What is a hotel receipt?
A hotel receipt is a document that is issued by hotels to guests, which offers proof that the invoice 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 the charges that a guest has accrued during their stay. Once the invoice is paid, a receipt is produced as proof of that 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 receipts issues by suppliers to hotels, but in this article we’ll focus on the receipts that hotels give to guests.
Table of contents
What is the format of a hotel receipt?
While hotel receipt formats are more or less up to hotels, the receipt should feature the following information:
- Hotel details
- Guest details
- Stay details and itemised charges
- Fees, taxes and totals
- Payment method
If the payment was made in-person on a card, the hotel receipt may be paired with the receipt generated by the hotel’s point of sale (POS) machine.
Why customise hotel reservation receipts?
Hotel receipts offer a great opportunity to showcase your brand. By adding logos, colours and a custom thank-you message, you can remind previous guests of the fun time they had at your property long into the future, when they’re doing their taxes or sorting their paperwork.
Hotel receipts can also be customised for functional reasons, such as formatting receipts in a way that aligns with the needs of corporate clients.
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Role of hotel receipts in financial processes
The traditional billing process for a hotel is made up of four stages:
- Folio: A live document that records guest charges as they are made.
- Bill: A summary of charges for the guest to review at check out.
- Invoice: The official tax document that outlines the finalised charges.
- Receipt: The proof of payment for the invoice.
As the last step, a receipt finalises the billing process for each guest, and gives the guest the documentation they need to comply with tax laws.
How to write an itemised hotel receipt
These days most receipts are automatically created by a purpose-built 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 that you can use if your power or systems go down.
As mentioned above, a traditional hotel receipt template will feature the details of the hotel, the guest and the stay, it will itemise all the charges accrued over the course of that stay (including subtotals and taxes), and it will outline the payment method used.
Hotel receipt examples
For a clearer idea of what a receipt looks like, let’s check out some hotel receipt samples.
Hotel booking receipt sample
This free hotel receipt template is a generic option that can be used by pretty much any hotel business.
Days Inn hotel receipt
As a budget accommodation option, the hotel receipt for Days Inn (a Best Western brand) is perfectly simple and straightforward.
Best Western hotel receipt
Best Western hotel receipts are traditional hotel stay receipts that feature all the information a guest could require.
Holiday Inn hotel receipt
Holiday Inn hotel receipts (an IHG brand) offer a good example of clear branding on receipts.
How to create and manage hotel receipts efficiently
Wondering how to make a hotel receipt? The good news is that it’s easy to create hotel receipts 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 that places a copy of that receipt in the appropriate folder.
Managing complex payment conditions
The best billing, invoicing and receipt tools will also be capable of handling split payments, group bookings, extended stays, refunds and duplicate requests. (You’ll also need to implement operational processes to ensure these complex tasks are handled correctly.)
Leveraging hotel stay receipt data
Data from receipts can reveal how your guests prefer to pay for their stays, so you can ensure that you support the most popular payment methods. In tandem with invoices, receipts can also help you to track revenue trends, optimise your pricing, and identify new opportunities that you can capitalise on.
Annie Hong,
Revenue and Reservations Manager
The RuMa Hotel and Residences
How to use technology to simplify hotel receipts
While plenty of tools automate the process of generating hotel receipts, the best will seamlessly connect to your property management and accounting systems.
Integration allows all your solutions to talk to one another, and for data to seamlessly travel around your tech stack. This opens up a world of automation, where repetitive, laborious, time-consuming tasks are done automatically. Automation can save a hotel huge amounts of time, while also minimising the opportunity for human error.
And in SiteMinder, the world’s leading hotel platform, you have a revenue and distribution tool that can open up this world of automation, by seamlessly connecting with whatever your chosen integration might be.
