The State of AP Maturity 2026: Hospitality Edition

Insights from 200+ finance leaders on how hospitality teams are managing accounts payable, where they’re struggling, and why unified AP automation is the way forward.

What hospitality finance teams are dealing with

Our research uncovers where hospitality AP is falling short and what high-performing teams are doing differently.

Manual work has become unsustainable

45% of hospitality teams manage 5,000 or more invoices per month, and 28% say it takes 5+ days to process just one.

Partial automation is common, but blindspots remain

Only 5% of hospitality organizations have fully automated AP. 90% use a blend of automation and manual processes.

Manual controls are no match for fraud & overpayment

36% of hospitality organizations have experienced invoice fraud or overpayment in the past 12 months.
46%

of hospitality finance teams spend six days or more closing their AP books

47%

spend 11 hours or more each week running reports

26%

frequently re-run financial reports due to errors or missing data

39%

feel their automation tools deliver little to no cost savings, versus 48% across all industries

Frequently Asked Questions

It is Ottimate’s annual benchmark report on how hospitality finance teams manage accounts payable, based on a NewtonX survey of mid-market finance and accounting decision makers conducted in September 2025.
95% of hospitality finance teams use some level of AP automation, but only 5% have fully automated the process from invoice intake to payment. The other 90% use a blend of automation and manual work.
45% of hospitality organizations process 5,000 or more invoices per month, and 28% say a single invoice takes five days or more to move from intake to payment.
36% of hospitality organizations experienced invoice fraud or overpayment in the past 12 months, compared with 41% across all industries surveyed.
Partial automation is when a finance team automates some AP steps, such as invoice status tracking or duplicate detection, while others stay manual. It leaves disconnected systems, repeated handoffs, and siloed data in place, which is why 39% of hospitality organizations report their automation tools deliver little to no cost savings.
Controllers, VPs of Finance, and CFOs at multi-location hospitality organizations, including hotels, restaurants, and food and beverage operators, who are evaluating or already running AP automation.
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