Most booking engines need a payment gateway like Razorpay or CCAvenue and charge 1.5 to 2% per transaction. This one does not. Your guests pay on your UPI directly. No gateway, no commission, no PG fees. It is part of the same free OnlineHotelier system your front desk already uses.
The OnlineHotelier booking engine is a free direct booking tool for Indian hotels. Guests request a booking, your hotel shares its own UPI or bank details, the guest pays your hotel directly, and you confirm the reservation in the software. No payment gateway, no OTA commission, no PG fees. It is part of the same free OnlineHotelier PMS. The only paid add-on is the channel manager, which connects your property to OTAs.
| Product | OnlineHotelier Booking Engine, part of the free OnlineHotelier system |
|---|---|
| Price | Free. No subscription, no trial period |
| Payment gateway | Not required. Guests pay the hotel's own UPI directly |
| Commission | None. OnlineHotelier takes no commission on any booking |
| PG fees | None, because no gateway is involved |
| How payment works | Hotel shares its UPI or bank details. Guest pays the hotel. Hotel checks its own bank and confirms in the software |
| Auto-confirmation | No. The hotel confirms manually after checking the payment in its own UPI app or bank |
| Built for | Hotels in India. The UPI workflow is designed for the Indian market |
| Paid add-on | Channel manager that syncs availability to MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, Booking.com. Pricing on WhatsApp |
| How to start | Sign up online, or message us on WhatsApp for help |
A hotel booking engine is a tool that lets guests check room availability and make a reservation directly with your hotel, without going through an OTA. Most engines process payment at the time of booking using a payment gateway. Gateways charge 1.5 to 2% per transaction and require a merchant account to be set up.
The OnlineHotelier booking engine works differently. It is built for hotels in India where UPI is the natural way to pay. Your guests request a booking. Your hotel shares its own UPI or bank details. The guest pays your hotel directly. You see the payment in your own UPI app or bank statement, then confirm the reservation in the software.
This means no gateway to connect, no gateway fees on every transaction, and no commission to a third party. The money goes from the guest's account to your hotel's account.
Reservations from the booking engine go into the same OnlineHotelier system your front desk uses. One calendar, one place to see all your bookings: walk-ins, OTA reservations entered manually, and direct bookings from the engine.
Available to hotels in India. The UPI payment workflow is designed specifically for the Indian market. Any type of property can use it: a 10-room guesthouse in Jaipur, a hill-station resort in Mussoorie, a homestay in Goa, a budget hotel in Chennai. Your guests pay the same way they pay any other UPI contact.
Four steps, from booking request to confirmed reservation.
The guest fills in the booking form: dates, room type, number of guests. The request comes into your OnlineHotelier system as a pending reservation.
You share your hotel's own UPI ID or bank account details with the guest. Think of it the way you would share bank details for any other payment or transfer. OnlineHotelier supplies the software only. It does not process, hold or settle any money.
The guest pays on your hotel's own UPI. The money goes straight to your account. No intermediary, no gateway, no third party between the guest's payment and your bank.
You check the payment in your own UPI app or bank statement. Once you see it, you confirm the reservation in the OnlineHotelier software. The booking is now confirmed and shows in your calendar. This confirmation step is done by your hotel, not by the software. There is no automatic detection of incoming payments.
No automatic confirmation. Because there is no payment gateway, the software cannot detect when a payment arrives. Your front desk checks the UPI app or bank statement and then confirms the booking manually. This takes a minute and is the trade-off for having no PG fees. If your property needs bookings to confirm the moment payment is made, see the not the right fit section below.
Payment gateways like Razorpay and CCAvenue are services that connect your booking page to the card networks and UPI rails so payment processes in real time. They are not free.
| Item | Standard booking engine with a gateway | OnlineHotelier booking engine |
|---|---|---|
| Payment gateway required | Yes. You need to set one up and get it approved | No. Guests pay your own UPI directly |
| PG fee per booking | Typically 1.5 to 2% of booking value | None |
| Commission | Varies by provider | None. OnlineHotelier takes no commission |
| Payment confirmation | Automatic when gateway approves the transaction | Manual: hotel checks its bank and confirms in the software |
| Payment modes | Credit card, debit card, UPI, net banking | UPI and bank transfer (your hotel's own account) |
| Setup complexity | Merchant account, KYC, gateway integration | Share your UPI ID with guests, like sharing bank details |
OnlineHotelier only supplies the software. The hotel shares its own UPI or bank details with guests. OnlineHotelier does not process, hold or settle any money. Checking each payment and confirming each reservation is done by your hotel.
Sign up for the free OnlineHotelier PMS. The booking engine is part of the same system. Or message us on WhatsApp and we will walk you through setup.
Sign Up FreeThis is honest positioning. The UPI workflow works well for most Indian hotels, but not all situations.
If you are not sure whether this fits your property's workflow, message us on WhatsApp. We will tell you honestly whether it is the right call or whether a standard booking engine with a payment gateway makes more sense for you.
The booking engine is free. The channel manager (software that syncs your room availability and rates to OTAs like MakeMyTrip, Goibibo and Booking.com in real time) is an optional paid add-on. You can use the booking engine without it.
| Feature | Free | Channel manager add-on (paid) |
|---|---|---|
| Direct booking engine (UPI payments) | Included | |
| Reservations calendar | Included | |
| Room status and inventory | Included | |
| Check-in, check-out, billing | Included | |
| GST invoices | Included | |
| OTA availability sync (MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, Booking.com) | Add-on | |
| Real-time rate updates across OTAs | Add-on | |
| Pricing | Free | Paid: ask on WhatsApp |
The booking engine is not a standalone product. It is part of the free OnlineHotelier PMS, which sits at the centre of your operations.
If you want to understand direct booking strategy more broadly, read our guide on hotel direct booking strategy. If you are curious about other booking engine options, the booking engine guide explains what to look for and how they compare.