Recommended pipeline
This stack takes an Indian hotel from manual registers and OTA-extranet logins to one connected operation across five stages: property management, payments, guest communication, GST accounting, and reputation. Get the PMS, payments, and WhatsApp working first; the PMS itself removes most of the spreadsheet and double-booking pain before you add anything else.
Stage 1
Run the property on a cloud PMS
Replace the paper register and Excel rate sheet with one system that manages the front desk, syncs availability to all OTAs, and takes direct bookings.
This is the foundation: a property management system stops double-bookings, keeps live availability across MakeMyTrip, Booking.com, Goibibo, and Agoda, and becomes the single record every other tool plugs into. Almost all the chaos of manual hotel operations disappears here, so set this up before anything else.
eZee (Yanolja Cloud Solution) and IDS Next are mature India-first hospitality platforms with strong OTA channel managers and GST-aware billing; Hotelogix and mycloud Hospitality are well-established cloud PMS options for small and mid hotels; djubo and Stayflexi are India-built systems that bundle PMS, channel manager, and a direct booking engine, which suits owners who want one vendor instead of stitching tools together.
Industry Solutions › Hospitality & Hotels
eZee (Yanolja Cloud Solution)
Cloud hotel PMS suite with channel manager, booking engine, restaurant POS and AI revenue tools, with India-based support.
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Industry Solutions › Hospitality & Hotels
IDS Next
Bengaluru-based hospitality ERP suite spanning PMS, POS, finance, banquets and guest engagement for hotels and chains.
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Industry Solutions › Hospitality & Hotels
DJUBO
India-rooted integrated hotel tech suite: PMS, channel manager, booking engine and revenue intelligence in one platform.
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Industry Solutions › Hospitality & Hotels
Stayflexi
All-in-one hospitality platform with PMS, channel manager, booking engine and AI agents for messaging and night audits.
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Setup for Run the property on a cloud PMS
- Pick one cloud PMS and load your room types, rate plans, and tax (GST) configuration.
- Connect the built-in channel manager to every OTA you sell on so availability updates everywhere at once.
- Turn on the booking engine and add a 'Book Direct' button to your website and Google Business Profile to cut OTA commission.
Automation for Run the property on a cloud PMS
- Let the channel manager push availability and rates to all OTAs automatically so you never update extranets by hand.
- Use the PMS booking engine to capture direct, commission-free reservations straight into the same calendar.
Caveats for Run the property on a cloud PMS
- A PMS already includes the channel manager and booking engine, so do not buy those as separate products; verify exactly which OTAs each PMS supports for your property.
- OTA connections can take a few days to certify and occasionally need re-mapping after rate changes; check live sync before going fully off spreadsheets.
Stage 2
Collect deposits and bills online
Let guests pay advances and final bills by UPI, card, or netbanking instead of cash on arrival, and stop chasing no-shows.
Cash-on-arrival drives no-shows and disputes. Online payment links and a gateway secure deposits at booking, speed up checkout, and give you a clean digital record that matches your accounting later. Set this up right after the PMS so direct bookings can actually be paid for.
Razorpay is the India-default gateway with strong UPI, payment links, and easy integration; Cashfree and PayU are solid alternatives with competitive settlement and good UPI support; Instamojo suits very small properties that want quick payment links without heavy setup.
Finance & Money › Payments & Billing
Razorpay
India-first payment gateway for accepting online payments, UPI, payment links, and subscriptions.
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Finance & Money › Payments & Billing
Cashfree Payments
India-first, RBI-licensed payment gateway and payouts platform supporting UPI, cards, net banking, and cross-border payments.
Check pricingFree plan
Finance & Money › Payments & Billing
PayU
Indian payment gateway for online businesses, accepting cards, UPI, netbanking, wallets and EMI.
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Setup for Collect deposits and bills online
- Open a gateway account and complete KYC and bank settlement details for your hotel's entity.
- Generate a payment link for advance deposits and share it at the time of booking confirmation.
- Connect the gateway to your PMS booking engine (or use links) so paid bookings reconcile against the right reservation.
Automation for Collect deposits and bills online
- Auto-send a payment link with every booking confirmation so deposits are collected without manual follow-up.
- Match gateway settlement reports to PMS bookings to spot unpaid or partially paid reservations early.
Caveats for Collect deposits and bills online
- Gateways charge a per-transaction MDR fee (UPI may be lower or zero, cards higher); compare current rates before choosing.
- Settlement to your bank usually takes T+1 to T+3 days, so plan cash flow accordingly.
Stage 3
Talk to guests on WhatsApp
Move booking confirmations, check-in details, and pre-arrival questions off your personal phone onto an official WhatsApp Business number the whole front desk can use.
Indian guests expect WhatsApp, but a personal number cannot be shared across staff, cannot send compliant template messages, and loses history when an employee leaves. An official WhatsApp Business API tool gives you a shared inbox, templates for confirmations, and automated reminders. Add this once bookings and payments are flowing so there is something worth communicating about.
