Master Account
What is a master account in hotel group billing?
A master account is the central hotel bill for a group, where the charges the organizer agreed to cover are posted instead of going to each guest. What posts to the master account is defined in the contract and on the rooming list: a common setup routes room and tax to the master while incidentals go to each guest's own card, or routes everything for VIP rooms to the master. The master account is where deposits are credited, where attrition and F&B shortfalls are charged, and what post-event reconciliation ultimately audits. Getting billing instructions right per guest is what keeps it accurate. A clean master account at checkout, matched line by line against the contract and the rooming list, is the goal of the entire billing workflow.
Related Terms
Appears in these guides
- Hotel Comp Rooms: How 1-per-40 Ratios, Cumulative vs Per-Night, and Comp Caps Work
What a comp room is, how ratios like 1 per 40 are written, why cumulative and per-night accrual differ on the same block, and what a comp cap costs you.
- How to Audit a Hotel Group Folio, Step by Step
Check a hotel's final group bill against your contract: totals, rates, fees, billing routing, no-shows and attrition, and how to raise what you find.
- How to Read a Hotel Room Block Contract
A clause-by-clause guide to hotel room block contract terms: attrition, cutoff dates, cancellation, comp ratio, rate protection, and walk clauses.
Stop tracking master account by hand
Blocks tracks master account on the block it belongs to, beside every deadline and room night, and proposes the next step for you to review — so the busy work is handled, and nothing changes until you confirm.