Free Reservation System for Philippine Guesthouses
One calendar for every booking: Booking.com, Agoda, Airbnb, Viber, Facebook Messenger, phone calls and walk-ins. No double bookings. No missed reservations. Check-in, room status, a bill in PHP with service charge and taxes where they apply, and daily reports. Free. No subscription, no trial period.
OnlineHotelier PMS is a free hotel reservation system for Philippine pension houses, guesthouses, transient houses, beach resorts and surf cottages. It puts every booking in one calendar: Booking.com, Agoda, Airbnb, Viber, Facebook Messenger, phone and walk-in. Check-in, room status, housekeeping, bills in PHP and daily reports are all included at no cost. The optional paid add-on is the channel manager, which syncs 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 | Pension houses, guesthouses, transient houses, beach resorts, surf cottages and hostels in the Philippines with limited inventory |
| Local tax handling | Configurable for the Philippines: set your service charge and the taxes that apply to your property (12% VAT where you are registered, or the 3% percentage tax applies to you instead; LGU levies vary by city or municipality). Most small guesthouses are below the PHP 3 million VAT registration threshold. The system calculates your bill correctly either way |
| Paid add-on | Channel manager that syncs availability and rates to Booking.com, Agoda, Airbnb and other OTAs. Pricing on WhatsApp |
| Runs on | Any web browser on a phone, tablet or laptop. Nothing to install. Needs an internet connection; mobile data works |
| How to start | Sign up online, or message us on WhatsApp for guided setup |
One calendar for every booking source
You run a six-room guesthouse in El Nido. A booking comes in on Agoda for Room 3 on Friday night. Twenty minutes later, a Viber message arrives: a repeat guest asks if that same room is free on Friday. You check your notebook. You check your Agoda app. You are not sure which is more current.
That is the problem the OnlineHotelier calendar solves. Every booking lives in one place, whatever its source:
- Booking.com, Agoda, Airbnb and other OTAs (via the channel manager add-on, or entered manually)
- Viber and Facebook Messenger messages (entered at the front desk)
- Phone calls, walk-ins and direct bookings (entered directly)
- Any other channel you use to take 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, an Agoda reservation closes the room on Booking.com and Airbnb automatically.
Viber and Facebook Messenger as booking channels in the Philippines: Pension houses and guesthouses in Siargao, El Nido, Boracay, Bohol and Baguio often receive repeat guests and referrals directly on Viber or Facebook Messenger. These guests message to ask about availability and confirm a stay without going through any OTA. Adding those Viber and Messenger bookings to the same calendar as your Agoda and Booking.com reservations is how you keep everything in one place without a spreadsheet.
Check-in, room status, housekeeping and check-out
The calendar is one piece. The rest of the day-to-day runs here too.
Guest check-in
Record the guest's name, passport or government ID number, nationality, and room 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 rooms as occupied, vacant, dirty or clean after housekeeping. Front desk sees the update live so they know which rooms are ready for the next guest.
Housekeeping
Your housekeeper updates room status from their phone as they clean. No calling reception. The room shows as clean the moment it is ready.
Guest check-out and bill
Post room charges, any extras, and the guest's payments to their folio. Review the bill, apply service charge and any taxes that apply, and print or share it at check-out. Done in one step.
Daily reports give you occupancy, average room rate and total revenue for the day. You get the numbers you need each morning without building them by hand.
Philippine taxes, DOT and service charge
The PMS can be configured for the Philippines. You set your property's rates and charges once, and the bill calculates correctly every time.
VAT and the percentage tax
VAT (Value Added Tax) is charged at 12% in the Philippines on the supplies of VAT-registered businesses. You must register for VAT with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) if your gross receipts exceed PHP 3 million in any rolling 12-month period.
Most small pension houses, guesthouses and transient houses are well below that threshold. If you are not registered for VAT, you do not charge VAT on your bills. You pay a 3% percentage tax on your gross receipts directly to the BIR instead. This is your own tax obligation: it does not appear as a separate line on your guest's bill.
Here are two sample bills.
VAT-registered property (12% VAT on the bill):
| Room rate (1 night) | ₱3,000 |
| Service charge (10%) | ₱300 |
| Subtotal | ₱3,300 |
| VAT (12% on ₱3,300) | ₱396 |
| Total payable | ₱3,696 |
Small non-VAT guesthouse (no VAT on the bill):
| Room rate (1 night) | ₱1,200 |
| Service charge (10%) | ₱120 |
| Total payable | ₱1,320 |
Confirm your status with the BIR. These figures are based on the current 12% VAT rate and PHP 3 million threshold. Rates and thresholds can change. Check with your accountant or the BIR (bir.gov.ph) for the rules that apply to your property.
Local government taxes
Local government units (LGUs) in the Philippines can levy their own taxes on accommodation businesses. The rates and rules vary by city or municipality. Boracay, El Nido, Cebu City, Siargao and other tourist destinations each set their own local fees. Check with your city or municipal treasurer's office for the levies that apply to your specific location. The PMS can be configured for whatever local charge your LGU requires.
Service charge
Service charge is your own discretionary charge, not a government tax. You choose whether to add it to bills. If you collect a service charge, Republic Act 11360 (the Service Charge Law, signed August 2019) governs how it is shared. The law requires that all service charges collected be distributed completely and equally among covered workers, excluding managerial employees. This applies to hotels, restaurants and similar establishments. Most small pension houses and guesthouses do not add a service charge at all. The PMS works either way.
DOT accreditation
Pension houses and similar accommodation establishments require accreditation from the Department of Tourism (DOT). Under DOT Administrative Order 2021-004, pension houses fall under the Mabuhay accommodation category. The accreditation process involves an application form, a valid mayor's or business permit, a self-assessment form and a site inspection. The DOT website (tourism.gov.ph) has the current requirements and fees. You can use the PMS whether or not you are DOT-accredited: the PMS does not require it.
Payments recorded
The PMS records how each guest paid: cash, card, GCash, Maya or bank transfer. The folio keeps a full payment history. Your daily report shows total collections by payment type. The PMS records payment; it does not process card or e-wallet transactions.
Guest records
The PMS records each guest's name, nationality and passport or government ID number at check-in. A guest-list export is available on request: message us on WhatsApp to have it set up for your property. For the specific guest registration or reporting rules that apply to your accommodation type and location, check with the DOT regional office or your local government.
Property types across the Philippines
The system is built for very small properties. Whether you are on an island or in a mountain city, if your main job is keeping track of who is in which room on which night, this covers it.
Island beach resorts and surf cottages
Properties in Siargao, El Nido, Boracay and Bohol juggle Agoda, Booking.com, Airbnb and direct Viber messages at the same time. Preventing a double booking at peak season is the single biggest problem the calendar solves.
Pension houses and transient houses
A family-run pension house with five or six rooms is often the backbone of budget travel in provincial cities. A free tool that runs on a phone and takes a few minutes to sign up for is a big step up from a notebook or a whiteboard.
Baguio and mountain guesthouses
Properties in Baguio, Sagada and Batad see steady peak seasons around Christmas and Holy Week. A single calendar for all your channels keeps you from overcommitting rooms when demand spikes.
Cebu and urban hostels
City hostels in Cebu and Manila handle short stays and quick turnovers. Fast check-in, accurate billing and a clean daily report matter most. The PMS delivers all three without a large software subscription.
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 a missed update causes a double booking.
The add-on connects your PMS calendar directly to Booking.com, Agoda, 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.