Otelier and Avalara have shipped an industry-first two-way integration that automates sales and lodging tax preparation, filing, and remittance for hotel finance teams, the companies announced from Atlanta and Durham, N.C. The system replaces manual return compilation with a daily data feed between Otelier Rec (Otelier's revenue accounting product) and Avalara's tax compliance engine.

The mechanics matter more than the press release optics. Daily revenue summaries and exemption details flow from Otelier Rec into Avalara, which prepares, files, and remits the returns. In the other direction, discrepancies between Avalara's verified tax rates and the rates actually applied in the Property Management System (the hotel's core operations software) surface inside Rec as a daily variance report. Corrective action happens before tax preparation, not after an audit letter arrives.

Otelier has also added a workflow that forces users to record a reason for every tax-exempt line item, closing what was previously a documentation gap between PMS tax collection and Avalara's exemption management.

What does this replace, and who pays?

The integration eliminates several manual tasks hotel accounting teams currently absorb: compiling taxable and tax-exempt revenue for each return, chasing missing exemption documents, and reconciling rate updates across jurisdictions. The combined workflow, per the companies, lets teams:

• Send revenue data to Avalara without manual compilation per return
• Detect tax configuration errors earlier via the daily variance report
• Correct wrong PMS tax rates as soon as discrepancies appear
• Cut manual errors tied to rate updates and missing exemption documents
• Reduce audit risk from under- or over-collected taxes
• Automate return preparation, filing, and remittance through Avalara

The release does not state pricing. The integration has been completed, certified, and is being piloted by a leading hotel management company — unnamed, which is a pity. It is available now to hotel companies that want it.

Why multi-jurisdiction operators care

"Hotel finance teams are under increasing pressure to ensure accuracy across every line of the P&L, and taxes are one of the most complex and high-risk areas," said Russell Meek, Sr. Director of Product at Otelier. "By connecting Otelier Rec with Avalara, we're giving operators a way to validate tax data daily, automate compliance workflows, reduce manual work, and eliminate discrepancies before they become costly issues."

Avalara's side of the argument is jurisdictional arithmetic. "Tax and compliance teams within the hospitality industry are often managing tax obligations across dozens and sometimes even hundreds of jurisdictions, and the margin for error is shrinking," said Nicole Rogers, GM of Lodging at Avalara. "By connecting Otelier Rec with Avalara for Hospitality, we're enabling hotel operators to automate the preparation, filing, and remittance of their sales and lodging tax returns while proactively validating tax positions."

Scale context

Otelier serves more than 10,000 hotels worldwide and counts hotel management companies, ownership groups, and global brands among its clients over 30-plus years. Avalara processes more than 54 billion AvaTax API calls annually and supports millions of businesses.

The bet here is that tax compliance, long a spreadsheet-and-prayer exercise for hotel back offices, becomes a systems conversation. Expect more ownership groups to demand this kind of automated reconciliation from their accounting platforms as labor costs climb and audit exposure stays unforgiving.