Custom overnight stay register and tourist tax software
Anyone offering accommodation has to keep a guest register, and the municipality levies tourist tax on overnight stays, each with its own rate, its own exemptions and its own filing period. A holiday-let owner, a hotel group or a park operator working across several municipalities ends up counting nights from booking systems and registration cards at the end of every period. Appfront builds the software that handles this centrally: one register for all properties, the rules for each municipality built in, and the return for each period produced straight from the system.
What is guest register and tourist tax return software?
Guest register and tourist tax software is the administration behind the tax return. Every overnight stay goes into a single register from the booking system or the front desk, with the details the municipality asks for: who, where, how many people, how many nights. The rate, exemptions and filing period for each municipality are stored in the system, as laid down in that municipality's bylaw. At the end of the period, the software counts the nights per property and per municipality and uses them to produce the return and the export the tax official wants to see.
Without such a system, the register is partly in the booking system, partly on registration cards at the front desk and partly in a spreadsheet. At the end of the quarter, the administration looks up the rate for each municipality, estimates the exemptions for children or long-stay guests, and counts nights from an export that was never designed for counting. For an owner with properties in eight municipalities, each with a different bylaw, this takes days every period, and a municipal audit turns into a hunt for records.
We build custom software because your properties, your municipalities and your booking systems determine what the software has to do. Whether you operate the properties yourself or manage them for owners, which municipalities you work in, which booking channels you use and whether you pass the tax on to owners all vary. The obligation to keep a guest register follows from the Dutch Criminal Code, and many municipalities allow your own system as long as it meets their requirements; we set the software up to meet those requirements. This page covers the central administration; the front-desk app is a separate component.
One register
All properties.
Per municipality
Rates and exemptions.
Return ready
From the system.
How we build your guest register and tourist tax return software
We start with your properties: which municipalities they are in, which booking systems the overnight stays come from, how the return is currently produced and what the municipalities ask for. Then we build a first version with the central register and the count per municipality, because that is where most of the time goes. Your administration works with it for a period. Exemptions, the return itself, passing costs on to owners and integrations with your booking systems follow once that is running well. After that, we maintain the software as bylaws or your portfolio change.
Municipalities, channels, returns.
The first version.
Expansion.
Go-live, monitoring, and maintenance when things change.
What guest register and tourist tax return software actually does
The components below appear in almost every guest register and tourist tax system. Which ones you need depends on your properties and your municipalities.
Register
Guest, place, people, nights.
Bookings
Overnight stays from your systems.
Municipalities
Rate, exemption, period.
Count
Per property and municipality.
Declaration
Per period, with export.
Charging on
To owners, per property.
Who we build guest register and tourist tax return software for
The software is intended for landlords and managers with multiple accommodations, especially when they are located in more than one municipality. The more municipalities and booking channels you have, the more it delivers.
Rental agents
Owners' properties.
Hotel groups
Multiple locations.
Holiday parks
Holiday homes and pitches.
Campsites
Seasonal and passing guests.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we make your idea tangible in a single day for €1,150, so you know whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we deduct the cost in full.
View OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about the central administration. For registration on arrival, see our page on a guest register app; for settling accounts with owners, our page on owner statements for holiday homes; and for full park administration, our page on holiday park and leisure software. You can read about our approach on building custom software.
Why choose Appfront for your guest register and tourist tax return software?
A tax return that takes days every quarter, an exemption that is estimated rather than counted, or a municipal inspection that turns into a search through registration cards all cost a landlord time and money. That is what we build around: one register, the rules for each municipality built in, and a tax return that comes straight from the system.
Less work
Counted by the system.
Correct per municipality
Rate and exemption right.
An inspection is an export
No searching.
Security and privacy in guest register and tourist tax return software
The register contains guests' personal data. The software only stores the data the municipality asks for, for as long as required, and access is set up by role: reception sees their own accommodation, the administration sees everything, and an owner sees only their own property. Every change is logged with a name and timestamp.
The software runs in a European data centre, with encrypted connections and storage and daily backups. Tax returns and exports are kept per period, so in an inspection you can show what you submitted.
Frequently asked questions about guest register and tourist tax return software
Questions that landlords and property managers ask before getting started.
It keeps a single register of guests and overnight stays for all your accommodations, applies the rate and exemptions for each municipality, counts the nights per period, and uses that to produce the tax return and the export for the tax officer.
The app is for reception or the owner when the guest arrives. The software is the central administration where all registrations come together and from which the tax return is produced. They work together, but the software also works with registrations from your booking system.
Many municipalities allow this if the register contains the data their bylaw requires and can be shown immediately on request. We set up the software to meet the requirements of the municipalities you operate in.
For each municipality, you record which rate applies, which exemptions there are, how the period runs and in what form the tax return must be submitted. An accommodation belongs to a municipality, and the count follows those rules. A visitor tax instead of a tourist tax can also be configured.
Usually, yes. Which booking systems and channel managers you use determines how we build the integration. Registrations from the app or from reception are merged with the bookings.
Yes. For each property or owner, the software tracks how much tax is due over the period, so it can appear on the owner statement.
For landlords and managers with several accommodations in more than one municipality, or with many booking channels. For a single property, the register in the booking system is often enough.
Tourist tax return straight from the system?
Tell us which municipalities your accommodations are in and how you currently keep the overnight register. We'll show you how the software can handle it.