AiSensy is a strong India-first default for broadcasts and template messaging at low cost; Wati suits properties that need a multi-agent shared inbox for front-desk and reservations staff; Gallabox is an India-built option with good automation and CRM-style contact handling for guest follow-ups.
Setup for Talk to guests on WhatsApp
- Apply for the WhatsApp Business API through one provider and verify your hotel as a business.
- Create approved templates for booking confirmation, payment reminder, check-in instructions, and a post-stay thank-you.
- Give the front desk and reservations team access to the shared inbox so no message sits unanswered.
Automation for Talk to guests on WhatsApp
- Trigger an automatic confirmation and a pre-arrival check-in message based on booking and arrival dates.
- Use a simple chatbot to answer common questions (directions, check-in time, amenities) and route the rest to a human.
Caveats for Talk to guests on WhatsApp
- Meta charges a separate per-conversation fee on top of the tool's subscription; verify current rates for your message volume.
- Template messages need Meta approval and must respect opt-in rules; collect guest consent at booking, since having a phone number is not consent.
Stage 4
Keep books and GST in order
Record room revenue, taxes, and supplier bills in GST-ready accounting so you can file returns and see real profit instead of reconstructing it from registers.
Hotels deal with GST slabs that depend on room tariff, plus food, services, and vendor bills. Doing this on paper makes filing painful and hides whether you are actually profitable. Once bookings and payments are digital, accounting becomes mostly a matter of importing clean data. Add it after the operational core is stable.
TallyPrime is the de facto India standard most accountants already know and handles GST filing and inventory; Zoho Books is a modern cloud option that connects neatly to the rest of a Zoho-friendly stack and to payment gateways; Vyapar suits smaller properties wanting affordable, GST-compliant billing and accounting without a full Tally setup.
Finance & Money › Finance & Accounting
TallyPrime
India's most widely used accounting and GST software for small and mid-sized businesses, covering bookkeeping, invoicing, inventory, and compliance.
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Finance & Money › Finance & Accounting
Zoho Books
Cloud accounting software from Zoho with GST-ready invoicing, expenses, banking, and reporting for Indian SMBs.
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Finance & Money › Finance & Accounting
Vyapar
Indian billing, invoicing, and accounting app for small businesses and shopkeepers, with GST and inventory.
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Setup for Keep books and GST in order
- Set up your chart of accounts and the correct GST rates for room categories, F&B, and services.
- Import or sync revenue from the PMS and settlement data from your payment gateway each day or week.
- Record supplier and utility bills so input tax credit and true expenses are captured for filing.
Automation for Keep books and GST in order
- Pull PMS revenue reports into accounting on a fixed schedule instead of re-entering bills line by line.
- Use the tool's GST return reports to prepare filings rather than building summaries manually.
Caveats for Keep books and GST in order
- Room-tariff GST slabs and rules change periodically; confirm current rates with your CA rather than hardcoding them.
- PMS-to-accounting sync is not always automatic; you may export reports and import them, so plan a simple weekly routine.
Stage 5
Grow reviews and direct demand
Collect guest feedback and ratings, fix issues early, and keep your social presence active so OTA and Google rankings bring the next bookings.
Your OTA position and Google rating decide how many bookings you get, and reviews are the main lever. A structured post-stay feedback flow catches problems privately and nudges happy guests toward public reviews, while steady social posts support direct bookings. This comes last because it only pays off once the stay experience and operations are solid.
Zoho Forms and Jotform make it easy to build post-stay feedback forms you can send by WhatsApp or email; SurveySparrow offers more conversational, higher-response surveys; for social, SocialPilot and Zoho Social let you schedule and manage Instagram, Facebook, and Google posts in one place.
Commerce & Operations › Forms, Surveys & Lead Capture
Zoho Forms
Online form builder for collecting enquiries and leads, with native Zoho CRM routing.
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Commerce & Operations › Forms, Surveys & Lead Capture
Jotform
A no-code drag-and-drop online form builder for collecting submissions, payments, signatures, and leads, with a large template library and 150+ integrations.
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Marketing & Content › Social Media Management
SocialPilot
Affordable social media scheduling, publishing, and analytics tool for SMBs and agencies.
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Marketing & Content › Social Media Management
Zoho Social
Social media management from Zoho with scheduling, monitoring, and analytics, integrated with the Zoho suite.
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Setup for Grow reviews and direct demand
- Build a short post-stay feedback form and send it automatically a day after checkout.
- Route low scores to the manager for a private fix and invite high scorers to leave a Google or OTA review.
- Schedule a regular cadence of social posts featuring rooms, offers, and guest highlights to support direct bookings.
Automation for Grow reviews and direct demand
- Trigger the feedback form automatically after checkout using your WhatsApp or PMS workflow.
- Schedule social posts in advance so the page stays active without daily manual effort.
Caveats for Grow reviews and direct demand
- Never incentivize or fake reviews on OTAs or Google; it breaks their policies and erodes trust.
- Survey and social tool free tiers cap responses, posts, or connected accounts; verify limits before relying on them.