreed Forecast and relevant historical baseline. Manage the current month using actuals to date and the remaining outlook. Plan future months against the agreed Goal and realistic operating assumptions. Use longer-term patterns to review how the operation works, rather than reacting only to yesterday’s variance.
Before starting, confirm the hotel’s relevant modules, departments, Goal, operating dates, routine deadlines and responsible managers. Use the agreed client routine where it differs from a generic example. Confirm missing information with the responsible manager. Access rights or a blank report do not tell you who owns a task or whether the setup is complete.
Start with the right comparison
Confirm the property, department, period, units and comparison shown in the view. Month-to-date actuals answer a different question from a full-period outlook. Keep Forecast, Live forecast, Target and SMART comparisons distinct and use the labels supplied by the report.
Check any relevant warnings before interpreting a variance. A missing value is not zero, and a recent refresh does not by itself establish that every source is complete. Normal reporting may include yesterday’s actuals imported today.
Separate the observation from the explanation
An observation describes the evidence: for example, planned hours exceed the staffing reference for the same period. An explanation identifies the driver, such as changed demand, fixed operating duties or a planning assumption. Treat an explanation as a possibility until supporting evidence is available.
Ask which additional check would distinguish the possible causes. For a productivity gap, that might mean comparing workload and productive hours. For a revenue gap, it might mean examining volume, average rate and business mix.
Choose an action that fits the objective
The HOD or cockpit owner reviews departmental workload, hours and service coverage. The revenue manager or assigned Live Forecast owner reviews demand assumptions and communicates material changes before HODs finalise schedules. The GM agrees property priorities, resolves dependencies and reviews exceptions. The controller checks definitions, reconciles figures and validates financial assumptions. Portfolio leaders need comparable property results and a clear decision for each hotel’s leadership. Confirm the actual assignment at the property; a job title or permission alone does not establish ownership.
The objective matters. Protecting service during a demand increase may require additional hours. Reducing an avoidable cost may require a different action. Consider your property’s agreed target alongside operational constraints.
Quantify impact where the evidence supports it. Label an estimate and its assumptions; a potential reduction in hours is not automatically a cash saving or a GOP improvement.
Example: turn a confirmed finding into a reviewable action
Illustrative situation: next Tuesday’s restaurant plan contains 120 productive hours against a 100-hour staffing reference. The department head checks the expected covers, opening hours, skills and fixed duties. That review identifies 8 hours in an unassigned planning allowance that are no longer needed; the other 12 hours above the reference are justified by operational duties.
The proposed action is to reduce the allowance by 8 hours, subject to the normal scheduling checks and approval. The department head reviews it with the scheduler on Monday before Tuesday’s service. After service, they compare actual covers and productive hours with the revised plan and review available waiting-time or service feedback. The department head is the agreed action owner in this example; viewing or editing the cockpit alone does not establish ownership.
The revised plan would contain 112 productive hours. This is a capacity adjustment, not evidence of a payroll saving. A financial estimate needs the actual avoidable cost of those hours. If demand changes before service, review the proposal again.
Record the agreement and check the result
Keep a short action record in the property’s agreed task or meeting process: the issue and baseline, the action, the named owner, the due date, the intended result and the date of the next review. Include any approval or dependency, such as a demand update needed before a schedule can be revised.
At the next review, check completion and outcome separately. An updated schedule is evidence that an action was taken; actual hours, workload and service results show what followed. If the action did not help, review the assumptions and agree the next step. A change in the result alone does not prove that the action caused it.
You can ask PIA to help organise the discussion. Record agreed actions in your property’s normal task or meeting process, and arrange the follow-up there. A chat reply alone does not create a task or reminder or track the result.
Use PIA to structure the review
A useful question is: “For this property and period, explain the largest supported issue, what might be causing it and the next action I should consider.” Add the objective if it is not already clear.
When using PIA, check that the answer refers to the correct property, dates and figures. Ask which findings are confirmed, which explanations still need checking and what information would help you decide.
Finish the review by agreeing who will act, when to act and what measure will show whether the action helped. If the figures show no material problem, continue the normal review routine.
Related guidance
The Hotel Productivity Management Cycle explains the wider planning and improvement cycle. Use the four investigation guides above for a specific performance question.