The Hospitality Professional's Year-End Checklist

Review finances, inventory & guest satisfaction

The hospitality industry has seen some significant ups and downs over the past year. Guests are willing to pay more for rooms and services, but they still aren’t traveling as much as they used to. More hotels are opening, but the cost of doing business is still on the rise. Under these competitive conditions, delighting guests is absolutely vital—but so is running a profitable business. To help out, we’ve come up with a year-end checklist for hospitality professionals. After you review these seven items, you should have a better understanding of your finances, your guests and your staff—and have some ideas for the new year.

A year-end checklist for hospitality professionals

1. Run a financial report

The single most important consideration for your hospitality business is whether it’s making money. Hospitality budgeting is both an art and a science. You need to analyze how much you spent in the past year and make reasonable predictions about the coming one. At the same time, you need to balance cutting costs with enticing new guests and paying your staff fairly. Specialized hospitality management software can help here, as can hiring an experienced consultant.

Check out Reducing Costs: Walmart Business Addresses the Business Landscape for ways to lower your operating expenses in the new year.

2. Check in on guest satisfaction

Your establishment makes an impression on every single guest who passes through your doors. If they were thrilled, you’re on the right track. If they were disappointed, you need to fix things. This is where guest satisfaction surveys can be a powerful tool. Depending on the questions, you’ll see which parts of the experience guests liked and disliked, as well as whether they’d be willing to come back.

If you haven’t distributed surveys, you can still get a general sense of guest satisfaction from online feedback on booking sites and social media. Just remember that more than half of customers don’t write reviews and those who do tend to highlight unusually good or bad experiences.

3. Review staff performance

Labor is one of the biggest expenses in the hospitality industry, so hiring—and keeping—the best employees should be a high priority. The exact qualities that your staff needs will depend on your business, but you can evaluate just about every staff member based on:

• Customer service: Hospitality employees should always maintain a polite, professional and helpful attitude toward guests.

• Respect from coworkers: Each worker is part of a team. They should get along with their peers and offer support when necessary.

• Attendance: A staff member should show up on time for every scheduled shift and communicate potential conflicts in advance.

• Expertise: Whether they’re a desk clerk, a chef or a member of the housekeeping staff, every employee should know exactly how to do their job.

Remember that performance reviews should also include actionable feedback and suggestions for how an employee could further develop their skills.

4. Perform an inventory audit

From toiletries to linens to computers, hospitality venues need a variety of goods to stay in business. Knowing how quickly you go through these supplies could potentially save you a lot of money. At the end of the year, take stock of which items you need to function and how often you had to resupply. You may discover that you have a huge surplus of a certain product and don’t need to order any more for a while. On the other hand, you could find that you ran out of an item frequently and needed to spend more money on last-minute replacements.

Using inventory management software to monitor your purchases can be a huge help here. Otherwise, you can track your expenses manually in a spreadsheet. You may also have to enlist your staff to count certain high-value items by hand. If there are major inconsistencies between the expected and actual stock, you may have a costly shrinkage problem.

For a deeper dive into the products you need to keep your hotel up and running, read Hotel Supplies: The Complete Operator's Checklist.

5. Update vendor contracts

Building and maintaining good relationships with your vendors is a rewarding part of the hospitality industry. The end of the year is an ideal time to evaluate how each supplier did and decide whether to renew your contract. If a vendor offered high-quality products, reasonable prices and reliable delivery windows, you should renew. Otherwise, it’s worth having a candid conversation with them to see if they can improve their service.

Remember that vendors are also subject to market pressures. They may have to change their selections, raise prices or extend delivery times. If that’s the case, you’ll have to decide how valuable the relationship is and whether you can realistically get your goods elsewhere. This is where your financial report and inventory management statistics can come in handy.

6. Don’t neglect property maintenance

Hotels and event spaces change from year to year. Owners and managers must repair or replace old infrastructure. They may also want to invest in new features, from revamped guest rooms to state-of-the-art fitness centers.

Generally speaking, maintenance takes priority over upgrades. Keeping spaces fresh and well-maintained makes each guest’s stay more comfortable and enjoyable. It’s remarkable how much a new coat of paint or freshly-steamed carpet can invigorate a room. Remember that construction may also affect your ability to house guests.

7. Take stock of your marketing strategy

Look back over your marketing strategy to find out what worked and what didn’t. If you sent out physical mailers, see whether more guests booked rooms afterward. Determine whether your website and social media accounts are active and up-to-date. Think about what promotions might attract new customers and whether your competitors have already tried something similar.

Even your booking system can give guests an idea of what to expect from the overall experience. If you offer smooth online reservations with enthusiastic confirmation emails, that could create positive word-of-mouth advertising. If you use outdated or inconsistent booking systems, set aside some budget to upgrade them.

