Custom app for the night register and tourist tax
Appfront builds apps that help hotels, holiday parks, campsites and landlords keep the overnight stay register the way the municipality requires: for each guest the arrival, departure and the details the register requires, for each overnight stay the tourist tax that applies, exemptions with the reason, and at the end of the period a return per municipality that follows directly from the register. So that a municipal inspection is an export, not a search through bookings and registration cards.
What is an app for the night register and tourist tax?
The overnight stay register is the mandatory record of who stays where: accommodation providers are legally required to keep a register of their guests, and municipalities levy tourist tax based on overnight stays, each with its own rate, its own exemptions and its own return period. An overnight stay app registers the guest on arrival with the required details, counts the overnight stays per accommodation and per municipality, applies that municipality's rate and exemptions, and produces the return for each period.
Without such an app, registration lives on a card at reception or in a field in the booking system, administration counts the nights from an export at the end of the quarter, looks up the rate for each municipality and estimates the exemptions. For a landlord with properties in five municipalities, that means five returns with five calculation methods, and during an inspection it turns out the March register is missing departure dates.
We build custom software because the registration has to match your guests and your municipalities: which details you already have from the booking, whether guests check in themselves, which municipalities your accommodations are in and which booking system you use. A booking system knows the booking, but not the municipality's register and not its exemptions.
Registration on arrival
On check-in, the guest confirms the details the register requires, pre-filled from the booking, on a tablet at reception or on their own phone.
Overnight stays per municipality
Every night per guest and per accommodation, with the rate and exemptions of the municipality where the accommodation is located, so the return per municipality is correct.
Returns and inspection
A return per municipality from the register each period, and an export with which the municipality can see, during an inspection, who stayed each night and why a night is exempt.
How we build your app for the night register and tourist tax
We start with the latest return and the latest inspection: how the nights were counted, which exemptions were applied and what the municipality asked for. The app follows from there.
Which details you currently record on arrival, which municipalities your accommodations are in, which rates and exemptions apply there, how guests check in, and which booking system you use.
Per accommodation the municipality, per municipality the rate per night or per person and the exemptions, with effective dates for rate changes.
Check-in on tablet or phone with the booking details pre-filled, overnight stays counted automatically, exemptions recorded with their reason.
The return per municipality per period, the audit export, the integration with your accounting, and then management and new municipalities.
What an app for the night register and tourist tax actually does
The components below come up with almost every accommodation provider. Which ones you need depends on the number of municipalities and on how your guests check in.
Guest registration
On arrival, confirm the required details, pre-filled from the booking, with the guest's signature or confirmation and a retention period per municipality.
Night counter
The overnight stays per guest and per accommodation, automatically drawn from arrival and departure, including extensions and early departures.
Rates per municipality
For each municipality, the rate, the basis (per night, per person, percentage) and the exemptions, with effective dates.
Exemptions
Children, residents, business stays or other categories under the municipality's ordinance, recorded with the reason on the guest's record.
Return per period
A return per municipality with the number of taxed and exempt nights and the amount, ready to submit, with the supporting detail underneath.
Booking system integration
Bookings, guests and accommodations from your booking system, the tax carried through to the guest's invoice, and the return passed on to the accounts.
Who we build an app for the night register and tourist tax for
The app is built for accommodation providers where registration is mandatory and the return is currently done by hand for each municipality.
Hotels
Daily check-ins and check-outs with many guests. Registration on arrival and the automatic night counter are the core.
Holiday parks and campsites
Long stays, families and seasonal pitches with their own rules. The exemptions per category and the count per accommodation matter most.
Rental organisations across multiple municipalities
Properties spread across municipalities with different rates. The rate table per municipality and the return per municipality are what you need.
B&Bs and small providers
Few accommodations, but the same obligation. Check-in on the guest's phone and the simple return are the core.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page covers the register and the tax. For settling accounts with the property owner, see our page on owner settlement software; for the hotel as a whole, our page on hotel software; and on the municipal side, our page on municipal tax software. You can read about how we work on building custom software.
Why Appfront for your app for the night register and tourist tax?
The overnight register is an obligation that only gets noticed when the municipality audits. That is what we build on: registering on arrival, the return drawn from the register, and evidence per night.
Registering is checking in
On arrival, the guest confirms what the register requires, pre-filled. No separate card, no field that turns out to be blank later.
The return follows from the register
Nights, rates and exemptions are already held per municipality. The return is a check of a figure the app already has.
The audit is an export
Per night, who stayed, which rate applied and why a night is exempt. The municipality receives a list, not a story.
Security and privacy for an app for the night register and tourist tax
The register holds guests' personal data, sometimes including identity details, and the municipality sets requirements for what is recorded and for how long (in line with the GDPR). Access is set up by role and by location: reception registers, administration sees the returns, and in an audit the municipality receives an export for the requested period and nothing more. Data is automatically deleted after the municipality's retention period, and every access is logged.
The app runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. Integrations with the booking system and accounting use their own keys, which can be revoked for each integration.
Frequently asked questions about an app for the overnight stay register and tourist tax
Questions that hotels, parks and landlords ask before getting started.
It registers every guest on arrival with the details the register requires, counts overnight stays per guest and per accommodation, applies the rate and exemptions of the municipality where the accommodation is located, and produces the return per municipality for each period. In an audit it supplies an export per night with the supporting detail.
The municipality sets this in its ordinance, and it differs from one municipality to another; usually it is name, address, arrival and departure, and sometimes nationality or number of persons. The app records per municipality which fields are mandatory, so registration on arrival only asks for what is needed there.
Yes. Before arrival, the guest receives a link on which they confirm their details, or they do so on arrival on a tablet at reception or on their own phone. Whatever the booking already contains is pre-filled; the guest confirms and supplements it.
Per accommodation the municipality is fixed, and per municipality the rate, the basis and the exemptions, with effective dates for changes. A landlord with properties in five municipalities gets five returns, each calculated under that municipality's own ordinance, drawn from the same register.
For the guest, with the category and the reason, for example a child under that municipality's age limit or a local resident. The night still counts in the register but not in the tax, and the return and the audit export show why.
Yes. Bookings, guests and accommodations come from the system you use; the tourist tax passes through to the guest's invoice and the return feeds into your accounting. We connect to what you already have; the app does not become a second booking system.
Ask this first. Many systems calculate tourist tax on the invoice, and that is enough for one municipality with few exemptions. Custom software makes sense if you operate in several municipalities, if exemptions must be recorded with a reason, if the register must be producible per night during an audit, or if returns are currently recalculated from exports.
Every overnight stay registered and every return drawn from the register?
Tell us how many municipalities you operate in, which booking system you use and how your last audit or return went. We will show you what the registration, the rate table and the return look like.