Are you aware - and in control of - what is happening in your hotel bar? How can you be certain that profits, which should be realized by your venue, are making it to your bottom line?

Take a look around. If there are no receipts or checks on the bartop in front of the seated guests; if there happens to be a key in the lock of a cash register drawer; if no video display terminals (VDTs) have been installed for the cash registers, or if loose coins and currency, as well as discarded check folders and other papers, are scattered across the countertop of the backbar, your bar could be experiencing some heavy losses.

Any of these instances are reason enough to seriously evaluate what is happening to payments made by guests and handled by your bartenders and servers. Is some of that money ending up in a bartender's pocket? Or perhaps, through carelessness or forgetfulness, does it represent drinks or food items never charged for, at all?

Oversight by Management an Imperative

Okay, so what can you do to right the possible wrongs which may be taking place? Hopefully, you are already doing everything possible through employee training and solid communication ...