To learn even more ways to take your company to the next level, check out Best Practices to Advance Your Business.

Plan for success with Walmart Business

If you go into the new year with a realistic budget, a knowledgeable staff and a creative marketing strategy, you’ll be in an excellent position to satisfy your guests and grow your business. For more information on how to set your establishment up for success, check out the Walmart Business content hub. There, you’ll find marketing tips, financial guides and success stories from fellow leaders.

You can also sign up for a Walmart Business+ membership to keep your venue stocked with a variety of hospitality supplies. With it, you’ll get free shipping from Business.Walmart.com¹ and free delivery from local Walmart stores on orders of $35 or more.² You’ll also earn 2% back in Walmart Business Rewards on orders of $250 or more.³ Your company could save more than $500 per year overall.⁴

2. Update patient & financial records

Patient records can stack up if you’re not careful. A disorganized approach to record-keeping can also make your team less accurate and less efficient. Take the proper steps now to organize your paper records into their appropriate file cabinets. Even better, digitize those records before you file them away to improve the accessibility of information for patients and providers while speeding up workflows. 

The same goes for your billing and financial records. If you have any outstanding claims, submit them! Start the new year with a fresh slate and your accounting up to date.

3. Review compliance & payment policies 

Compliance policies may not change often, but you don’t want to be caught flat-footed if they do. Check the appropriate agency websites for any updates and decide whether your practice needs to adjust its processes to meet them. If there’s a deadline, develop internal workflows and timelines to stay accountable as you work toward achieving compliance. That way, you won’t put your team under added stress as you scramble to adapt at the last minute.

Similarly, you should update your payment processes to account for any changes. Perhaps your practice has added a new insurance provider or a current provider has updated its rates. Preparing for these changes now will save you from hunting down missing payments or having to deal with incorrect claims in the future. 

4. Take inventory of your medical equipment & supplies

While you may have a sense of how many syringes, gloves and other supplies your office has on hand, you won’t truly know until you complete an inventory. 

Taking an official count of all of your tools and equipment will help you track which ones you use the most, allowing you to adjust your purchasing schedules in the coming year. You’ll also be able to tell if there are any discrepancies between the reported numbers and the actual count on hand.

If you haven’t completed your inventory yet, schedule one before the end of the year. You can even plan to do inventory on a quarterly basis next year to make it even easier to stay on top of your supply needs.

Read 5 Ways To Leverage Walmart Business for Convenience and Grow Your Business to discover how to make meeting your inventory needs easier than ever.

5. Planned next year’s budget

The end of the year is the perfect time to examine your overall budget. Look at line items like staffing, supplies and utilities for the past year and set your budget for the following year to account for potential cost increases. You should also review your revenue sources to see what’s bringing in the most money and adjust pricing to reflect the demand for your most requested services. 

Every healthcare facility’s needs will be different, so make adjustments to your budget to ensure healthy growth and long-term sustainability. This will help you and your employees better serve the patients in your community.

Discover more ways to stretch your budget by reading How Walmart Business Helps You Save Time & Money.

6. Review your staffing needs

Check your reporting software and look at critical metrics like the number of patients seen, total wait times and patient satisfaction surveys to see if there are any gaps in staffing. If you find that patients are waiting too long or your current provider lineup seems overworked, consider hiring a few additional hands to help you improve the quality of care your team can provide.

7. Complete year-end staff evaluations

The holidays are a hectic time both personally and professionally, so if staff evaluations are due, get them out of the way before it gets too busy. Otherwise you run the risk of not giving them the attention they deserve or, worse, not getting to them at all. Set a schedule and stick to it so evaluations can happen without any unnecessary delay.

Preparing for success

Completing this checklist along with the rest of your workload may seem hard, especially with the increased demands in the sprint toward the holidays. In the long run, though, it’s worth it—and with some planning now, you’ll put you and your healthcare organization in a better position to meet whatever challenges the new year brings.

Looking for more resources? Browse the Walmart Business content hub to find marketing tips, financial guides and more. Looking for an easy way to stock up on supplies and keep your budget on track? Sign up for Walmart Business to get free shipping on orders over $35.¹ Already have an account? Stretch your budget even further with Walmart Business+, where you can take advantage of exclusive rewards and potentially save over $500/year.²

¹ Excludes most Marketplace items, freight and certain location surcharges.

² Savings based on 1 free $35+ delivery order vs. $9.95 fee and 1 free shipping order under $35 vs. $6.99 fee biweekly, plus 2% Walmart Business Rewards on monthly order >$250 (average value of $400).