Booking and POS for bed and breakfasts

A few rooms, priced properly

The room booking add-on module suits a property with a handful of rooms. Create each room, or each room type if several are alike, with the maximum adults and children, amenities such as a fireplace or a private bath, photos and a description. Prices are per night for each day of the week, so a Saturday in June can be priced above a Wednesday in March.

Special prices handle the guest count: a base rate for two and a higher one when a third person shares. Coupons give a fixed or percentage discount on a room type for a date range, with a code you can hand to returning guests, a wedding party or a local partner.

• Nightly price per weekday
• Special prices for extra adults or children
• Coupons by room type and dates
• Amenities and photos per room

Breakfast and the other extras

Breakfast is the part of the name that guests remember. Add it as an extra with a price charged per person per day, so a three-night stay for two adds six breakfasts on its own. Other extras can be charged per day, such as parking, per booking, such as a late checkout or a cheese plate on arrival, or per person, such as a guided walk.

Extras show on the booking with the rooms, the discount, payments and the balance due. If you serve breakfast to the public or sell from a small shop, those sales go through the SeroPOS till, and the reports bring both together. Wine, maple syrup or local crafts sold to guests can be tracked as stock with alert quantities, so the shelf in the hall never runs bare.

Bookings, confirmations and the calendar

Each booking has a status, arrival and departure dates and times, the rooms with guest counts and prices, extras, discounts, a coupon and payments. Record a deposit when the guest books and the balance at checkout. Print a booking PDF with your footer text, and set up the new-booking email template so guests get a confirmation in your words.

The calendar shows availability by room type, and the dashboard lists today's arrivals and departures and the guests staying tonight. Block a room for a date range when you are closed or decorating, or mark it as an External booking if a travel site sold it. There is no public booking page, so online travel bookings are entered by hand.

The owner's books

Booking totals flow into the Profit / Loss Report with your POS sales and expenses, so the season's numbers are in one place. Record spending on linen, food and repairs as expenses with categories and receipts, and the Expense Report totals them. The HMS reports show bookings, nights, guests and amounts for any date range.

If a bookkeeper helps at tax time, Invite Accountant gives them a one-time code to open the books, with a log of who looked at what. The Pro plan adds QuickBooks if your accountant already works there. Each payment on a booking is recorded with its method, so deposits and balances reconcile with the bank.