Setting up taxes correctly ensures compliance with local regulations and provides pricing transparency for your guests. Tax settings in Payments > Taxes only apply to your Little Hotelier booking engine, not your connected channels. Admin users can update taxes when Payments is enabled.
About taxes for your booking engine
Set up taxes for your booking engine to comply with local tax laws and regulations. Your direct booking guests will see tax information on:
The page where guests are asked to confirm their reservation
The reservation confirmation email
The booking confirmation page
The rate displayed (if tax settings are inclusive)
Add a new tax
To add a new tax for Direct booking:
Go to Payments > Taxes
Click Add tax
Enter a name for the tax
Choose either percentage or fixed amount
For percentage tax, enter the percentage and select what to apply it to (All rooms and extras, All rooms or Extras only) and whether it is a sales tax
For fixed amount tax, select when to apply it (Per booking, Per night, per person, etc) and enter the amount
Tick the Tax settings, if they apply: Show rates including tax and service charge on the direct booking engine and Include tax and service charges on Inventory grid rates for the booking engine
Click Save
Tax settings
Show rates including tax and service charge on the direct booking engine
Tick this setting to display final prices including taxes on your booking engine. This avoids surprising guests with additional fees when they view the checkout page. If not ticked, the prices shown on your direct booking engine will exclude taxes.
Customers will only see the taxes added to the price when they view the checkout page.
Include tax and service charges on Inventory grid rates for the booking engine
Tick this setting if rates on the Inventory grid include taxes.
Manage existing taxes
Edit a tax
Navigate to Payments > Taxes
Click the pencil icon > Edit tax
Make your changes
Click Save
Delete a tax
Navigate to Payments > Taxes
Click the pencil icon > Delete tax
Click Delete to confirm
Frequently asked questions
Where do these tax settings apply?
Tax settings in Payments > Taxes apply to Direct booking only, not your connected channels.
Will updates to tax settings affect existing bookings?
When you create, edit, or delete a tax, the change only applies to new bookings. Existing bookings will keep their original tax settings.
How do I handle tax rate changes and seasonal taxes?
Update tax settings manually when your local tax rates change. You can only set current tax settings, not future ones. For temporary or seasonal changes, update taxes on the effective date.
Tax rates are locked in at the time of booking, not at the time of stay. If a guest books today for next month, they'll get today's tax rate, even if tax rates change before their stay.
How do I set up different tax rates for rooms and extras?
If a different tax rate applies for rooms and extras (or for different extras), set up multiple taxes. When creating each tax, set what the tax applies to: All rooms and extras, All rooms or Extras only.
How do I set up extras with different tax rates?
Add separate taxes for different extras.
Create a new tax and select Extras only in Tax applied to
Click Save
Click the pencil icon to edit the tax
Select which extras this tax applies to
Click Save
Should I use tax-exclusive rates when tax changes are coming?
We recommend tax-inclusive rates if you anticipate tax changes, as tax-exclusive rates can complicate refunds and partial payments when tax rates change between booking and stay dates. If using tax-exclusive rates:
Only offer non-refundable rates with full payment at booking
Avoid partial payments
Be aware that refunds may be complicated if tax rates change