Services

We are dedicated to the results and committed to improving the performance of all hotels regardless of their current success.  We place heavy emphasis on Quality Assurance Standards, ensuring owner compliance with their respective franchises and financial institutions.

Areas of Focus:

PROFIT RATIOS 

Horizon’s General Managers are trained to be responsible for maintaining the budgeted flow through percentages of profit, assuring their control of variable costs. Expense control is highly prioritized, and budgets are developed annually based on our studies of best vendors, operating efficiencies, and historic formulas. Inventories are conducted and reviewed monthly.

ON-SITE INSPECTIONS 

Horizon monitors excellence in value through extensive on-site inspections. The results are sent to property general managers and the appropriate corporate staff. Specific areas of improvement are identified and solutions recommended, with specific deadlines to ensure timely resolution and satisfaction.

GUEST SERVICES 

Creative application of Horizon’s guest services programs ensures excellence in communication between staff and guests, while regular meetings with all hotel departments promote a high level of employee morale, which ultimately enhances the guest experience. We also review and respond to brand and on-line guest survey results to maintain high levels of guest satisfaction.

REVENUE MANAGEMENT 

Revenue management provides for the maximization of room and total revenues. Horizon analyzes trends in occupancy, average daily rate, and overall revenue across property market segmentations. This strategic analysis fosters growth in RevPAR and profitability. We expect our properties to outperform their respective competitive sets on the Monthly and Weekly Star Reports.

MANAGEMENT TRAINING 

Our goal is to promote from within whenever possible.  Management training is tailored to the needs of the individual, and is conducted at training seminars attended by hotel and corporate staffs. In addition, Horizon General Manager Meetings encourage knowledge sharing, as do on-site visits by corporate staff and the President of Horizon.

Effective marketing is measured by growth of profitability; it is essential in all phases of a hotel's life cycle – particularly in start-up and turnaround situations.  Our experience extends across every market segment -Corporate, Government, Transient, LNR, Association, and SMERF.  We work effectively with the Global Sales Offices for all major brands, ensuring that our owners are taking advantage of every available brand resource. We also provide selective sell guidelines and a defined sales action plan to effectively target the appropriate market segments. 

Areas of Focus:

LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS

Landscape analysis establishes the path for revenue maximization. A competitive landscape analysis is a proactive way to understand and outperform the competitive set.  We are adept at identifying, analyzing and positioning each property for maximum market share, implementing coordinated strategies for revenue management and social media campaigns. Horizon’s analytics map out ambitious, yet realistic rate, occupancy, and revenue goals based on the overall expectations of the owners. 

SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES

Horizon Hotels offers a holistic approach to managing social media platforms by researching the hotel competitive set, target audience, local community and attractions. This research informs the content we feature across social media platforms. In order to stay up-to-date on the fast-paced environment of social media, Horizon Hotels conducts a SWOT analysis to continually improve and update posts.

INTERNET REPUTATION MANAGEMENT 

A property’s website, along with TripAdvisor and other travel-related websites reviews, are its “public face,” and often provide that crucial first impression for potential guests. In addition to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Horizon monitors all social media platforms and responds to positive and negative comments posted about each property, ensuring an online presence that is truly representative of its brand and mission. 

A property’s success can be substantially enhanced by adhering to carefully planned budgets and effective expense control procedures. Our centralized accounting system is based on the "Uniform System of Accounts," as published periodically by the American Hotel & Motel Association. Systematized accounting assures timely reports and adherence to financial standards. 

Areas of Focus: 

BUDGETS AND FORECASTS 

Horizon works with properties to prepare annual budgets and forecasts, approved by Horizon’s corporate staff and property owners each new fiscal year. Both property and corporate staff continuously monitor the actual results in comparison to the budgets. Monthly statements are analyzed, and the corporate accounting staff completes periodic internal audit and control verifications. 

FINANCIAL REPORTING 

Streamlined reporting keep owners and Horizon current on a property's financial progress. Daily, weekly and monthly online reports analyze and summarize property revenue, market share, and monitor payroll and expenses. Significant variances to budget are investigated for explanation, and results are reported to our senior accounting staff. 

CENTRALIZED, AUTOMATED SYSTEMS 

Horizon’s central accounting office can prove beneficial for a property's cost effectiveness and controls. Properties report key statistics, including revenue, occupancy, average rate, bank and credit card deposits, and payroll costs for each department  Payables are reviewed prior to processing, and cash flow is carefully monitored.

