Invoice automation guide for hotels using Dirs21

The invoice automation problem for hotels

Hotels with corporate accounts face a persistent invoicing challenge. Corporate clients expect consolidated invoices delivered on a predictable schedule — typically monthly or per-stay — in a format that complies with the tax and VAT regulations of their home jurisdiction. Producing these invoices manually from Dirs21 reservation data involves extracting reservation reports, formatting them in a word processor or spreadsheet, applying the correct VAT treatment and emailing the result to a billing contact. For a hotel with 15 corporate accounts this consumes 4–6 hours of administrative time per month.

EU VAT requirements for hotel invoices

Hotel accommodation is subject to VAT at rates that vary by country: 7% in Germany, 10% in Austria, 10% in France (standard hotel rate), 5% in the UK (post-Brexit reduced rate). EU VAT invoices for B2B transactions must include: the supplier's full name, address and VAT number; the customer's name, address and VAT number (for reverse-charge transactions); the invoice date and a unique sequential invoice number; a description of the service; the net amount, VAT rate applied, VAT amount and gross total; and the applicable VAT treatment (standard rated, reduced rated, or reverse charge for intra-EU B2B).

What Dirs21's native invoicing covers

Dirs21 generates invoices per reservation. Each reservation can have a folio with line items added at check-in and check-out, and Dirs21 can print or email a PDF invoice for that folio. For direct billing to corporate accounts, Dirs21 supports posting charges to a company account. However, consolidating multiple stays across a billing period into a single invoice, applying EU VAT logic automatically based on the company's VAT registration status, and scheduling delivery on a defined cadence are not native Dirs21 capabilities.

Automating with Dirs21 Invoice Automation

The CockpitMod Invoice Automation module reads all reservations from your Dirs21 account that are associated with a corporate company profile, groups them by company and billing period, applies the correct EU VAT treatment based on the company's registered country and VAT number, generates a branded PDF invoice and delivers it by email to the billing contact on a configurable schedule.

Configure the module by: selecting which Dirs21 company profiles should receive automated invoices; setting the billing cycle for each company (per-stay, weekly or monthly); uploading your hotel's letterhead and logo for branded PDFs; entering the billing contact email address for each company; and specifying the invoice number prefix and starting sequence. The module generates the first invoice at the end of the first complete billing period after activation.

Multi-currency handling

For hotels hosting guests from multiple countries, reservations may be settled in different currencies. The Invoice Automation module reads the settlement currency from Dirs21 and generates the invoice in the same currency, with the EUR equivalent shown for companies in the eurozone. Exchange rates are applied based on the European Central Bank reference rate on the invoice date.