Investigating financial statements in hospitality: a quantitative approach

The aim of this paper is to investigate, through financial-statement analyzes, the economic-financial performance of Italian hotels, after the international economic crisis, also considering the possible macro-regional differences. The study focuses the financial statements of 5473 hotels from 2009 to 2018. National data are also disaggregated in the three macro-areas that characterize Italy for different social and economic aspects. Anova test and Tukey–Kramer test are used. Results show that the crisis affected profitability. Italian hotels have a low capitalization, unable to cope with the large structural investments that require significant debts. The profitability indicators record similar trends in the three macro-areas, while the financial independence index and the coverage index show significant different values in the three observed areas. Therefore, in the digital era, Italian hotel industry has all the potential to restructure itself. Here five ratios are considered to observe medium sized hotels. Future research with other variables will be useful, even on smaller hotels, and the analysis of their trends by cohorts of companies is necessary, as well as the integration of quantitative data with qualitative evidence. This paper encourages the culture of temporal sector comparison, re-evaluating the potential of accounting information systems, in order to promote data-based growth and development strategies. Furthermore, it contains indications for government officials, as well as for countries in the process of developing the hospitality sector following the example of the Italian experience.