What is a hotel receipt?
A hotel receipt is a document issued by hotels to customers, who provides proof that the bill for their hotel stay has been paid.
Is a hotel receipt the same as an invoice?
No, a hotel receipt is not the same as an invoice. An invoice outlines all charges a guest has accrued during their stay. Once the invoice is paid, a receipt is produced as proof of this payment.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at hotel receipts: what they look like, why they’re important, and how to create and manage them.
Note: The term “hotel receipt” can be used to describe issuance of receipts by suppliers to hotelsbut in this article we will focus on the receipts that hotels give to their guests.
What is the format of a hotel receipt?
Although the formats of hotel receipts depend more or less on the hotels, the receipt must contain the following information:
- Hotel Details
- Guest Details
- Detailed stay details and fees
- Coststaxes and totals
- Payment method
If the payment was made in person on a card, the hotel receipt can be linked to the receipt generated by the hotel’s point of sale (POS) machine.
Why personalize hotel reservation receipts?
Hotel receipts provide a great opportunity to showcase your brand. By adding logos, colors and a personalized thank you message, you can remind past guests of the fun times they had at your property for a long time, when they completed their taxes or sorted their documents.
Hotel receipts can also be customized for functional reasons, such as formatting receipts in a way that meets the needs of business clients.
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Role of Hotel Receipts in Financial Processes
The traditional hotel billing process consists of four steps:
- Folio: A live document that records customer charges as they are made.
- Bill: A summary of charges for the customer to review at check.
- Bill: The official tax document that describes the finalized fees.
- Received: Proof of payment of the invoice.
As a final step, a receipt finalizes the billing process for each customer and gives the customer the documents they need to comply with tax laws.
How to Write a Detailed Hotel Receipt
These days, most receipts are created automatically by a specially designed hotel receipt generator or tool. But it’s good to understand how to write a hotel receipt the old-fashioned way, as a backup option you can use in the event of a power or systems outage.
As mentioned above, a traditional hotel receipt template will have the details of the hotel, guest and stay, it will detail all charges accrued during that stay (including subtotals and taxes) , and it will indicate the payment method. used.
Hotel Receipt Examples
To get a clearer idea of what a receipt looks like, let’s look at some hotel receipt examples.
Sample Hotel Reservation Receipt
This free hotel receipt template is a generic option that can be used by almost any hotel business.
Received from Days Inn Hotel
As a budget accommodation option, the hotel receipt for Days Inn (a Best Western brand) is perfectly simple and straightforward.
Received from the Best Western hotel
Receipts from Best Western hotels are traditional hotel stay receipts that contain all the information a guest could need.
Received from the Holiday Inn hotel
Receipts from Holiday Inn hotels (an IHG brand) provide a good example of clear marking on receipts.
How to Effectively Create and Manage Hotel Receipts
Wondering how to make a hotel receipt? The good news is that creating hotel receipts is easy because modern tools can automate almost the entire process.
Automating receipt generation and storage
Choose a tool that automatically generates a receipt as soon as an invoice is paid and places a copy of that receipt in the appropriate folder.
Manage complex payment terms
The best billing and receiving tools will also be able to handle split payments, group bookings, extended stays, refunds and duplicate requests. (You will also need to implement operational processes to ensure these complex tasks are handled correctly.)
Use data from hotel receipts
Receipt data can reveal how your guests prefer to pay for their stay, so you can make sure you’re supporting the most popular ones. payment methods. In tandem with invoices, receipts can also help you track revenue trends, optimize your pricing, and identify new opportunities you can capitalize on.
How to Use Technology to Simplify Hotel Receipts
While many tools automate the process of generating hotel receipts, the best ones will connect seamlessly to your property management and accounting systems.
Integration allows all your solutions to communicate with each other and for data to flow seamlessly throughout your technology stack. This opens up a world of automation, where repetitive, laborious and time-consuming tasks are carried out automatically. Automation can save a hotel a huge amount of time, while minimizing the risk of human error.
And in SiteMinder, the world’s leading hospitality platform, you have a revenue and distribution tool that can open up this world of automation, seamlessly connecting you to your chosen integration.