E-Invoicing for Hotels: ZUGFeRD and XRechnung Explained

The e-invoice is no longer a distant prospect in Germany, but an emerging obligation. For hotels with corporate clients, conference guests or contractor-room rentals to businesses, this matters – because in the B2B space, what counts as a proper invoice is shifting right now. Miss it, and you risk business clients no longer being able to process your invoices.

What changed in 2025

Since 1 January 2025: every German company must be able to receive and process e-invoices when the service goes to another domestic company (B2B). That's the first stage – the receiving obligation. Sending structured e-invoices becomes mandatory in stages over the following years, depending on company size.

Important for context: a PDF invoice is not an e-invoice in the legal sense. A real e-invoice is a structured data set under the European standard (EN 16931) that software can read automatically – not just an image to print.

Private guest vs. business client

The crucial distinction for daily operations:

• Invoice to a private guest (B2C): the e-invoice obligation does not apply. The classic invoice – paper or PDF – remains valid. This covers the largest part of typical hotel guests.
• Invoice to a company (B2B): here the new world applies. The corporate client who has their contractor or field rep stay with you increasingly expects an e-invoice their accounting system can read directly.

Properties with a high share of business travel or contractors are therefore more affected than a pure leisure hotel.

ZUGFeRD vs. XRechnung – the difference

Two formats dominate in the German-speaking region, both compliant with the EU standard but built differently:

• XRechnung is a pure XML format – a structured data set with no visible layout. It's the standard for invoices to public-sector clients (authorities, municipalities). A human can't "read" an XRechnung without tools.
• ZUGFeRD is a hybrid format: an ordinary PDF invoice with the structured XML data set invisibly embedded. The human sees the familiar PDF, the software reads the XML. For everyday B2B this is often more practical, because both worlds sit in one file.

Simplified: XRechnung for authorities, ZUGFeRD for general business. Both are legally compliant.

What hotels concretely need

Nobody has to write XML by hand. What matters is that the invoicing software or accounting tool produces the format. Three points matter in practice:

1. Be able to receive. That's the acute obligation. A mailbox or accounting tool that accepts and files incoming e-invoices.
2. Correct mandatory fields. E-invoices are stricter than PDFs: service period, tax rates, VAT ID and so on must be present in structured, complete form, or the invoice is rejected technically.
3. Preserve tax correctness. A hotel invoice often contains several tax rates – 7% on the stay, 19% on breakfast and extras. This split must also be cleanly represented in the structured data set.

That last point is the tricky one: the §14-compliant split, which already demands discipline on the paper invoice, must be just as correct in the e-invoice data set.

The route via accounting

Most small hotels solve this not in the PMS itself but via their accounting tool – easybill, lexoffice, sevDesk or QuickBooks already produce ZUGFeRD and XRechnung as standard. The practical approach: the guest invoice is generated cleanly structured (with the correct 7/19 split and tourist tax) and handed to the accounting tool, which turns it into the compliant e-invoice format. That keeps the PMS lean and puts formal compliance where it belongs.

Conclusion

The e-invoice is no longer a fringe topic for hotels with business clients. Private guests aren't affected, but every corporate-stay and contractor-room business slides into the B2B world where structured formats become the norm. Know the difference between ZUGFeRD and XRechnung, meet the receiving obligation and keep the tax split correct in the data set too, and you're on the safe side – most easily via an accounting tool that already masters the formats.