Free PMS for Madagascar Eco-Lodges and Bungalows
One calendar for every booking: Booking.com, Airbnb, WhatsApp from guests and tour operators, email, phone calls and walk-ins. No double bookings. Check-in, room status, a bill in ariary (MGA), and daily reports. Free. No subscription, no trial period.
OnlineHotelier PMS is a free hotel reservation system for Madagascar eco-lodges, beach bungalows, guesthouses and small hotels. It puts every booking in one calendar: Booking.com, Airbnb, WhatsApp from guests and tour operators, email, phone and walk-in. Check-in, room status, housekeeping, itemised bills in ariary (MGA), and daily reports are all included at no cost. The optional paid add-on is the channel manager, which syncs your availability across OTAs automatically.
OnlineHotelier PMS at a glance
| Product | OnlineHotelier PMS, a free cloud hotel reservation and management system |
|---|---|
| Price | Free. No subscription, no trial period |
| Who it is for | Eco-lodges, beach bungalows, guesthouses, pensions and small hotels across Madagascar |
| Local tax handling | Set your taxes and levies (where they apply to you) once in the settings. The bill calculates automatically in ariary (MGA) |
| Paid add-on | Channel manager that syncs availability and rates to Booking.com, Airbnb and other OTAs. Pricing on WhatsApp |
| Runs on | Any web browser on a phone, tablet or laptop. Needs internet (mobile data works in most tourist areas). Nothing to install |
| How to start | Sign up online, or message us on WhatsApp for guided setup |
One calendar for every booking source
You run a six-bungalow property on Nosy Be. A Booking.com reservation comes in for Bungalow 3 on Friday night. Ten minutes later, a WhatsApp message arrives from a tour operator sending a couple for the same bungalow on the same night.
You check your notebook. You check your phone inbox. You are not sure which came first. Getting it wrong means a double booking, an angry guest, and a bad review.
That is the problem the OnlineHotelier calendar solves. Every booking lives in one place, whatever its source:
- Booking.com and Airbnb (via the channel manager add-on, or entered manually)
- Tour operator and driver bookings sent by WhatsApp or email (entered at the front desk)
- Direct WhatsApp messages from guests
- Phone calls, walk-ins and email reservations
When a room is taken, the calendar shows it as blocked. No double booking. Nothing missed. If you add the channel manager add-on, a Booking.com reservation closes the room on Airbnb and other connected channels automatically.
How bookings reach small Madagascar properties: WhatsApp is the main booking channel for many eco-lodges and bungalows. Guests message directly, and tour operators or local drivers often send reservations the same way. Booking.com handles a growing international segment, especially for Nosy Be and Ile Sainte-Marie. Keeping all these sources in one calendar removes the double-booking risk.
Check-in, room status, housekeeping and check-out
The calendar is one piece. Your whole day-to-day runs here too.
Guest check-in
Record the guest's name, passport or ID number, nationality, and bungalow on arrival. The system creates a guest folio (a running bill) from the moment they check in. Read our guide on the hotel check-in process for what to collect and why.
Room status
Mark bungalows or rooms as occupied, vacant, dirty or clean after housekeeping. Front desk sees the update live so they know which bungalows are ready for the next guest.
Housekeeping
Your housekeeping staff update room status from their phone as they clean. No radio calls, no walking to reception. The room shows as ready the moment it is done.
Guest check-out and bill
Post room charges, any extras, and the guest's payments to their folio. Review the itemised bill, apply the relevant taxes and levies, and share it at check-out. Done in one step.
Daily reports give you occupancy, average room rate and total revenue for the day. Your manager gets the numbers without building them by hand each morning.
Taxes, levies and billing in Madagascar
The PMS can be configured for any country's taxes and charges. You set your property's rates once and every bill calculates correctly from there.
TVA on accommodation
TVA (taxe sur la valeur ajoutee, Madagascar's VAT) applies at a standard rate of 20% on taxable turnover. Whether your property is required to register and collect TVA depends on your annual turnover. Many small eco-lodges, bungalows and pensions fall below the registration threshold, or may pay a simplified tax instead of TVA. Ask your accountant or the Direction Generale des Impots (DGI) which regime applies to your property. Where TVA applies to you, the PMS applies the rate you configure to every bill automatically.
