It’s hard to get an estimate of the cost of outsourcing accounting for hoteliers, and that’s due in part to the many variables that can affect the price of services. Factors like property size, service scope, revenue, and portfolio size change price and value drastically for businesses. 

So what variables need to be stacked up against each other to see if outsourced accounting is right for you in 2026? Read on to find out.

How Much Does Outsourced Hotel Accounting Cost?

Hotel accounting for a medium-sized portfolio of properties can run anywhere from $42,000-$60,000 generally speaking. However, it is important to remember that no two portfolios are the same, and outsourced accounting partners price their products differently. Just as no two in-house accounting solutions are the same, so it is for outsourced accounting as well.

Sometimes the price of keeping hotel accounting in-house can far outweigh the price of outsourcing. It is important to know exactly what in-house accounting is costing your company before you investigate the cost of outsourcing accounting. Because in-house accounting is built into your organization, hidden costs can lurk in the shadows, driving overall cost up. Direct labor is the most obvious cost, but what about the benefits, PTO, retirement contributions, taxes, bonuses, and workers’ comp that come with each employee?

On top of labor and benefits, employee turnover and recruitment are additional expenses to consider. The software and systems your accounting team uses to internally store and keep track of financial data are additional costs, as is any owner or GM time spent on financial oversight each month.

Head to our free outsourced accounting decision kit to compare all the variables of in-house accounting with that of outsourced to see how they financially stack up against each other.

What Drives the Cost of Outsourced Accounting?

The cost of outsourced accounting is primarily driven by the scope of work defined in your contract with the service provider. Choosing bookkeeping services only instead of full service accounting, for example, can help keep costs down while still providing value for your organization.

Volume of transactions done per month can also affect the cost of outsourced accounting, but as volume increases, per-transaction cost typically drops off. An organization’s business structure and number of entities can also affect cost; separate legal entities per property, management company layers, or joint ventures with outside investors all add reporting complexity and consolidation work.

How frequently your organization wants or needs reporting also influences the cost of outsourced accounting, as does technology and integration needs. This could include platform integration and process automation, adding a set-up cost at the beginning of the contract.

What Should Be Included in the Price of Outsourced Accounting

At the very least, here’s a checklist of the bare-bones list of items that should be included in your outsourced accounting agreement.

• Daily Bookkeeping
• AP/AR and Payroll
• Weekly Management Reporting
• Monthly Financial Statements

Is Outsourced Accounting Cheaper than Hiring In-House?

It depends. 

If you are a single-property hotelier, probably not. But once you add the complexity of multiple properties, keeping accounting under your own roof becomes tougher. 

In order to determine the price of your in-house hotel accounting, you would need to add up every component of that part of your business, taking into account: 

Employee salaries + benefits + software + employee turnover costs + any owner or GM hours spent on books = your in-house accounting cost.

We have a resource that can help you quickly do the above: head to our outsourced accounting cost calculator to calculate the cost of outsourced accounting.

What many hoteliers find out once they lay all the variables out on the table is that in-house accounting is costing them a lot more than they think, and isn’t as efficient as the price would suggest. Plus, with every additional property that comes under management comes added complexity, putting additional strain on your team.

Outsourced Hotel Accounting Pricing Customized for Your Needs

Depending on where you get quotes and what that scope of work looks like, outsourced hotel accounting could seem more expensive than keeping accounting in-house. However, as soon as you look at value rather than cost alone, a different story emerges: closings are faster, books are audit-ready, single-point-of-failure turnover risk doesn’t exist, and software is always ready, updated, and compliant.

Want to find out if outsourcing your hotel accounting is be the best thing for your costs? Reach out to us here at M3 to schedule an accounting services consultation.

FAQs

What Should be Included in an Outsourced Accounting Engagement?

The scope of each contract differs, but generally daily bookkeeping, AP/AR and payroll, weekly management reporting, and monthly financial statements are included in a basic contract.