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The Evolving Role of Hotel Controllers

By Justin Taillon Full Professor & Department Head, Highline College's Hospitality & Tourism Mgt | April 2024

Hotel professionals have a responsibility to mentor today’s emerging leaders to be effective lodging professionals. We cannot be effective in mentoring these professionals unless we know what expectations they will likely face in their career.

For example, expectations of hotel controllers have radically transformed in recent decades. Today’s controllers are no longer focused narrowly on technical accounting skills. Rather, effectiveness requires a versatile set of skills to navigate the role. This report traces the progression of the controller profession from the days of ledger books to our current world of automated systems and predictive analytics.

Today’s effective controllers are required to produce analytical capabilities from data as well as have interpersonal skills to communicate financial information. The article culminates with a futurologists’ approach to identifying the skills that controllers of the future will need. Looking ahead, the controllers best positioned for success will blend technical expertise with creative and strategic problem-solving.

Controllers are generally regarded as the financial lynchpins of their properties by roles such as C-level individuals at corporate offices, ownership such as franchisees, general managers, and on-property management. It is important to prepare today’s young professionals to be tomorrow’s controllers and financial leaders given the importance of controllers to the lodging industry. This builds a sustainable future for the lodging industry. How can we prepare these young professionals for effectiveness as controllers though? Specifically, what skills does a lodging controller of the future need to have in order to succeed?

The best way to predict the future is to study the past. Few roles have changed more in recent decades than that of a hotel controller. In 1989, a study of what skills accounting professionals in the lodging industry would need in the future to succeed was conducted. The study’s results were based on surveys received from controllers. This study was revisited and conducted again in 2018. Findings from the 1989 study were evidenced to have been incorrect. Is the 2018 study going to be more reliable? It is likely too early to tell. Yet, it is possible that speaking to hotel controllers about the future of their industry was not the right approach in 1989 and may not have been in 2018.

Hopefully we, as lodging professionals, can better predict the skill set needed to be an effective hotel controller, or any other professional role in our industry, in the future. We can leverage that knowledge to train burgeoning professionals in the lodging industry. This article traces the evolution of the hotel controller role, synthesizes insights garnered from past articles and studies about this role, and culminates with a perspective on the industry’s progression including the evolving responsibilities of hotel controllers.

The Changing Education of the Hotel Controller

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, The only constant is change" more than two millennia ago. Little did he know that this timeless wisdom would hold true in the field of hospitality management. Lodging industry professionals face seismic shifts driven by technological advancements, changing demographics in the workforce, and more.

Accounting is one of the fields in hospitality that is often overlooked as undergoing seismic shifts. This aligns with how accountants in general approach their workplace environment. Controllers, as a primary group of decision-makers in hospitality accounting, are a particularly interesting profession when thinking of changes taking place in the lodging industry.

Few controllers come from a hospitality background. They are often CPAs who received professional education in the field of accounting, rather than hospitality. This aligns with Abbott (1988), who wrote that, "Historically, professions developed from occupational groups to provide a particular learned service" (p. 8-9). Abbott can be understood to be writing that hotel controllers are accountants who are applying their skill set to hospitality while likely not understanding themselves as lodging professionals. Furthermore, controllers do not necessarily see themselves as serving a role in hospitality. They are more likely to view themselves as outsiders (Burgess, 2011). Beyond not necessarily identifying as hospitality professionals let alone lodging insiders, there are also the realities of their position.

Accounting professionals have historically exhibited a preference for maintaining established SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) rather than adopting emerging technological advancements or industry practices (Volkova, 2018). This tendency towards traditionalism is often rooted in their familiarity with methods that have yielded results they value according to Volkova. Their reluctance to change is therefore logical; it stems from a prudent approach to risk management, where the implications of altering financial systems can carry significant weight. This is not specific to lodging. Accounting professionals in general are known as traditionalists.

Hotel controllers are often understood to be the overseers of financial integrity. For this reason, they are known to exercise more caution than most hospitality professionals when considering the financial cost of implementing emerging technologies. This conservatism, while prudent, may impede the integration of pioneering systems that promise efficiency and increased overall performance.

Controllers, and other accounting professionals in hospitality, are known as the prudent folks on property for the aforementioned reasons. Yet, there is acknowledgment of the potential benefits that advancements such as those from the technology sector can confer. This is despite the seemingly slow pace of change. For example, the lodging industry’s premier accounting association is also the industry’s primary professional association for technology professionals. HFTP is a global professional association serving the lodging industry’s accountants and technology professionals. Accountants such as controllers are known as traditionalists while technology professionals are known as early adopters. This juxtaposition may be precisely what is needed for both groups of professionals.

Hotel controllers as the most traditional field in lodging and technology professionals as the least traditional field in lodging have long been associated with each other in professional hospitality environments. This is not a coincidence or accidental. This is based on historical realities. Historically, controllers pioneered the computerization of the lodging industry. For example, it was controllers that spearheaded the lodging industry’s digital transformation of the 1980s. Ledger books and manual calculations were the norm before this digital transformation took place. The recognition of computers as tools to revolutionize data management and financial reporting lead to the adoption of computers in accounting offices before they emerged as tools property wide.