Horizon’s concept for a hotel restaurant is to make it the best venue for guests and local residents alike. We operate it not as a hotel food outlet, but as the most popular area restaurant. This is accomplished by serving the best food in the area and transforming the bar into a meeting place for the local community. We refine the atmosphere, offerings and pricing to make each outlet a fun, upscale local spot, where area residents and business people gather to socialize with friends and meet new people.

Areas of Focus:

MENU DEVELOPMENT 

Horizon designs hotel menus to reflect each hotel’s location, using local products and produce. With this concept as a basis, we conduct new product research and development, product reviews, recipe re-engineering initiatives, plate presentation studies, and profit building analysis. 

OPERATIONS IMPROVEMENT 

By offering exceptional menus, reasonably priced cuisine and fast, friendly service, Horizon restaurants become the place to go — for business breakfasts, casual lunches, banquets, family meals and weekend brunch. This goal is achieved through operations analysis, best practices roundtables, labor control, profit & loss management and inventory control. 

SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT & TRAINING 

A successful restaurant pairs great food with great service. Horizon refines the restaurant concept to ensure a functional facility for staff and an enjoyable dining experience for guests. We also conduct service and culinary training programs, implement management development, retention and training initiatives, and monitor service and quality reviews. 

Horizon’s mission is to maintain proactive relationships among management, employees, clients and guests, while ensuring equal employment opportunities and recognizing the diversity in our workplace. Our staff has earned a reputation for integrity, innovation, personalized service and success. We ensure that the guest experience — from reservation through checkout — is the best it can be. 

Areas of Focus: 

HIRING STANDARDS 

Our philosophy for guest service is simple: Treat the guests in our hotels as we would treat guests in our home. This philosophy is based on the principle that it is the responsibility of every employee to deliver the best possible service to the guests. For each property, we oversee recruiting and hiring of staff, EEO/AAP compliance, employee benefits, and performance management. 

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS 

It is Horizon’s policy that every employee is treated with respect, dignity and professionalism, and we expect our employees to respond in kind. We provide each property with Employee Handbooks and a Policies Manual to address problem-solving techniques, ensuring team members are treated in a fair manner, and offer job descriptions outlining all responsibilities. We also audit wages to ensure fair compensation, conduct employee recognition programs, and promote from within as much as possible. 

STAFF TRAINING 

Horizon’s training programs focus on implementing brand standards, team building, and creating positive and rewarding work environments. 

We believe the idea behind hotel asset management is to provide a responsive ownership representative who will bridge the gap that exists between two very different industries: hospitality and financial institutional investment.
Horizon has a strategic understanding of the critical factors affecting the relationship between lender and owner, institutional owner and partner, and owner and management. When investment returns falter, the fundamentals of the asset’s operations come into question, and the institution does not always have the breadth and depth of experience available to develop a comprehensive diagnosis of the problem or a reliable approach for resolution. This is where Horizon provides invaluable assistance for hotel asset management and distressed properties.

As asset manager, we will evaluate your assets, loans and owned properties, whether classified as troubled or performing assets. We will analyze properties for which you are the lender, to identify any problems that are not yet apparent, but could affect the accrual status of the loan. For loans in default, we will develop an operating strategy, which will dovetail with your workout strategy. For hotels in which you are the owner or have partial ownership interest, we will perform more aggressively on your behalf to ensure that the interests of the management company are congruent with your own. Moreover, we provide on-site management companies that are less experienced in operating distressed hotels with alternative operating strategies.

Horizon has extensive experience in providing appointed receiver services on the lender’s behalf in cases of bankruptcies and managing properties involved in foreclosure, deed-in-lieu or negotiated handovers. Horizon has established reporting guidelines and systems for operating a property for special servicers administering default loans. 

As a court appointed receiver, we secure and maintain the asset in compliance with the court order, executing the following:
•    Coordinate the transition for control of the property
•    Ensure compliance with operating agreements
•    Maintain property operations 
•    Monitor cash position 
•    Evaluate capital expenditures
•    Prepare court required financial reports

Our Chief Financial Officer is eligible to receive appointments, pursuant to Part 36 of the Rules of the 
Chief Judge-New York State, as Receiver and Property Manager.