E-Procurement for the Hospitality Industry

2025 | Featuring insights on:

• Current Market Trends in Procurement Processes Among Hospitality Organizations
• The Benefits of Procurement Automation for Hospitality
• Features and Functionalities of Leading eProcurement Solutions

Introduction

Properly managed supply chain operations and control over spend remain critical to a company’s ability to deliver and satisfy its customer base. Few industries reflect this reality as strongly as the hospitality sector. Millions of guests are served by hospitality companies each year, and the amount of goods and services procured to sustain operations is enormous. From toiletries and linens to food, beverages, and furnishings, procurement touches every aspect of the guest experience. When procurement processes are mismanaged, the result is immediate: dissatisfied customers, increased costs, and lost revenue.

Hospitality companies also face unique challenges in spend management. Many operate with remote, disparate locations and multiple back-office departments, making it difficult to gain visibility across purchasing activity. Rogue spend and compliance lapses are common issues. Competitive pressures from alternative hospitality services like Airbnb and rising customer expectations further intensify the need to control costs while maintaining service quality.

To meet these demands, many organizations are shifting toward integrated procure-to-pay (P2P) platforms. These solutions centralize requisitioning, supplier management, invoicing, and payments into a single system. They provide the visibility and control needed to reduce rogue spend, automate manual workflows, and offset financial challenges from new competition. The following report highlights recent procurement trends and demonstrates how eProcurement can transform hospitality operations.

Procurement Trends in the Hospitality Industry

Recent research from Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) and industry leaders such as FutureLog shows that hospitality procurement has entered a new phase in 2025. Compared to just a few years ago, procurement is no longer viewed as a back-office function. It is now recognized as a driver of innovation, resilience, and sustainable growth.

Key trends include:

• Consolidating fragmented systems into unified P2P platforms for real-time spend visibility and better contract negotiations.
• Automating procurement workflows, with hotels reporting invoice cycle times reduced by up to 70% when adopting automated solutions.
• Breaking down data silos with accessible, democratized spend data, enabling stakeholders across departments to make better decisions.
• Proactive risk management, using advanced tools to anticipate supply chain disruptions and avoid costly delays.
• Value creation over cost reduction, where procurement builds long-term supplier relationships to drive innovation, sustainability, and superior guest experiences.

These findings confirm that hospitality organizations are embracing modern procurement technology faster than many other industries, largely due to their high volume of indirect goods and the frequency of recurring orders. For example, a hotel chain managing dozens of locations must replenish guestroom consumables daily, while also coordinating large-scale purchases of furniture, equipment, and food. Without advanced procurement technology, visibility and control quickly become unmanageable.

eProcurement for Hospitality

Modern eProcurement platforms tailored for hospitality offer web-based, real-time purchasing automation to manage complex supply chains and dispersed operations. Functionality typically includes:

• Requisition creation and approval workflows
• Supplier catalogs and punch-out integration
• Order lifecycle management
• Supplier self-service portals
• Budget monitoring
• Receiving and fulfillment tracking
• Spend analytics and reporting

These capabilities help organizations centralize operations, enforce compliance, and create a stronger foundation for financial decision-making.

Key Capabilities

Centralization By consolidating all spend into a single system, eProcurement enables real-time visibility into budgets, suppliers, and catalogs. This not only improves control but also facilitates integration with existing ERPs through APIs, ensuring consistency across multiple locations and systems.

Comprehensive Control Hospitality organizations can enforce approval workflows, role-based access, and category-specific restrictions. These controls enhance security, prevent unauthorized spending, and ensure compliance with financial policies across all properties.

Flexible Supplier Catalogs Supplier-maintained catalogs, including punch-out options, give users access to up-to-date product information and negotiated pricing. This improves compliance, accuracy, and efficiency in the requisition process while reducing maverick spend.

Budget Management Support eProcurement platforms provide real-time budget impact analysis before purchases are made, ensuring organizations stay within financial targets. Requests that exceed thresholds can be automatically routed for additional approvals.

Supplier Control Self-service supplier portals support collaboration, allowing vendors to accept POs, send shipping notices, update information, and resolve disputes digitally. This reduces communication delays and improves supplier relationships.

Auditing and Analytics Built-in reporting tools and audit trails provide both real-time and historical visibility. Organizations can analyze spend patterns, monitor compliance, and support financial forecasting with greater precision.

Conclusion

As hospitality companies face increasing pressure from changing consumer expectations, rising costs, and competitive alternatives, procurement is evolving into a strategic enabler. By replacing fragmented, manual processes with integrated, automated P2P solutions, organizations can gain visibility, reduce inefficiencies, and create long-term value.

With procurement automation, the hospitality industry is no longer reacting to market pressures. It is proactively driving efficiency, innovation, and guest satisfaction.