Invoicing and reconciliation should be straightforward – but for too many accommodation businesses, it rarely is. Between managing bookings from multiple OTAs, reconciling varied commission structures, and producing tax-compliant invoices, many properties spend far more time than necessary trying to balance their books at the end of each month.
One of the most common – and easily overlooked – pitfalls is failing to reconcile OTA invoices accurately. When payments from OTAs don’t match expected amounts because of withheld commissions, currency differences, or incorrect rates, discrepancies can accumulate over time, leading to distorted revenue figures – and frustration when reviewing your financial reports.
Improper reconciliation of OTA invoices is a leading cause of inaccuracies in hospitality accounting – yet it’s a mistake that can be easily avoided with the right processes.
Streamlining invoicing: Automation and integration
Effective invoicing and reconciliation start with issuing clear, professional invoices that align with your brand while meeting tax and compliance requirements. Automation is key here: it eliminates the risk of numbering errors, duplicate invoices, or inconsistencies that could raise red flags during audits. Automating invoice generation also saves valuable time, especially when managing a high volume of bookings or properties across multiple owners.
But even perfect invoices won’t help if your OTA payouts are misaligned. That’s why a robust property management system like eviivo Suite™ offers direct, deep integrations with major OTAs. This level of connectivity ensures that payments received can be automatically matched to the expected amounts – including adjustments for commissions and fees.
This automatic reconciliation gives you confidence in your cash flow and financial statements by ensuring you always know:
- What you’ve earned
- What has been paid
- What remains outstanding
Enhancing revenue tracking and guest experience
Proper invoicing and reconciliation processes also support better revenue tracking. As highlighted in this VRMA article by eviivo CEO Michele Fitzpatrick, one of the most common accounting mistakes in hospitality is inaccurate revenue reporting – especially when multiple revenue sources like cleaning fees, extras, or ancillary services are involved. Automating revenue allocation on invoices:
- Ensures each item is tracked correctly
- Avoids misclassification
- Improves financial accuracy
Finally, transparent invoicing enhances the guest experience by providing clear, detailed records of their charges. Guests, especially corporate travellers, rely on compliant, itemised invoices for expense claims. Providing professional invoices with personalised branding reflects well on your business and can strengthen relationships with repeat guests or business accounts.
With automated invoicing and reliable reconciliation, month-end accounting becomes a routine task rather than a time-consuming scramble – freeing you and your team to focus on what really matters: delivering outstanding guest experiences.
For step-by-step advice on simplifying and automating your invoicing processes, download our Invoice and Reconciliation White Paper.
Stay tuned for the final part of our blog series, where we’ll explore how to prepare for – and respond to – chargebacks with confidence.