Vignette touristique
Classified accommodation establishments in Madagascar collect a vignette touristique, a per-night levy whose amount depends on the property's classification category. The official scale set in 2005 runs from Ar 600 per night for unclassified properties to Ar 3,000 for five-star hotels. Many properties now charge more, sometimes together with a communal tax, so confirm the current rate for your category with your regional tourism office (Direction Regionale du Tourisme) or the Ministere du Tourisme. Whether the vignette applies to you depends on whether your property is formally classified. If it does apply, you configure it as a line item in the PMS settings.
Whether you show the vignette as a separate line on the guest bill or include it in the room rate is your decision. The PMS supports both approaches.
Because the current vignette rate varies, it is left off the sample bill below. Here is how the room and TVA look for a registered lodge:
| Room rate (1 night) | Ar 90,000 |
| TVA (20%) | Ar 18,000 |
| Total payable | Ar 108,000 |
Small unregistered pensions and bungalows: If your property is not TVA-registered and not formally classified, your bill typically shows the room rate only. You charge what was agreed and issue a simple receipt. The PMS works for that too: set TVA and the vignette to zero in your settings and the bill shows the room rate and any extras you add.
Currency and billing in ariary
The ariary (MGA) is Madagascar's currency. The PMS bills guests in whatever currency you configure. Many eco-lodges quote foreign guests in euros as a convenience, but you set the currency you actually bill in. There is no multi-currency folio; pick one billing currency per property and use it consistently.
Guest records
Licensed accommodation in Madagascar is required to keep records of foreign guests, including name, nationality and passport number. The PMS stores each guest's details as you enter them at check-in. Those records stay in the system for as long as you need them. An export of guest records is available on request.
Property types across Madagascar
The system is built for small properties. Wherever you are in Madagascar, if your main job is keeping track of who is in which bungalow or room on which night, this covers it.
Nosy Be and Nosy Komba beach bungalows
Beach properties on Madagascar's most visited island. Booking.com and Airbnb bring international guests. WhatsApp from tour operators and guests fills the rest. Peak season means the double-booking risk is highest exactly when you need a clean system.
Ile Sainte-Marie guesthouses
Guesthouses and small hotels on Sainte-Marie get a seasonal spike from whale-watching visitors. Most bookings come through Booking.com, WhatsApp and direct contact. One calendar keeps it all in order.
Andasibe and Ranomafana eco-lodges
Rainforest eco-lodges near the national parks. Many guests arrive through tour packages; the lodge also takes direct bookings by email and WhatsApp. The calendar handles package bookings and direct reservations in one view.
Morondava and Ifaty bungalows
Bungalow properties near the Avenue of the Baobabs and Ifaty beach. International guests via Booking.com and Airbnb, local visitors and tour operator groups by WhatsApp. Keeping all three in one calendar stops gaps and doubles.
Antananarivo pensions and guesthouses
Urban pensions and guesthouses in the capital serving business travellers, overland visitors and transit guests. A steady mix of Booking.com, direct phone bookings and walk-ins.
Small hotels and family-run lodges
A property with four or five rooms and no formal front desk system. A free tool that runs on a phone and takes a few minutes to sign up for is a real step up from a notebook and a WhatsApp group.
Channel manager: for when you outgrow updating each OTA by hand
If you are on one or two OTAs and you update availability yourself after each booking, the free PMS is enough. Most small properties start here.
The channel manager add-on becomes useful when you are on three or more OTAs and a booking on one platform means you need to close the room on all the others. Doing that by hand is slow, and one missed update causes a double booking.
The add-on connects your PMS calendar directly to Booking.com, Airbnb and other OTAs. When a booking arrives, all connected channels update automatically. Read our guide on what a channel manager does before deciding whether you need one.
The channel manager add-on is paid. Message us on WhatsApp and we will give you the current price for your property.