According to the PwC report into the state of play for remuneration in the hotel, pubs, restaurant, sports and gaming industries, the median salary for a chief executive is £500,000 and for a finance director the figure stands at £279,000.
But the report also shows maximum potential bonuses of 100% of salary are becoming the norm in this industry - although a decline is likely to be felt next year.
Approximately two-thirds of total compensation is performance-based for those companies in the hospitality and leisure sector. For a CEO, an average of 67% is based on variable components, such as bonus and share incentives. For an FD, this figure is 63%.
Marcus Peaker, reward partner, PwC, commented: "Bonus potential continued to rise in the first half of this year but the impact of current trading conditions is likely to be reflected by decreased payments in absolute terms in next year's bonus round. Although bonuses are not dead, shareholders will expect companies to clearly demonstrate why a bonus is being paid in this challenging economic environment.
"Setting appropriate types of bonus performance targets and levels that balance executives' and businesses' expectations with those of shareholders and regulators will be a key challenge this year. Incentive design will also depend on individual business models - for example, asset-backed companies will have different requirements and options from those organisations where brand is the main asset.
"As a way of managing the challenge of setting long-term financial measures, some companies are considering increasing the level of incentive compensation driven by annual performance with a significant level of bonus deferred as shares. That said, cash continues to be the preferred delivery mechanism of annual bonuses.
"Companies need to make concessions for the fact that depressed share prices, in conjunction with fixed-grant policies based on a percentage of salaries, may result in windfall benefits for executives when share prices in the sector recover."
