Sending an employee to Martinique for a two-week assignment, housing a project team in Fort-de-France during construction work, accommodating a consultant who travels regularly to Le Lamentin: in every one of these cases, the accounts department asks the same question before signing off on anything. “Will we get a real invoice in the company’s name?” Standard holiday rentals, designed for leisure travellers, rarely meet that requirement. This is precisely where serviced accommodation (para-hôtellerie) changes everything for a business stay.
Serviced accommodation means a furnished property that comes with hotel-style services (linen, cleaning, guest reception, sometimes breakfast). From a tax and administrative standpoint, this status opens the door to clean invoicing, often with VAT, aligned with corporate accounting rules. For a business trip to Martinique, the difference is not cosmetic: it determines whether your expenses get reimbursed, whether the cost is deductible and how smoothly your internal controls run. This article sets out, factually, what you are entitled to ask for and how to structure a business stay that can be invoiced by the book.
Serviced accommodation vs. holiday rental: what changes for a company
The two models are often confused, yet they look nothing alike from an accounting perspective.
A standard furnished holiday rental is often run by a non-professional furnished-property landlord (LMNP), frequently under the micro-BIC regime. In that case, the operator is not registered for VAT and usually issues nothing more than a simple receipt. For a private individual on holiday, that is enough. For a company, the document is often too thin: no SIREN number clearly identifying an accommodation service provider, no complete legal particulars, no recoverable VAT.
Serviced accommodation, by contrast, is defined by the supply of a furnished property together with at least some of the recognised hotel-style services. In practice, the tax authorities look at a bundle of services: provision of household linen, regular cleaning of the premises, guest reception and, where applicable, provision of breakfast. When these services are offered on terms comparable to those of a hotel establishment, the activity falls under a regime close to hotel-keeping, which has two major consequences for you:
- The accommodation may be subject to VAT (the reduced rate applicable to accommodation in France), with VAT in principle deductible for the client company depending on its situation.
- The service gives rise to a fully compliant commercial invoice, in the company’s name, with all mandatory particulars.
What this means in concrete terms for a business stay:
- You get supporting documentation your bookkeeper or chartered accountant will accept without argument.
- The expense is easier to allocate to an assignment, a project or a cost centre.
- The travelling employee spends less time chasing receipts.
At Hostel Toucan, our concierge and serviced-accommodation approach is built for exactly these professional requirements. You can find out more about our concierge service and about our properties available in Martinique.
An invoice in the company’s name: what a compliant document must contain
An invoice is only valid for accounting purposes if it carries all the mandatory particulars. Before booking, check that your provider will actually be able to issue a complete document. Here is the checklist to keep to hand.
- Invoice issue date and unique sequential number
- Full identity of the provider (registered name, address, SIREN/SIRET)
- Provider’s intra-EU VAT number (if VAT-registered)
- Name and address of the client company (your business), not the employee’s name alone
- Client’s intra-EU VAT number for the services concerned
- Precise description of the service (accommodation, stay dates, address of the property in Martinique)
- Price excluding tax, VAT rate and amount, total including all taxes
- Payment terms and due date, any late-payment penalties
The sticking point that comes up most often
The main reason an accounts department rejects a document is an invoice made out in the employee’s name rather than the company’s. For a business expense, the client identified on the document must be the legal entity. Say so as soon as you request a quote: give the exact registered name, the head-office address and, if the company is VAT-registered, its intra-EU VAT number. A properly structured serviced-accommodation provider will know how to issue the invoice directly in the company’s name.
Expense claim or direct company invoicing: two routes, two logics
There are two ways to have the company bear the accommodation cost, and they do not involve the same flows.
The expense claim (the employee pays up front)
The employee pays for the stay out of their own pocket (or with a corporate card), then gets reimbursed through an expense claim backed by the receipt. This route is straightforward for one-off, low-value stays. Its limits: it ties up the employee’s cash, multiplies the receipts to be checked and, if the invoice is not in the right format, complicates VAT recovery. For the expense claim to hold up, the supporting document must still name the company and comply with the formal rules.
Direct invoicing to the company (payment by bank transfer)
Here the company is invoiced and pays directly, usually by bank transfer. This is the preferred route for longer stays, significant amounts or recurring trips. Advantages: no cash advance from the employee, a clean accounting flow (one invoice, one identifiable payment on the bank statement), and easier tracking by project or assignment. A transfer also leaves a clear trail, which simplifies bank reconciliation and internal control.
For a business stay in Martinique, direct invoicing with payment by transfer is often the most comfortable solution as soon as you go beyond a few nights. Do ask for a quote in advance so you can validate the route with your accounts team via contact us.
VAT: what a company can expect to recover
The VAT question comes up every time, and it deserves a few markers, given here for guidance only, since every situation depends on the provider’s tax regime and the client’s activity.
The principle for serviced accommodation
Where the accommodation falls under serviced accommodation and the provider is VAT-registered, the accommodation service carries VAT at the reduced rate applicable to this type of service. The invoice then shows an amount excluding tax, the VAT and the total including all taxes. It is this breakdown that allows the company, where applicable, to recover the VAT.
Ancillary services
Some services linked to the stay may fall under different rates or their own deductibility rules. For example, catering and accommodation do not always follow exactly the same recovery rules, depending on the nature of the expense and the beneficiary. The golden rule: ask for an invoice that itemises each line (accommodation, cleaning, any extras) rather than a single undifferentiated amount. Your chartered accountant can then apply the correct treatment.
Important: rates and deductibility conditions change over time and depend on your situation. Treat the points above as general markers, to be confirmed with your accounts department or chartered accountant before committing to the expense.
