It is often said
‘. . . . when hospitality becomes an art, it loses its very soul’. Yet, delivery
of soulful services requires unfettered independence. Controls and curbs in such
a scenario are inhibitions, to say the least. Where subjectivity is the name of
the game, the truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It
may be counter-intuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not
be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do
not determine what’s true. We have a method, and that method helps us to reach
not absolute truth, only asymptotic approaches to the truth — never there, just
closer and closer, always finding vast new oceans of undiscovered possibilities.
Approach :
‘We make our world
significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers’. We
can judge our progress by our willingness to embrace what is true rather than
what feels good. In the business of hospitality, the guest is god — begin by
respecting the dictum. After all, class in the business of hospitality is always
more subtle, more intricate, more elegant than what most auditors would like to
imagine.
Knowledge gathering :
Trade nuances :
You have to know the past to
understand the present. Inquiry and interaction are handy tools. In exchange for
freedom of inquiry, the auditor is obliged to appreciate the subtlety of the
oft-hidden controls. A gentle ‘housekeeping’ turndown service in the evening,
for instance, doubles up as a reality check on the profile and preferences of
guests, even room occupancy discrepancies. Numerous are such nuances of the
trade; universally true, and not difficult at all for an open minded auditor to
pick up, gauge or rely upon. Obsolescence, though, is an important word here.
With the changing times, customs need to be tested and disproved assertions be
proved worthless.
Marketing innovations :
From dynamic demand-based
pricing concepts to global distribution systems, luxury hospitality today
embraces the A to Z of marketing, perceptions that auditors often grapple to
come to terms with, not to speak of the efforts to evaluate these. Experience
shows however, that even modern techniques such as these are often prone to
fallacies, and the cure for such fallacious arguments is better arguments. To
counter fallacies, auditors need imagination and skepticism both; not to be
afraid to speculate, but careful to distinguish speculation from fact.
Technological advancements :
Like most trades, high-end
hospitality products and services imbibe the best of technology in all spheres,
be it environment consciousness, information technology or engineering marvels.
Unfortunately, there is no short cut here — either go through the grind yourself
or seek help of experts.
Statutes :
Name a statute and it is
applicable to hotels — ranging from labour laws, indirect and direct taxes,
licences for almost everything you see in operation, food and hygiene,
pollution, GAAPs — the list is endless . . . . this is possibly an area however,
where not much advocacy would be required for auditors; supposed to be their
core competence. I may however caution here that ‘while it is of interest to
note that some dolphins are reported to have learned English — up to fifty words
used in correct context — no human being has been reported to have learned
dolphinese.’ Over confidence does no good.
Creating checkpoints :
Prevention :
Finding the occasional straw
of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires
intelligence, vigilance, dedication, and courage. But if we don’t practise these
tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that
face us.’ Easier said than done — eh ! Not really. For instance, like banks,
hotels have daily revenue closing systems such as ‘Night Audits’ and ‘Income
Audits’. The real challenge in a typical hospitality set-up is the multiplicity
of transaction points; while you rack your brains to repair one leak, another
one crops up. The best use of the gigantic risk and control matrices most
hospitality giants employ, to my mind, would be when robots eventually replace
human employees in the hospitality industry — human brains are far too suave and
thoughtful to be restricted by a ‘risk and control’ matrix.
Inquisitiveness :
Far from straightjacket
operations, the hospitality industry renders detective controls by far the most
effective tool in the hands of internal auditors. A probing mind together with
IT-empowered tools such as CAATs do wonders to dig out clues from unsuspecting
areas. Contrarian thoughts such as ‘The hen is the egg’s way of making
another egg’ work wonders, says experience. ‘What is called for is an exquisite
balance between two conflicting needs : the most skeptical scrutiny of all
hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new
ideas. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. On
the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an
ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish useful ideas from
the worthless ones . . . .’
Conclusion :
The luxury hospitality
industry is in perpetual ‘floatation’, so to say; thus straightjacket auditing
means are often ineffective. Given the multiplicity and voluminous transaction
points, this industry is particularly susceptible to irregularities/frauds. To
get a grip, one must sway with the wave to be in total control.
