Why Hospitality Businesses Choose Lightyear
1. Automatic Invoice Capture from Poor Documents
Your team receives more invoices than most businesses in other industries, and they're rarely in perfect condition. TCS Guernsey, a bookkeeping firm working with hospitality businesses like yours, faced exactly these problems. They tried 3 - 4 AP automation solutions, but none were suitable.
“I'd explored other AP automation software, but either it was terrible for invoices, or the line item data extraction was awful.” - Tim Chilestone, Director.
After exploring several platforms, they chose Lightyear due to its ability to automatically pull data from invoices using AI in under 15 seconds.
Tim said: “Sometimes we get papers that are all crumpled up, or someone will have spilt a pint of Guinness on them, and then they can't be read. Lightyear’s AI-based data extraction feature has definitely helped extract data from such unreadable documents.”
2. Duplicate Payments Avoidance
Duplicate invoices are a common and costly issue in the hospitality industry, and the risk increases significantly during peak periods when your team is processing higher volumes at a faster pace. This was the main challenge for Salter Brothers Hospitality: “We wanted to avoid the risk of unnecessary losses and duplicate invoice payments, particularly during peak periods.”
They implemented Lightyear to automatically check invoices for duplicates before they're approved or paid. As a result, they reduced unnecessary spending, protected cash flow, and eliminated the manual checks during the busy season.
“Lightyear makes managing AP faster than ever.” - Liesa McGrorey, Accounts Team Manager
3. Cost Control
You lose further visibility when your spend is spread across multiple venues, suppliers, and cost centres. Jacques Dejardin from Plate It Forward tried multiple automation platforms, but realised that ‘the control point just isn’t there’. Lightyear gives them real-time visibility into spend across every location and department. Results?
- 1.5 headcounts worth of time saved
- Tighter cost control
- Only 2 hours per week spent on AP tasks
- Better-informed decisions
“In hospitality, you don’t always get the same level of competence, professionalism, or skill. Having a tool like Lightyear, there’s peace of mind knowing that with a significant spend on goods and services, there’s now accountability and control.”
These results don’t feel substantial. Are there any data points in this case study that we could use as the results? Check Mark
4. Strengthen Supplier Relations
When you're processing hundreds of invoices from the same supplier each month, statement reconciliation becomes critical. Miss one invoice, and your supplier statements won't match, leading to disputes, delayed payments, and strained relationships. Wahlburgers' finance team faced exactly this problem.
They implemented an AP automation software but didn’t achieve the benefits they wanted. “The so-called statement reconciliation functionality in our previous automation software doesn’t pull line items or give you the total. It's basically unusable.” - Nicole Newham, Finance Manager
Lightyear simplifies statement reconciliation by automatically reconciling your supplier statements. You can quickly match invoices against supplier statements, spot missing invoices or pricing discrepancies, and resolve issues before they become problems.
Nicole said, “I believe it’s the most comprehensive AP software on the market, with its ability to automatically reconcile statements.”
Also, statement rec - with such a large volume of invoices from the same supplier, this is key. Need to add this in Check Mark
Can you change the title of this - feel like faster month-end close sells it short. Can you call it “Strengthen Supplier Relations” Check Mark
5. Track Supplier Pricing
In hospitality, supplier prices can change quickly and frequently. Without a clear view of agreed pricing, it's easy for your suppliers to overcharge you. Lightyear helps you spot pricing changes, discrepancies, or unexpected increases, so you can challenge incorrect charges, negotiate better supplier agreements, and make sure you're only paying what was agreed.
As Bernie Simpson, the Financial Controller of Windmill NI, put it, “Within Lightyear, keeping an eye on supplier pricing is automated. Once the price list is uploaded, it automatically checks that we are being priced correctly. We can also compare 27 stores at a glance and see who is spending too much and have a chat with them.”
6. A Good Tech Stack Fit
You're already juggling accounting software, POS systems, reporting tools, and more. If your AP software doesn't integrate properly with what you're already using, you end up with more manual work and less visibility. City Golf faced exactly this problem. They needed AP automation that would fit into their existing tech stack, not force them to work around it. Lightyear integrates seamlessly with the systems hospitality businesses already rely on, without forcing you to rebuild your workflows or duplicate data entry across systems.
As the company’s virtual CFO explained, “The automation software we tried before used to be appealing, but it hasn’t developed or grown the way Lightyear has. It really doesn’t handle the complexities of hospitality. The key benefit of Lightyear is that it was developed by hospitality people, for hospitality. That’s why Lightyear is the solution we chose.”
Final Thoughts
In hospitality, busy periods can make or break your profit margins. That’s why you need to stay on top of costs when it matters most. Lightyear handles multiple venues, suppliers, and cost centres with ease, giving you real-time visibility when things are moving fast.
This means you can react quickly during peak periods, spot cost issues before they impact your bottom line, and strengthen your profit margins, all while your team stays focused on delivering great guest experiences.