The importance of finance to the lodging industry and the importance of a controller’s work led to accounting offices being the first to utilize computers in the lodging industry. This set the stage for a new era of financial administration. Their role naturally expanded to encompass the oversight of technology procurement and implementation, which in turn solidified an alliance of sorts with the emerging field of IT professionals.

Why does this matter? Hotel controllers have long been viewed as existing along the extremes in lodging. From being the earliest adopters of technology to being viewed as the most conservative and traditional individuals at the property level, the role of a controller can be confounding. Understanding what is actually true of the controller role, and what skills they need in the future, is integral to the industry’s young professionals.

Controllers in 1989 Versus 2018

There is a common phrase that resonates with the idea that history can be a teacher as well as a foundation for progress and growth: "You don’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve been." This may be an apt quote for lodging professionals, and in particular controllers.

HFTP (Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals), the largest global professional association for controllers, collected data from their membership in 1989 about the most important knowledge a controller would need to learn to be successful in the future. The results of this study were used to inform education within the organization and hospitality curriculums at universities, among other things. Young professionals were asked to prepare themselves for excelling in these skill areas. These were identified as the Top-5 in 1989:

  1. IT
  2. Interpreting P&Ls
  3. Revenue Management
  4. Food & Beverage
  5. Night Audit

These findings underscored the emerging trend that positioned IT knowledge not only as a valuable skill but also as a pillar of a controller’s expertise. The IT proficiencies of a controller became integral to the role. This historical alignment paved the way for controllers to be perceived not only as financial stewards but also as technological strategists. Simply put, a controller in the 1990s needed to be adept with digital tools as their growth was fast. Yet, there seemed to be an idea in 1989 that controllers needed to understand the nuances of operations.

Fast forward to the brink of the COVID Pandemic in 2018. HFTP revisited this same questionnaire. Interestingly, there was little overlap in 2018 with the skills forecasted in 1989. This goes to show the development of trends. Controllers identified the Top-5 knowledge bases needed by controllers in 2018 as the following:

  1. Interpret P&Ls
  2. Prepare and Control Budgets
  3. Leadership, Managerial
  4. Analyze Financial Situations
  5. Interpret Balance Sheets

The lack of overlap between the studies is stark. Yet, the two studies were focused on approximately the same time period. Specifically, the students of 1989 whose curriculums were created in alignment with the 1989 study are the same industry professionals who progressed up organizational charts and found themselves leaders in organizations who were asked to complete the 2018 study.

What can we learn from the disparity between the two studies? I believe we can learn that it is time to enhance our abilities to forecast skill sets of the future. There is actually an entire body of knowledge that focuses on forecasting the future. Futurology is a field of study whereby patterns of change are investigated to predict how elements such as society and culture, the workforce, or technology may exist in the future. A foundational belief of futurologists is that the past and present can inform our comprehension of the future.

Controllers in 2033

Today’s young professionals are tomorrow’s hospitality leaders, including controllers. There will be a generational shift in the workforce alongside new dynamics and perspectives, making it essential to be attuned to these changes. I had a chance to speak with five futurologists at a recent HITEC conference, the global hospitality conference where futurologists gather to confer with each other.

I asked the futurologists what they thought the controller of the future needed to know. Specifically, I asked what someone would need to know ten years from today (i.e., HITEC took place in June 2023, making 2033 the year they were discussing). That one simple question turned into an approximately one-hour conversation. This was an unintentional roundtable discussion but one that proved eye-opening.

The futurologists did not agree on everything. Yet, I left HITEC-Toronto with a general understanding of what the lodging industry’s controllers may need to know in order to succeed in the year 2033. These are the Top-5 skills according to what I gauged from our conversation:

  1. Advanced data analytics (e.g., IBM SPSS, AMOS, structural equation modeling)
  2. Technology proficiency (i.e., Excel and similar emerging software such as Google Sheets)
  3. Sustainability / ESG / CRM / greening (they could not agree on a term but the idea was consistent)
  4. Global financial expertise (i.e., globalization in lieu of nationalism was identified as the future of international financial markets)
  5. Risk management, crisis management, and regulatory compliance (all with a focus on cybersecurity)

There seems to be consensus amongst lodging industry leaders that a paradigm shift is coming. Specifically, there may be more distressed assets than ever before as hotel owners are being squeezed by OTA (Online Travel Agencies) and large brands both exerting influence and seeking to maximize profit, refinancing being more difficult, inflation, higher bank rates, and some poor financial decisions having been made (e.g., over-leveraged owners). This, coupled with well-known Gen Z attributes on the team member front (e.g., tech savvy, values oriented, concerned with social justice and climate change), makes for an intriguing future for the lodging industry. This coalesces around the controller role.

Controllers are tech savvy financial leaders of the lodging industry. Educational scaffolding, professional training programs, and industry mentors must evolve concurrently to bridge the skills gap outlined above. It is incumbent upon hospitality education providers of all kinds to teach these skills while fostering a positive ecosystem. With knowledge of past failures to identify trends and prepare emerging leaders for realities of the position, perhaps we can improve our approach as we move toward 2033.

It is my hope that training curriculums, from higher education to internal training programs in major hotel brands, adapt to focus on the skills our emerging leaders need in the future rather than those they needed in the past.

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