Purchasing & Accounts Payable Automation Software for Hospitality
Supercharge your profits and reduce admin stress with AP automation for hospitality. Eliminate manual invoice processing, streamline supplier management, improve cash flow, and free your team to deliver great guest experiences.
An Industry Recognised Hospitality Software for Finance Teams
Key Features for Hospitality
Focus on Guests, Not Paperwork. Turn Your Busy Back Office into Smooth Operations
Get control of spending
Easily create purchase orders and automatically route them to the correct approver. Send approved purchase orders directly to your suppliers, all from within Lightyear.
Gain tighter control over spending, reduce over-ordering, and maintain an efficient procurement process.
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Faster month-end closing
Automate statement reconciliation to quickly match supplier statements against invoices and identify missing documents.
Faster reconciliation enables you to close month-ends more quickly with greater accuracy.
Better inventory monitoring
Automatically 3-way match invoices against the corresponding Purchase Orders and Goods Received Notes, ensuring you only pay for goods that arrive at your venue.
Automated data at a line item level
Suppliers can send invoices directly to Lightyear via email. Lightyear's advanced AI extraction tool pulls line item detail from the invoice, applies automatic coding and routes to the correct approver.
Automated coding enables fast and accurate reporting at a product level. This helps you identify popular produce for reordering and split costs across multiple venues.
Stop overpaying your suppliers
Keep track of price increases and make smarter business decisions to help reduce overheads.
Lightyear automatically flags discrepancies in pricing between the supplier invoice and agreed supplier pricing, alerting you to an increase before payment. You can use this to track price rises throughout the year and negotiate more favourable rates with your supplier.
Don't pay twice for the same product
Don't waste money double-paying for the same products and services. Lightyear automatically detects duplicate invoices and flags these, preventing overpayments and protecting your bottom line.
Automate your approval processes
Set up automated, multi-tiered approval workflows based on invoice amount, supplier details, departments or locations.
Faster approvals mean faster payments for your supplier and give you leverage to negotiate better terms or discounts.
On-the-go approvals
Access and manage purchase orders, invoices, and approvals on the go with the Lightyear mobile app.
The flexibility to approve from anywhere keeps your AP processes running smoothly during busy periods, avoiding payment delays and maintaining strong supplier relationships.
Accurate reporting for effective decision-making
Generate detailed reports across products and services, suppliers, venues or other cost centres.
7 years of historical data means your team can forecast seasonal trends or customer purchasing behaviour based on previous spending. This information helps make smarter decisions, including availing of discounts for bulk purchasing during busy periods or popular produce, or reducing waste during quieter periods.
Automated AP is the best benefit. Invoicing reading and coding plus bill matching and statement checking are all great. Prior to Lightyear, so much of our time was consumed with data entry.. Now we've saved between 13-15 hours per week. We would advise anyone in hospitality to automate! You'll get back so much time.
The team at Lightyear have been fantastic from the outset, from onboarding to ongoing support. The software itself it very user friendly, makes our processes much more efficient and eliminates our need for paper in the accounts payable process.
Fix the Process, Not the Headcount
When finance teams are drowning in invoices, hiring more staff just spreads the same inefficiency across more desks, while adding recruitment overhead and turnover risk that erodes already-thin margins. Smart hospitality finance leaders choose automation over headcount expansion, processing 5x faster with existing teams and eliminating the cycle of recruiting, training, and replacing AP staff. Fix the process, not the headcount.
Why choose Lightyear for hospitality?
Accurate Data
Make smarter, data-driven decisions with real-time visibility into costs, margins, and inventory, which helps you plan better for seasonal fluctuations, deliver better guest experiences, and achieve higher profitability.
Smarter Spend
Get smarter with your spending by cutting unnecessary costs and reducing labour overheads, so you can maintain consistent pricing for your customers.
Tighter Control
Gain complete control over spending with built-in approvals and fraud protection. Avoid over-ordering, eliminate payment errors, and protect your profit margins, leaving more to invest in your guests.
Integrated Solutions
Connect your systems to work seamlessly, reducing admin tasks and freeing your team to focus on strategy and growth.
Trusted by hospitality businesses globally
Trusted by hospitality businesses globally
Servicing hospitality businesses is what we do best. We have over a decade of experience working with businesses just like yours. We've helped finance teams reduce their invoice processing by up to 90% and save thousands annually.
AAB Group has been a loyal customer of Lightyear for years. Watch the video to find out how Lightyear has changed Graham's workday for the better.
