Free Hotel Reservation System for Sri Lanka Guesthouses
One calendar for every booking: Booking.com, Agoda, Airbnb, Expedia, WhatsApp, phone calls and walk-ins. No double bookings. No missed reservations. Check-in, room status, a bill in Rs 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 Sri Lanka guesthouses, homestays, beach villas, surf camps and hill-country bungalows. It puts every booking in one calendar: Booking.com, Agoda, Airbnb, Expedia, WhatsApp, phone and walk-in. Check-in, room status, housekeeping, bills in Rs 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 | Guesthouses, homestays, beach villas, surf camps, hill-country bungalows and small boutique hotels in Sri Lanka with limited inventory |
| Local tax handling | Configurable for Sri Lanka: set your service charge and the taxes that apply to your property (VAT, SSCL and TDL where relevant). Most small guesthouses are below the VAT and SSCL registration thresholds. 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 |
| How to start | Sign up online, or message us on WhatsApp for guided setup |
One calendar for every booking source
You run a five-room guesthouse in Ella. A Booking.com reservation comes in for Room 2 on Saturday night. A few minutes later, a WhatsApp message arrives: someone saw your place on Instagram and wants the same room on the same night. You check your notebook. You check your phone. 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 Expedia (via the channel manager add-on, or entered manually)
- WhatsApp messages and phone calls (entered at the front desk)
- 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, a Booking.com reservation closes the room on Agoda and Airbnb automatically.
WhatsApp as a booking channel in Sri Lanka: Small guesthouses and beach properties along the south coast (Mirissa, Weligama, Unawatuna, Arugam Bay) and in the hill country (Ella, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy) often receive repeat guests and referrals directly on WhatsApp. These guests message to ask about availability and confirm a stay without going through any OTA. Adding those WhatsApp bookings to the same calendar as your Booking.com and Agoda 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 NIC 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.
Sri Lanka taxes, SLTDA and payments
The PMS can be configured for Sri Lanka. You set your property's rates and charges once, and the bill calculates correctly every time.
VAT
VAT (Value Added Tax) is currently charged at 18% in Sri Lanka, raised from 15% on 1 January 2024. It applies to supplies from VAT-registered businesses. You must register for VAT if your taxable turnover exceeds Rs 60 million in any 12-month period, or Rs 15 million in any quarter. Confirm the current threshold with your accountant or the Inland Revenue Department (ird.gov.lk), as it has been subject to proposed changes.
Most small guesthouses and homestays are well below that threshold. If you are not registered, you do not charge VAT on your bills. If you are registered, the PMS adds it to each bill automatically once you set the rate in your settings.
Social Security Contribution Levy
SSCL (Social Security Contribution Levy) is charged at 2.5% of liable turnover. For a service business such as a guesthouse, it applies to 100% of turnover. From 1 July 2026, the registration threshold is Rs 36 million per year or Rs 9 million per quarter. Most small guesthouses fall well below this. SSCL is a business levy and does not appear as a separate line on the guest bill.
Tourism Development Levy
If your property is licensed with the SLTDA, you pay a Tourism Development Levy (TDL) of 1% of your turnover each year. Properties with annual turnover up to Rs 12 million pay 0.5%. This is an internal payment to the SLTDA, not a charge that appears on your guest bill (service charges and VAT are excluded from the turnover figure used to calculate it). The proceeds go toward the Tourism Development Fund.
Service charge
Service charge is your own optional charge, not a government tax. Many larger hotels in Sri Lanka set it at 10%. Most small guesthouses charge none at all. The PMS works either way. If you are VAT-registered, VAT applies to the room rate plus the service charge combined.
Here are two sample bills.
VAT-registered property (18% VAT applies):
| Room rate (1 night) | Rs 15,000 |
| Service charge (10%) | Rs 1,500 |
| Subtotal | Rs 16,500 |
| VAT (18% on Rs 16,500) | Rs 2,970 |
| Total payable | Rs 19,470 |
Small unregistered guesthouse (no VAT):
| Room rate (1 night) | Rs 6,000 |
| Service charge (10%) | Rs 600 |
| Total payable | Rs 6,600 |
Note on USD quoting: Many beach villas and surf camps in Sri Lanka quote foreign guests in USD for clarity. The PMS records amounts as you enter them. Bills are in whatever currency you set for your property. A local accountant can advise on how to handle foreign-currency receipts for your tax filings.
SLTDA registration
Registration with the SLTDA (Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority) applies to guesthouses, homestays, villas and similar accommodation. Under the Tourism Act No. 38 of 2005, establishments must be licensed to provide services to foreign guests. Registration also makes your property eligible for SLTDA promotional programmes. The online application process is at sltda.gov.lk. The admin fee for guesthouses is Rs 10,000. An inspection follows after payment.
Payments recorded
The PMS records how each guest paid: cash, card, bank transfer or LankaQR. 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 transactions.
Guest records
The PMS records each guest's name, nationality and passport or 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 current legal requirements on guest registration and foreign-guest reporting, check with your local police station or the Department of Immigration and Emigration.
Property types across Sri Lanka
The system is built for very small properties. Wherever you are in Sri Lanka, if your main job is keeping track of who is in which room on which night, this covers it.
Hill-country guesthouses
Guesthouses in Ella, Nuwara Eliya and Kandy see a steady mix of Booking.com bookings and direct WhatsApp inquiries from travellers on the train route. One calendar keeps both in order without a second notebook.
South coast surf camps and beach villas
Properties in Mirissa, Weligama, Arugam Bay and Unawatuna juggle multiple OTAs and direct WhatsApp messages at the same time. Preventing a double booking at peak season is the single biggest problem the calendar solves.
Homestays
A family-run homestay with two or three rooms often has no system at all. 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.
Boutique hotels and cultural-circuit guesthouses
Properties in Galle Fort, Colombo, Sigiriya and Kandy handle international guests with short stays. Fast check-in and a correct bill matter most. The PMS delivers both 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.