What is Hotel Accounting?
Hotel accounting is a specialised branch of accounting designed for the hospitality industry. It follows the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI) and tracks revenue and expenses by department such as rooms, food and beverage, banquets, spa, and other ancillaries.
How It Works
- Track revenue by department, including rooms (with average daily rate and occupancy), F&B, and other services.
- Allocate direct costs to the originating department and accumulate undistributed operating expenses separately.
- Report key hospitality KPIs: RevPAR, GOPPAR, average daily rate, and labour cost as a percentage of revenue.
- Apply VAT and tourism levies as required by local regulation.
Saudi Context
Saudi hospitality is booming under Vision 2030 (NEOM, Diriyah, Red Sea Global). Hotels charge 15% VAT and a municipal tourism levy. Saudi Tourism Authority licensing also requires monthly statistical filings, and ZATCA enforces e-invoicing for all hospitality transactions.
Example
A Riyadh hotel reports SAR 5 million revenue split into SAR 3 million rooms, SAR 1.5 million F&B, and SAR 500,000 other. RevPAR is calculated by dividing room revenue by available room nights to track performance month over month.