Hotels & Hospitality

A hotel is an operating business and a real estate asset at the same time. We handle both sides of the equation.

Two Businesses in One

A hotel is not like other real estate. It is both an operating business and an income-producing asset at the same time. Cash hits the register every day from multiple channels. Expenses flow constantly across payroll, supplies, utilities, and third-party services. Meanwhile, the underlying real estate carries depreciation schedules, debt service requirements, and capital needs that have nothing to do with how many rooms you sold last night.

Most accountants understand one side of this equation but not the other. They come from a hospitality background and treat the property like a restaurant, focused purely on operations. Or they come from real estate and miss the daily operational complexity that makes hospitality different. You need someone who understands both halves and can bring them together into a coherent financial picture.

Who This Covers

Independent hotels, boutique properties, small hospitality portfolios, and owner-operators running anywhere from a single property to a handful of assets. Properties where you still feel the daily operational rhythm but also carry real estate obligations to lenders, partners, or investors.

Why Real Estate Accounting

Your hotel generates cash daily, but it is still a capital asset. Depreciation, cost segregation, debt tracking, and entity-level reporting matter just as much as occupancy rate and RevPAR. We bring both layers together so you see the full picture.

What We Handle

On the operational side, we track daily revenue across all your booking channels and reconcile it against merchant deposits and OTA statements. We handle departmental accounting so you can see performance by rooms, food and beverage if applicable, and other income streams. Occupancy taxes, sales taxes, and transient lodging taxes get tracked by jurisdiction with proper exemption handling so filings are accurate and on time.

On the real estate side, we maintain your depreciation schedules and coordinate with cost segregation strategies. We track debt service and prepare lender-required reporting. We produce property-level financial statements that show actual performance in a format your investors or partners expect. The two sides tie together into books that reflect the true financial position of your asset.

Revenue and Operations

Daily revenue tracking and channel reconciliation across OTAs, direct bookings, and corporate accounts. Merchant account reconciliation that catches commission discrepancies and chargeback issues. Departmental P&Ls showing where money is actually made. Occupancy and sales tax tracking with exemption documentation.

Real Estate Layer

Depreciation and amortization schedules maintained properly. Debt service tracking and covenant monitoring. Capital expenditure tracking separated from operating expenses. Property-level statements that satisfy lenders and give investors a clear view of asset performance.

Where Things Go Wrong

Hotels generate a lot of transactions. Revenue comes in from Expedia, Booking.com, direct reservations, and walk-ins. Merchant processing creates a gap between gross bookings and net cash that varies by channel and card type. Chargebacks and OTA commission adjustments appear weeks after the original transaction. Without tight reconciliation, cash slips through the cracks and nobody notices until the bank balance tells a different story than the PMS dashboard.

Tax compliance adds another layer. Occupancy taxes vary by jurisdiction and often require separate filings at the city, county, and state level. Rates differ. Exemption rules differ. Some guests qualify for exemptions and some do not, and the documentation requirements are specific. Get this wrong and you face penalties or back-taxes that wipe out a month of margin.

Revenue Leakage

OTA commission statements that do not match what you expected. Chargebacks posted without offsetting the original revenue. Merchant processing fees that vary in ways nobody can explain. The gap between what the PMS says you earned and what hit the bank. Small discrepancies that add up over months.

Tax Complexity

Occupancy taxes with different rates and filing frequencies by jurisdiction. Exemptions for government travelers or long-term stays that require documentation. Sales tax on ancillary services that gets missed. Late filings because nobody tracked the due dates. Audit exposure from sloppy exemption records.

What Changes

You see actual performance, not just what the booking engine reports. Revenue reconciles from gross bookings through commissions and chargebacks to net cash in the bank. Departmental statements show which parts of the operation make money and which drain it. You know whether a busy month was actually profitable or just felt that way.

Tax filings happen on time with accurate numbers behind them. Exemptions are documented and defensible. The financial statements you send to lenders or investors show real performance and satisfy their reporting requirements. Cash flow visibility lets you plan through slow seasons and make informed decisions about capital improvements, debt, or expansion.

Performance Clarity

Departmental reporting that shows where margin actually comes from. Channel-level visibility into net revenue after commissions. Monthly closes that give you a true read on how the property performed. No more gap between what the dashboard says and what the bank shows.

Clean Reporting and Compliance

Occupancy and sales tax filings handled with proper exemption tracking. Financial statements formatted for lenders and investors. Depreciation and debt schedules ready for tax preparation. The books reflect reality and hold up under scrutiny.

Boutique Real Estate Accounting Firm