Hotel invoice: example and format guide

What is a hotel bill?

A hotel bill is a document issued by hotels to guests, which provides a detailed statement of costs incurred during their stay.

What is the difference between a hotel bill and a receipt?

Hotel bills and hotel receipts are slightly different documents. Once the invoice is paid by the customer, a receipt is generated as proof of this payment. payment.

In this guide, we’ll reveal everything hoteliers need to know about invoices: why they’re important, how and when they’re created, and how a hotel can better manage them.

What is a hotel bill used for?

The purpose of a hotel invoice is to provide your guests with an itemized statement of the charges they incurred during their stay. It provides transparency to customers and shows that your business is trustworthy.

And if the trip is tax deductible, the hotel invoice also serves as official proof of the transaction if local tax authorities ever audit the guest or hotel.

Why is streamlined hotel billing important?

Invoicing is an inevitable part of any business’s operations (not to mention the part that ensures you get paid), so you should strive to make the invoicing process as effective and efficient as possible.

By streamlining billing and ensuring it is fast and accurate, you can:

• Reduce the time your staff spends on laborious administrative tasks and increase the time they spend on high-value tasks, like improving the customer experience.
• Minimize human error through automation, to improve both accuracy and compliance.
• Reduce customer wait times and leave them with a good impression when they check out.

Understanding the lifecycle of a hotel bill

Hotel invoices are the third of four steps in the hotel payment process, which goes from folio > bill > Invoice > received.

A hotel bill is generated from a hotel bill that the guest usually reviews upon check-out. The invoice is created from a hotel folio – the record of charges charged by a guest during their stay. Once the invoice is paid, a receipt is generated as proof of payment.

How to check a hotel reservation invoice

When you generate a hotel invoice, you must verify it before giving it to your client. You should verify the customer’s contact information by asking for their name or checking their ID, then briefly review the charges for anything that seems strange or out of place.

Who pays a hotel bill?

Most hotel bills are paid by the guest upon check-out. But if a guest has prepaid for the roomand you haven’t accrued additional charges or paid everything as you go, there may be no payments due at check-out.

There is also direct billing, in which a business or organization pays for a guest’s stay. This is a common payment option among business travelers and tour groups.

How to Pay a Hotel Room Bill

When it comes to how a guest pays their bill, hotels have complete control over the methods they offer. Successful hotels always try to offer all the preferred payment options of their target customers.

Hotel Bill Examples

Let’s look at some hotel invoice examples to understand how a hotel room invoice template looks like.

Hotel bill example

Looking for a free hotel invoice template? The following generic hosting invoice template can be used by any type of hosting business. This can be a hotel invoice template for a small independent B&Bor it could even be an Expedia hotel bill.

Marriott hotel bill

If you want to take inspiration from a reservation invoice template used by one of the major hotel chains, here is what a reservation invoice template is. Marriott what the hotel bill looks like.

Hilton hotel bill

You may also want to use Hilton’s hotel invoice format as inspiration for yours.

How to Make a Hotel Bill: Format Fundamentals

How to make a hotel invoice? Most documents these days are created automatically by hotel invoice generators or invoicing tools, but it’s good to know how to create one yourself, just in case your power or systems go down. breakdown. Here are the fundamentals.

What to include in a hosting invoice

Hotel invoices must include the following information:

• Hotel Details
• Guest Details
• Stay details
• A detailed list of fees
• Payments and adjustments
• Subtotal, taxes and gross total
• Payment terms

Customizing invoices for brand identity

Invoices provide a great opportunity to display your hotel brand. Add logos and contact details, dress the document in your brand colors and place a personalized thank you message at the bottom.

Ensuring tax compliance and accuracy

Work with an accounting professional to ensure your invoices and billing systems meet all relevant tax codes and requirements.

Manage complex room billing scenarios

Choose a billing tool that can handle situations like group stays, extended stays, cancellations, split payments, and bundled services like packages or events.

Streamlining hotel billing with technology

The best invoicing tools are not standalone solutions. They have the ability to integrate with the rest of your hotel software, which opens up the possibility of automating and streamlining the entire billing process, reducing errors in the process: a bar bill that is automatically added to the client’s folio at the end of the evening, for example.

Hotel Billing Data Strategies

When data flows freely between your hotel software, it also gives you the ability to analyze the information generated by your billing software. The insights gained can help you track your occupancy, refine your pricing strategies, forecast your revenue, and identify service gaps and opportunities.

And if you’re looking for a hotel revenue and distribution tool that can maximize your data usage, seamlessly connecting to your chosen billing solution, there’s no better option than SiteMinder.