From data collection to technical constraints, the reform of electronic invoicing reconstitutes the entire billing chain in the hotel industry. For establishments, the challenge is to quickly adapt working methods in order to reconcile compliance, cash flow control and the fluidity of the customer journey. Christophe Sauthon and Nady Bendaoud, partners at Nexia S&A, analyze the operational challenges of the sector.

Announced as early as 2019, the reform of electronic invoicing is preparing to go from text to reality. Although it concerns all business sectors and all company sizes, the hotel industry is distinguished by a particularly complex equation: a high number of invoices, a permanent coexistence of BtoC and BtoB flows, and operations carried out in real time, at the rate of arrivals, departures and adjustments to stay.

A progressive calendar, immediate obligations

In total, France has 16,610 hotels and more than 600,000 rooms. A very contrasting set, where the average capacity ranges from around twenty rooms in unclassified hotels to nearly sixty in five-star establishments. From September 1, 2026, they must all be able to receive electronic invoices. A first structuring deadline: even when the emission obligation comes later, the reception capacity must already be operational.

The deployment will then take place gradually according to the size of the companies. Large companies and ETIs will enter into the emission obligation as early as 2026, while SMEs, VSEs and microenterprises will follow in 2027. In practice, the sector must therefore prepare now to adapt its billing circuits, tools and internal procedures. ” For tourist-oriented hotels, there will be few changes. It is especially the business travel segment that is concerned, with a change in practices in hotels but also in companies, which will manage the billing of business trips differently. ”, explains Nady Bendaoud, a partner at Nexia S&A, a specialist in the hotel sector.

PMS, accounting, platform: the need to properly articulate systems

The main challenge today is technical, and relates to concrete implementation in institutions. ” For some customers, in particular independent hoteliers, this reform is seen as a real constraint., highlights Nady Bendaoud. Their main concern is to meet fiscal obligations and to maintain a sufficient level of cash flow: the reform is seen as a tool for controlling the administration more than for simplification. ” For hotels, the difficulty is mainly related to the link between regulatory requirements, existing tools and operational organization.

The particularity of the hotel industry lies in the large number of invoices to manage: the overnight stay, of course, but also the provision of services, in particular catering. The same customer can generate several invoices, considering one expense as professional, another as personal. ” If PMS, which are hotel cash register tools, do not communicate well administratively with the approved platform chosen, reporting will be complicated, and some information will have to be completed manually. ” explains Christophe Sauthon, partner at Nexia S&A in charge of transformation consulting services.

Train teams and make data collection reliable

There is a real change management challenge for hotels, which will have to bill their BtoB customers via an approved platform, and therefore collect additional information such as the company's Siren number. For the reform to be well implemented, teams must therefore be trained at the operational level, to manage the flow of invoices and the amount of information to be requested from professional customers. An evolution that moves part of the constraint towards hospitality. ” The person at the front desk is likely to have to manage data collection. But be careful: if a customer in a hurry changes the service to a BtoC invoice, he could be caught up by his company, which is also subject to obligations, and ask the hotel to change the payment processing afterwards ”, warns Nady Bendaoud.

The subject is particularly sensitive for expense reports. As of September 1, 2026, as soon as the expense exceeds 150 euros excluding VAT, the invoice must be drawn up in the name of the company and integrated into the electronic invoicing circuit. Below this threshold, the applicable modalities remain more flexible. For hotels, this reinforces the value of collecting billing information earlier in order to limit restarts at the time of departure. ” Hotels will have to work much further ahead of billing to set up new processes for retrieving information, the ideal being that only the payment is to be managed at the time of billing. ”, underlines Christophe Sauthon.

However, this early collection must not be at the expense of the customer experience. Because the equation is delicate: on the one hand, establishments need more complete information and earlier in the journey; on the other hand, business travelers, often in a hurry, do not want to be questioned at the time of booking or arrival. And at the time of departure, when several customers are waiting simultaneously, the need to collect accurate billing data can create a bottleneck at the reception. ” You have to work on the customer journey so that the collection of information is fluid, rather than multiplying questions at the wrong time. ”, summarizes Christophe Sauthon. A design as well as an organizational challenge, which implies rethinking the stages of the stay as as many possible points of contact with billing data.

A compliance... and business challenge

As the 2026 and 2027 deadlines approach, electronic invoicing thus acts as a maturity test for hotel organizations. The challenge is not only to produce a compliant invoice, but to industrialize the entire chain, from the collection of customer information to reporting. ” Hoteliers are well aware of the challenges of compliance, not only to meet the requirements of their business customers, but also those of the administration. ”, explains Nady Bendaoud. The obligations come with a real financial risk in the event of non-compliance, with fines of up to several hundred thousand euros.

This transformation is also part of a fundamental trend that goes beyond the French framework. The reform follows an international movement to digitize billing exchanges, with an Italian system that has already been operational since 2019, and a wider dynamic at the European level. The Italian precedent provides a useful reference point: electronic invoicing was built in stages rather than by immediate transition. Thus, the first difficulties relate less to the principle of reform than to its concrete implementation, in particular for the least equipped structures. For France, the challenge is therefore to anticipate process adaptations and team support. For French hotels, the challenge is therefore to anticipate these adjustments now. ” An establishment that will not be able to invoice electronically is simply at risk of losing its business customers. ” concludes Christophe Sauthon.

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