Confidently paying hotel suppliers: How Cromlix found a reliable way to pay 100+ weekly invoices

Cromlix is a 5-star luxury hotel near Dunblane, Scotland, which is preparing to re-open following a significant capital investment project which adds two new restaurants, including a fine dining option, three additional bedrooms, updated event space as well as a Woodland Retreat.

Managing finances for a busy hotel and a massive renovation requires highly reliable systems. Cromlix operates as two entities: one owning the hotel and overseeing the renovation, and another managing the hotel's daily operations.

Andy Oram, Financial Controller, manages the entire finance function with one part-time team member. He explains how switching from a clunky legacy system to Telleroo transformed the hotel's weekly supplier payment process.

The dread of unreliable batch payments

Before Andy joined, Cromlix was run by a hotel management company. He inherited their legacy processes and the accounting software they used to process payments.

The software was unpredictable, frustrating, and incredibly time-consuming. If just one supplier's bank account number was incorrect, the software would reject the entire payment batch. To make matters worse, it provided no context about which specific payment had caused the failure.

"I used to dread making the payment run because you never knew how long it was going to take," Andy recalls. "Sometimes it just went through perfectly. Other times there was a problem with the batch, and I didn't know if I was going to be trawling through bank details for 50 suppliers on a Thursday afternoon trying to find the one that was wrong. It was a bit of a nightmare."

Sometimes a rejected batch would mysteriously go through on the second try without any changes.

"The system was a bit erratic. I never had confidence in how long that process was going to take."

As Andy took over from the hotel management company, he faced the task of building the entire finance function from scratch, including the chart of accounts and management reporting. He was already considering a new accounting software, so he wasn't disappointed to leave the old payment solution behind. Andy needed a more reliable way to pay suppliers on time without spending hours creating and fixing payments.

Finding the right payment tool for Xero

After a recommendation to use Xero as their accounting software, Andy found it to be much more user-friendly and straightforward.

"I thought Xero was brilliant. It was easy to set up and operate on a day-to-day basis. Bank reconciliation is easy, and it's a lot more cost-effective."

With the switch to Xero, Cromlix needed a payment solution that connected with their new accounting software.

After trialling one of the open banking payment platforms that syncs with Xero, Andy immediately hit rigid bank transfer limits because it pulled funds directly from the bank. He then turned to Telleroo. Because Telleroo operates as a digital wallet, it bypasses standard business banking limits. This made it the perfect fit for the company's high-value payments, like renovation and capital investment, as well as the hotel's high-volume operational bills for essentials such as food and beverage, laundry, cleaning, and maintenance payments.

Now, department heads authorise invoices digitally. Once approved, Andy creates a batch payment in Telleroo by selecting the invoices that have automatically synced from Xero. He then collaborates with the General Manager for a final review.

"What I like best is the way Telleroo links with Xero. You just go to the Xero Bills section in Telleroo, select the dates, and it pulls all the invoices through. It's really easy."

A more reliable way to pay suppliers and catch errors

By automating the payment workflow, Telleroo has saved Andy and the team hours of time every month and completely eliminated the stress of rejected payment batches.

Because Telleroo flags mismatched bank details before the funds ever leave the account, Andy no longer has to worry about whole pay runs collapsing without warning. The built-in account checking provides a powerful safety net.

"Telleroo makes the payment process a lot more straightforward. Before you even authorise a payment, it warns you whether the bank account matches or not, and that is always useful," Andy notes. "It has just made everything more reliable, in terms of making sure that you get people paid on time, and also my time management."

Instead of manually inputting details and guessing why a batch failed, Andy now processes 100 to 150 weekly invoices smoothly and confidently.

An invaluable tool for hospitality businesses

For Andy, Telleroo has removed the headache of unpredictable pay runs and provided confidence in Cromlix’s payment processes. When asked what he would say to other businesses considering Telleroo, his recommendation is clear.

"I would say it is a very, very good platform that's user-friendly," Andy concludes. "Especially if you use Xero, the integration is seamless. In the same way Xero makes things easy for accounts, Telleroo does the same for payments. Telleroo is just really easy."

Automate your payment process, catch errors early, and get your time back with Telleroo. 🚀