A PART-TIME FINANCE CHIEF FOR YOUR HOTEL
Most boutique hotels are too complex to run on a bookkeeper alone and too small to justify a $200K controller. Our fractional CFO service fills that gap — the financial leadership of a seasoned hotel CFO, scaled to a property your size, for a flat monthly retainer.
When buyers and lenders can't verify your numbers, they don't argue with you — they just discount the price. Clean, industry-standard financials remove that discount before it's ever applied.
Three things we hear from every owner.
“I don't really know my numbers until my accountant closes the month.”
By the time the P&L arrives, the month it describes is over. You're managing one of the most operationally complex small businesses there is — with a rearview mirror. We give you daily and weekly visibility, so decisions happen while they still matter.
“Every slow season is a white-knuckle ride.”
Florida hotels don't have cash flow problems — they have cash timing problems. We forecast your cash weeks ahead, so September is planned for in June, not survived in September.
“If I ever sell, I'm worried my books will cost me.”
Buyers don't pay for what you built. They pay for what they can verify. Financials a buyer's lender can underwrite are worth real money at the closing table — and they take time to build. Start before you need them.
What a fractional CFO actually does for a hotel.
The retainer isn't a fixed menu. It's a finance chief on your team — these are the six areas where owners use us most.
Know your numbers
Clear monthly reporting an owner can read in ten minutes, plus a daily flash of the handful of numbers that actually run a hotel: occupancy, rate, revenue per room, labor cost. No fifteen-page P&Ls.
Numbers in order? See what AI can take off your platearrow_forwardCash and seasonality
A rolling cash forecast built around your seasonal curve. Know your position before the slow season, time capital projects to strong months, and stop financing summer with stress.
Profitability and labor
Labor is 30–45% of a hotel's operating cost, and it's where profit hides. We benchmark your departments, find the leaks — staffing patterns, purchasing, OTA commissions, utilities — and fix them one at a time.
Banks, loans, and refinancing
Lender-ready financial packages, DSCR analysis, covenant reporting, and side-by-side refinancing scenarios. When you sit down with a lender, you walk in with the numbers they need in the format they trust.
Decisions with real analysis
An unsolicited offer. A franchise proposal. A renovation with a fuzzy payback. A rate strategy question. You get a CFO's analysis before you commit — not your gut plus a spreadsheet at midnight.
Exit readiness
Financials restructured to the lodging industry standard (USALI) buyers and appraisers expect, clean trailing-12 statements, and a paper trail that survives due diligence.
Planning a sale in the next 1–3 years? See Exit Planningarrow_forwardThe first 90 days.
Every engagement starts with a foundation sprint. Before we can advise, your numbers have to be trustworthy — so the first 90 days build the reporting spine everything else runs on.
Diagnose
Review your books, systems, and processes. Map what your PMS, point-of-sale, and accounting software do and don't tell each other. Agree the priorities.
Rebuild
Restructure the chart of accounts to the lodging-industry standard, connect the systems so data flows without manual re-keying, and design the reporting package.
Run
Dashboards live, cash forecast running, first monthly review delivered. From here the engagement shifts to ongoing advisory: weekly cash reviews, monthly performance reviews, and whatever the business throws at us.
Three ways to work together.
Flat monthly retainers. No hourly meters, no surprise invoices. Every engagement begins with the 90-day foundation sprint.
Finance Foundations
Smaller properties that need trustworthy numbers and a quarterly check-in
- check_circle90-day foundation sprint
- check_circleMonthly reporting package
- check_circleQuarterly review call
Flat monthly retainer — scoped to property size. Ask us.
Fractional CFO
Owners who want ongoing financial leadership
- check_circleEverything in Foundations
- check_circleRolling cash forecast
- check_circleMonthly owner review
- check_circleLender support
- check_circleOn-call decision analysis
Flat monthly retainer — scoped to property size. Ask us.
Project / Interim
A defined need: sale prep, refinance package, system migration, interim coverage
- check_circleScoped deliverable
- check_circleFixed fee
- check_circleDefined timeline
Fixed fee — scoped per engagement.
A fit if…
- check_circleYou own an independent or boutique Florida hotel
- check_circleYou're profitable (or close) but flying blind between accountant closes
- check_circleYou're 1–5 years from a possible sale or refinance
- check_circleYou've grown past what your bookkeeper can carry
Not a fit if…
- blockYou need day-to-day bookkeeping only (we'll happily refer you)
- blockYou're looking for a one-time tax opinion (that's your CPA — we work alongside them, not instead of them)
- blockThe property is in active distress litigation
Asked by nearly every owner.
How is this different from my bookkeeper or CPA?
Your bookkeeper records what happened. Your CPA keeps you compliant and minimizes taxes. A CFO looks forward — cash, pricing, profitability, financing, and what the property needs to be worth more. We work with both, we replace neither.
How much of my time does it take?
Most owners spend two to three hours a month with us after the foundation sprint: one monthly review call and quick check-ins as decisions come up. The point is to give you time back, not take more of it.
Do I have to change accounting systems?
Usually not. Most engagements keep your existing software and restructure how it's set up and what it feeds. If a change genuinely pays for itself, we'll show you the math first.
What is USALI and why should I care?
The Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry — the standard format hotel buyers, appraisers, and lenders expect financials in. Books in USALI format are books a buyer's lender can underwrite without repricing your deal.
We're small — is this overkill?
That's what the Foundations tier is for: trustworthy numbers and a quarterly review, without the full retainer. Plenty of owners start there and step up when a sale or refinance comes into view.
Is this a sales funnel for your brokerage?
We do represent owners in sales — under a licensed Florida broker, disclosed on every page. But most CFO clients aren't selling, and there's no obligation ever. If you do sell someday, you'll be glad the books were ready.
Start where it's easy.
Confidential · Flat-fee · No obligation · We work alongside your CPA
Real estate brokerage services provided through Florida Realty Investments, Licensed Real Estate Broker.