Free Reservation System for Tanzania and Zanzibar
One calendar for every booking: Booking.com, Airbnb, safari agent bookings, WhatsApp, phone calls and walk-ins. No double bookings. No missed reservations. Check-in, room status, a bill in TZS, and daily reports. Free. No subscription, no trial period.
OnlineHotelier PMS is a free hotel reservation system for Tanzania and Zanzibar guesthouses, beach bungalows, small lodges and tented camps. It puts every booking in one calendar: Booking.com, Airbnb, safari agent bookings, WhatsApp, phone and walk-in. Check-in, room status, housekeeping, itemised bills in TZS, 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, beach bungalows, small lodges and tented camps in Tanzania and Zanzibar with limited inventory |
| Local tax handling | Set your applicable taxes and levies once in the settings. The bill calculates automatically in TZS. Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar have separate tax authorities: confirm rates with your accountant |
| 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). 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 small guesthouse in Paje. Your rooms are listed on Booking.com, and a safari agent in Arusha sends you bookings by WhatsApp every few weeks. A Booking.com reservation comes in for Room 3 on Friday night. The same agent messages you an hour later: two guests, same room, same night.
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)
- Safari agent and tour operator bookings (entered at the front desk)
- WhatsApp messages and phone calls (entered directly)
- Walk-ins and direct bookings from your own site or social media
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 OTAs automatically.
How bookings reach small Tanzania and Zanzibar properties: Guesthouses in Zanzibar and beach bungalows in Nungwi and Paje take a high share of bookings through Booking.com and Airbnb, with Agoda covering parts of the Asian market. Safari lodges and camps near Arusha and Moshi get most of their bookings through safari agents and tour operators, by WhatsApp and email, with Booking.com handling the self-drive and independent segment. Keeping all these sources in one calendar is what removes the risk of double bookings.
Check-in, room status, housekeeping and check-out
The calendar is one piece. The rest of your day-to-day runs here too.
Guest check-in
Record the guest's name, passport or 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 radio calls, no walking to 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 itemised bill, apply your taxes and levies where they apply to you, 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. Your manager gets the numbers they need each morning without building them by hand.
Taxes, levies and billing in Tanzania and Zanzibar
The PMS can be configured for any country's taxes and charges. You set your property's rates once and every bill calculates from there. Tanzania is an important case: mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar have separate revenue authorities and separate tax regimes.
Which authority governs you? If your property is on the mainland (including Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Moshi and the national park areas), you are governed by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA). If your property is in Zanzibar (including Stone Town, Nungwi, Paje and Jambiani), you are governed by the Zanzibar Revenue Authority (ZRA). The taxes below are separate. Always confirm what applies to your property with your accountant or the relevant authority.
Mainland Tanzania
On the mainland, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) sets the standard VAT (Value Added Tax) rate at 18%. Registration for VAT is mandatory once your annual taxable turnover exceeds TZS 200 million. Most small guesthouses and lodges with limited rooms fall below this threshold and are not required to register or charge VAT.
The local government hotel levy was cut from 10% to 2% with effect from 1 July 2025 as part of the Finance Act 2025. Where it applies to you, the PMS lets you configure this rate on your bill.
The hotel levy is assessed on your turnover and paid to your local council, so some properties build it into their room rate rather than showing it as a separate bill line. Here is how a sample bill looks for a mainland property registered for VAT:
| Room rate (1 night) | TSh 150,000 |
| VAT (18%) | TSh 27,000 |
| Total payable | TSh 177,000 |
An unregistered property below the TZS 200 million threshold does not charge VAT: the guest pays the room rate plus any service charge you set. Confirm which charges apply to your property with your accountant.
Zanzibar
In Zanzibar, the Zanzibar Revenue Authority (ZRA) administers a hotel levy of 12% on the chargeable value of services for registered hotels and guesthouses. The ZRA's VAT registration threshold is TZS 15 million annual taxable turnover, which is much lower than the mainland threshold. Operator price lists quote 15% VAT in Zanzibar. Confirm the current rate with ZRA or your accountant before configuring your billing.
Zanzibar also collects an infrastructure tax from in-house guests. Travel-industry sources indicate this is USD 4 per person per night for 2- and 3-star properties, and USD 5 for 4- and 5-star properties. The rate changed in mid-2025 (from an earlier USD 1 rate) and ZRA's own notice should be consulted for the current figure and when it applies to your property class.
Note on the Zanzibar sample bill: Because the infrastructure tax rate is stated in USD, and the exact VAT rate at the time of publishing is pending confirmation from ZRA, a sample bill for Zanzibar has been left out of this page. Ask your accountant or ZRA directly to get the current rates for your property class before configuring your billing settings. The PMS can apply whatever rates they confirm.
Billing currency
Many safari lodges and Zanzibar beach properties quote and bill in USD. If that is how your property works, you set USD as your billing currency in the PMS. The system bills in whichever currency you configure. You still set the applicable tax rates as required by TRA or ZRA.
Payments
Record how each guest paid. The PMS supports:
- M-Pesa: enter the transaction reference you receive and the PMS records it
- Tigopesa and Airtel Money: same process, enter the reference code
- Card payment
- Bank transfer
- Cash
You still confirm each M-Pesa payment in your own account. The folio keeps a full payment history. Your daily report shows total collections by payment type.
Guest records
The PMS stores each guest's name, nationality and ID or passport details as you enter them at check-in. Those records stay in the system for as long as you need them. A guest-list export is available on request, which you can use to meet any registration requirements your authority sets. Submission to any government system is done separately.
Property types across Tanzania and Zanzibar
The system is built for small properties. Whether you are on the beach in Zanzibar or near the parks on the mainland, if your main job is keeping track of who is in which room on which night, this covers it.
Zanzibar beach guesthouses and bungalows
Nungwi, Paje, Jambiani and Stone Town properties running on Booking.com and Airbnb, with a steady stream of direct WhatsApp bookings from returning guests. The calendar keeps OTA and direct reservations in one place so nothing gets double-booked.
Arusha and Moshi guesthouses
Budget guesthouses serving Kilimanjaro trekkers and safari goers. Most bookings come through Booking.com and WhatsApp, mixed with tour operator block bookings. One calendar for all three.
Small lodges and tented camps near the parks
Properties near Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Lake Manyara. Safari agents send most of the bookings by WhatsApp and email. Booking.com covers the independent traveller. The calendar holds agent and OTA bookings side by side.
Dar es Salaam guesthouses
Urban guesthouses and budget hotels serving business travellers and transit guests. A steady mix of Booking.com, direct calls and WhatsApp. The free PMS gives you a proper system beyond a notebook and a messaging group.
Stone Town heritage guesthouses
Small historic properties in Stone Town with a handful of rooms. Booking.com and Airbnb bring international guests. Walk-ins and direct inquiries come through WhatsApp. One calendar, one view.
Self-catering cottages and villas
A cottage or villa listed on Airbnb or Booking.com. The PMS gives you a proper calendar beyond the OTA apps: one that also captures direct bookings, a guest record, and an itemised bill.
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, 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.