In these uncertain economic times, many businesses in the hospitality industry are putting out the welcome mat to embrace Accounts Payable (AP) automation solutions that will streamline operations for finance offices. Implementing powerful finance automation technology eliminates fragmented payment systems, increases security and greatly reduces the risk of fraud, among many other benefits.

By moving to an automated payment and invoice platform, hospitality finance teams can save thousands of hours a year that were spent tracking invoices as well as printing, stuffing and mailing checks. Finance automation also creates opportunities to develop and execute strategic initiatives such as boosting revenues, investing more time in the development of team members and focusing on initiatives to enhance the guest experience.

Another benefit of automation is gaining greater visibility into the organization’s finances. For example, payments fraud is always a concern. According to the Association for Financial Professionals’ 2022 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey, 71% of organizations reported having been victims of payments fraud activity. Securing how vendors are paid can alleviate much of that worry. Best-in-class automation solutions protect payments and keep bank accounts safe from fraud.

A 2020 global study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACF) determined that the typical organization loses 5% of revenue yearly because of fraud. The median loss for the food service and hospitality industry was estimated at $114,000. For hotels, data shows that organizations lose 5% to 6% of annual revenue from fraud perpetrated by employees and guests. Not surprisingly, the number of check fraud occurrences remains high in the hospitality industry because of the reliance on manual processing.

The finance automation company that I work for, Paymerang, partnered with M3 Accounting Services, the #1 provider of cloud-based hotel accounting software across North America, to help bring the hospitality industry into the digital age.

A case in point is Northpointe Hospitality Management, a leading hospitality management firm specializing in complex, historic and distinctive projects with hotels and restaurants throughout the U.S. We worked closely with their finance team to transform their AP processes, which had been very manual, arduous and overwhelming. In addition to other time-consuming tasks, they were still cutting checks physically, stuffing them in envelopes, stamping them and mailing them. Now they just upload the data into Paymerang’s Payment Automation platform and they can easily track payments with just a few clicks. Bank reconciliations time was greatly reduced – another big benefit.

As Greg Winey, President of Northpointe Hospitality Management, stated emphatically: In transforming our AP department, it allows us to focus more on guest experience. It allows us to focus more time on the development of our team members in the field and it allows us to create better relationships between both our internal and external guests.

And isn’t that what the hospitality industry is all about – providing an exceptional, memorable guest experience?

When employees no longer must spend extra time on manual accounting processes like cutting checks and payment reconciliation, they can focus on other initiatives with the thousands of hours they save annually by switching to an electronic payment system. These include financial performance, guest retention, property management, and employee learning and development opportunities.

Finance automation technology helps hospitality entities navigate staffing shortages and heavy turnover by eliminating the repetitive tasks that were so prevalent for back-office finance operations. Hospitality professionals are challenged with fewer resources in today’s rapidly changing economy and labor market, creating a critical need for AP automation to boost efficiency and safeguard payments.

When accounting teams are unshackled from monotonous, cumbersome and – quite frankly – old-fashioned ways of doing business, they can develop and execute more strategic and profitable initiatives resulting in a healthier bottom-line. That’s how this critically important industry to the U.S. economy can thrive in 2023 and beyond.

About Paymerang

Paymerang provides a streamlined invoice and payment automation platform that brings Accounts Payable (AP) departments into the modern age. Paymerang's platform saves AP departments thousands of hours annually, enhances visibility, increases accuracy, improves efficiency, and earns rebates while reducing paper, fraud risks, and operating costs. Learn more at https://www.paymerang.com/.

Michael Prall
Vice President, Hospitality, Paymerang
Paymerang