-Cash management must come first. If a business is to be sustainable it must have at its heart excellent cash flow management. Are you focused on bringing forward aggressively your cash inflows and delaying as much as possible your cash outflows? Is your bank manager on board with your strategy and your tactics? Are your shareholders supportive of your dividend policy and your cash call requirements? Remember Thomas Cook's collapse started when a Rights Issue failed. Cash flow management should be at the top of all management meeting agendas.

-Once you've invested in your hotel, your revenue goal must be to optimise revenues from the rooms. Accept no excuse. Unless you are in the middle of nowhere (and why are you there for goodness sake) you should be aiming to sell all rooms every night. Ensure your Director of Channel Management is using all the tools available to get to markets you can't through traditional means. It can be reassuring to know that your competitors are trading at the same level of occupancy as you, but your goal must be to be market leader in occupancy. A busy hotel is one that people talk about. Being in a position where your guests are talking about you, is one of the most sustainable drivers of long term success.
 

-Once your hotel is as full as it can be every night, your job is to bring in excellent yield management. Close those channels and deny those segments that are the least profitable. That means focusing on marginal profit not total revenue. A tour group on full board with a low room rate may be more profitable than the chairman of board on a room only basis in the penthouse suite - or vice versa. Don't accept conventional wisdom. Think profit contribution not RevPAR.
 

-With guests in house, your job is to sell them more than they knew they were originally committed to. Upsell or cross sell must become the culture of the service staff. Can I sell you one more glass of wine, or what about an upgrade to our mountain view room? We've got a couple of slots free for a massage - can I make a reservation for you? Incentivise your staff to cross sell and upsell. It's a win-win-win.