Integrate with leading solutions
From accounting platforms to inventory solutions, Lightyear offers seamless integration into leading systems in the hospitality industry. Eliminate manual work for your team and give them back the time they need to complete more pressing tasks.
Additional resources
Hospitality staffing challenges: AP automation ebook
Get expert insights and real venue examples on how to manage headcount more effectively.
Customer Case Study
Here's how The Cardan changed the way its finance team operated and streamlined their processes.
Checklist: Audit your AP function
Have you got the right provider? Use our checklist to find out.
Trusted by Leading Accountants and Businesses
Lightyear delivers, and then some. I have found the accuracy of the data extraction and multi-level approval rules have significantly reduced manual processing costs.
The Lightyear team are fantastic to deal with - knowledgeable and patient. They are more than a supplier. They are an invaluable and trusted business partner, who have the best interest of our businesses to heart.
With more than one million Bills processed, Lightyear continues to be an invaluable addition to Abcom’s suite of business applications.
We reviewed a number of AP apps, and Lightyear was by far and away the best. Their sign-off functionality for managers is unique to all the apps we surveyed. Love it!
Lightyear has an easy to use interface, eliminating data-entry and facilitating better business processes around the accounts payable function.
The software itself is very user friendly, making our processes much more efficient and eliminating our need for paper in the accounts payable process.
I love that all my actions can be done in one place - Lightyear stores/archives all information received and makes searching it a breeze.
Hundreds of our McDonalds clients are using Lightyear - It's great for speeding up the entry of bills and supporting separate bill authorisation.
Lightyear is such an easy platform to use, it saves heaps of your time and every invoice is at your finger tips. The support team is awesome and you never have to wait more than a minute to speak/online chat to someone for advice or help.
Saves so much time. It is so easy to use, and the staff friendly and knowledgeable. It was very easy to train our farm managers to use. We love it!
Lightyear allows us to easily manage the accounts payable process across our entire client base. The parent dashboard gives great visibility across them all.
I've been using Lightyear for a few years for larger clients and have just recently transitioned my smaller clients across. Regardless of the size of business, Lightyear provides great efficiencies.
FAQs
What is AP automation for hospitality businesses?
AP automation streamlines your accounts payable process by digitising invoice data extraction, approvals and reconciliation. For hospitality businesses, this means faster, more accurate processing and complete visibility across every property, without the paperwork.
Why does my business need Lightyear AP automation?
Your finance team face unique challenges: high invoice volumes, complex supplier networks, and seasonal staffing. Manual AP processes can’t keep up. Lightyear, a hospitality AP & purchasing software, eliminates repetitive administrative tasks, accelerates approvals, and provides real-time control over cash flow across all sites.
How does Lightyear help multi-property or multi-site operations?
Lightyear centralises AP for all your properties in one system. Invoices are automatically captured and routed to the right manager for approval, based on supplier, department, or location. You do not have to chase approvals across venues or deal with lost emails.
Can Lightyear integrate with my existing accounting system?
Yes. Lightyear integrates seamlessly with leading accounting & EPR software, including Sage, Xero, QuickBooks, and others. It also connects with hospitality POS and inventory systems, so your financial data flows automatically without manual entry. View all Lightyear integrations
How does AP automation reduce costs for hospitality businesses?
By eliminating manual data entry and reducing approval delays, Lightyear cuts invoice processing time by up to 80%. You’ll avoid duplicate payments, capture early payment discounts, and save thousands in labour and admin costs each year.
Is Lightyear suitable for small operators as well as large hospitality groups?
Absolutely. Lightyear scales easily, whether you run a single entity or manage dozens of properties. You can start small and expand as your operations grow, with flexible workflows, user permissions, and location-based approvals.
How soon can we see results after implementing Lightyear?
Most hospitality businesses see a difference within the first few weeks: faster approvals, fewer supplier queries, and better visibility of spend.
How does Lightyear support audit readiness and compliance?
Lightyear automatically stores invoices, approval trails, and payment records in a secure cloud archive. This ensures every action is traceable, making audits, supplier reconciliations, and compliance reporting simple and stress-free.
What difference does AP automation make during the busy season?
During busy trading periods, Lightyear AP automation keeps your AP process running smoothly, and invoices get approved even when managers are on the floor. You’ll maintain supplier relationships, protect cash flow, and ensure your busiest months stay your most profitable.
How can I get started with Lightyear?
Book a free demo or start a free trial today. Our team will show you how Lightyear can simplify your AP process, reduce costs, and help your hospitality business scale confidently, no matter how many venues you manage.