Exec summary

Before Ottimate, EOS’s property team members spent hours each week capturing and submitting invoices to finance and accounting team members for manual processing. Physical checks were generated on-site, requiring two signatures from property executive committee team members before payments were manually mailed to vendors. With AP automation, EOS improved AP invoice processing accuracy and throughput time. Corporate and property team members gained increased visibility at every stage of the procure-to-pay process, and valuable time and resources could now be redirected to focusing on guests or performing other critical tasks that require attention.

About EOS Hospitality

EOS Hospitality was founded by Jonathan Wang in 2017 and currently has over 60 properties across the U.S. While each hotel maintains its own distinct character and local flavor, they are united by a philosophy that emphasizes thoughtful details, unique amenities, and immersive guest experiences.

The challenge

At each of EOS’s premier properties, managing invoice and payment processing was very manual-intensive and time-consuming. Chris Barnes, Senior Systems Manager, and Albert Alcantara, Vice President of Finance and Accounting, recognized that procure-to-pay processes, including AP invoice processing, play a critical role in the timeliness and accuracy of expenses on EOS’s profit and loss (P&L) statement.

The company was struggling with a manual, paper-driven invoicing and payments process that involved:

• Property accounts payable team members gathered vendor paper invoices from the mail and then circulated the documents to department managers for review and approval.
• Department managers attached purchase orders, receiving documents, or other supporting documentation to invoices indicating goods were delivered or services were rendered.
• General ledger account coding, wet signatures, and any relevant comments were physically written on paper invoices indicating approval. Invoices were then sent back to finance and accounting for invoice processing.
• Finance staff spent a significant amount of time manually entering invoice data into the ERP system and physically printing checks on property. Two property executive committee team members were required to physically sign each check before payments were manually mailed to vendors.
• Hard copies of invoices and checks were stored in file cabinets on the property.

Handwritten GL coding and notes on invoices were hard to read. Physical invoice copies could go undetected sitting on someone’s desk. Weekly or monthly spend data was not always up to date as paper invoices required time to be manually signed by approvers for processing.

The solution

Alcantara and Barnes were committed to improving efficiency at EOS through digital innovation and determined it was time to compare AI-driven AP automation solutions. After a thorough market analysis, they chose Ottimate.

“We selected Ottimate for three reasons,” Alcantara said. “First, we were blown away by how user-friendly the Ottimate user interface and application were for our GMs, property managers, and accountants. Second, Ottimate had knowledgeable staff who understood the critical challenges of procure-to-pay and accounts payable processing and answered all questions raised by members at every level of our organization. Third, the speed of implementation was faster than other competitors, which was important to us as a rapidly growing company.”

With Ottimate in place, EOS was able to implement this fast, efficient, and electronic AP process:

• Each hotel uses a variety of capture methods to import invoices
• These are routed to the company’s finance accounts payable team
• Ottimate reads each invoice and codes it automatically
• The invoice is routed to a property manager or Hotel GM through an electronic workflow
• They quickly review the details and approve the invoice
• Vendor payment is initiated electronically through Ottimate, eliminating manual time and effort

“Ottimate quickly became a key part of our accounting lifecycle,” Alcantara said. “It has expanded beyond the accounting and finance teams and is used by management and operations leaders. It’s giving them better control of their expenses. They can see a picture of an invoice on one side, with coding and financial details on the other. The visibility and ease of access to current spend data is aiding hotel department managers to manage expenses and improve profitability.”

Results / Impact

With Ottimate up and running, EOS has moved away from the inefficient processing of physical paper invoices and eliminated the need to manually process checks on property on a regular basis. A slow, complex, manual process that Barnes called “serpentine and totally inefficient” is now fast, simple, and automated.

With the implementation of more efficient tools and processes, hotel managers have switched their attention to creating memorable experiences for guests. The finance team processes invoices and payments much faster and more accurately than before.

“When invoices come in, they’re already coded for the accounting team,” Alcantara said. “This represents an enormous time savings when you consider the number of invoices that are sent to our properties.”

“We reallocated our team members’ time so they no longer had to process checks on property and could focus on other areas,” Barnes added. “Now that approvals are made in Ottimate, the right people touch invoices before they’re paid.”

Looking ahead, EOS plans to extend its AP automation initiative. This includes importing electronic invoices into Ottimate via EDI, utilizing virtual cards for vendor purchases, and paying suppliers quickly by ACH. The company also plans to implement Ottimate’s cost validation tools, which will increase data accuracy and save time by matching details on POs, invoices, and receipts and flagging any discrepancies.

“I encourage organizations to move out of the paper invoice age and into AP automation,” Barnes said. “In addition to cost and time savings, it brings so much efficiency and visibility.”

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