Running a hotel in India comes with a few things most global software guides skip over. Tax rules that depend on your room rate. Guests booking through both international sites and local apps. Paperwork for foreign visitors. Staff who may be great with guests but have never used cloud software. If you pick a PMS built mainly for another market, you’ll spend months working around the gaps.
This guide goes through what matters most when choosing a property management system for an Indian hotel, guesthouse or resort. It’s not tax advice, and I’d always check GST details with your chartered accountant, because the rules and slabs have changed more than once. Think of it as a list of things to ask software vendors, not a compliance manual. Indian hotels also vary a lot, from a 12-room homestay to a 120-room business hotel, so some of this won’t apply to you. Skip what doesn’t.
GST and billing that matches how you invoice
GST on hotel rooms depends on the tariff you charge per night, and the slabs have been revised not long ago. That alone means your PMS should handle tax rates per room type or per rate, not one fixed percentage for everything. Restaurant, banquet and room service often fall under different rates again, so your POS and your front desk should post to the same bill with the right tax on each line.
Ask the vendor to show a sample guest invoice with the GST breakup, your GSTIN, and the right format for corporate guests who need to claim input credit. Ask who handles credit notes and cancellations after an invoice is issued, because that’s where tax mismatches usually appear.
When the rules change
Does the vendor update the system, or do you edit every rate plan by hand? Rate changes tend to land with very little notice. Also check whether daily revenue and tax reports can go to your accountant without retyping. This is the area where small gaps cost real money, so test it early.
The OTA mix: global plus local
Indian hotels rarely depend on one channel. Most sell on Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia and Airbnb alongside local OTAs such as MakeMyTrip, Goibibo and others, and many also get walk-ins, corporate bookings and travel agents by phone. Your hotel channel manager has to connect to the ones you really use, so list them before talking to any vendor and ask for proof that each one is live.
Then look at how rate and inventory updates reach them. Some hoteliers keep one rate for global OTAs and a different one for local OTAs and agents, and the system should allow that without messy workarounds. Also check how it handles commission differences, since the real income from a booking changes by channel.
Direct bookings count too
A report that shows income after commission per channel helps you decide where to push and where to pull back. A booking engine with Google links is worth setting up as well, because every direct booking saves you a commission.
Foreign guests, registration, and paperwork
If your hotel takes foreign guests, you have extra record-keeping, including reporting their details to the authorities in the required form. Rules differ by state and property type, so ask your local authority or accountant what applies to you, then ask the vendor how the PMS helps. Can you capture passport and visa details at check-in? Can you store a scan of the ID? Can you export the data in a form that’s easy to submit?
Even for Indian guests, you’ll want a register that’s complete and searchable. Staff turnover is common, so a system that guides the front desk through the required fields saves a lot of correction later.
Who can see ID documents?
Role-based access matters more than people expect, because those scans are sensitive and you don’t want every staff member opening them. Ask also how long records are kept and whether you can pull up an old registration quickly when an inspection comes around.
Rupees, support hours and local reality
Pricing in rupees sounds minor until you see how often international vendors quote in dollars and add conversion costs. It also helps when support is in your time zone and understands Indian hotels, including the fact that many properties have 10 to 40 rooms, a small team, and a restaurant that drives a lot of the revenue.
Internet is another thing to test. Power cuts and slow connections are a fact of life in many places, so a plan B matters. Try the system on the connection you actually have at the front desk, and ask what the mobile app can do if the Wi-Fi is slow.
Training and language
Check training too. Ask how many hours come with the price and who delivers it. Look for something your night auditor can learn in an afternoon, and ask whether the screens can be shown in a language your team is comfortable with, since not everyone at the desk works in English all day.
Where Aiosell fits
Aiosell is based in Bengaluru and publishes its prices in rupees. For a property with up to 10 rooms, Basic PMS is ₹1,600 a month, and the Lite Hotel plan with channel manager and booking engine is ₹2,400. Per-room plans cover revenue pricing and operations tools if you need more, and the All in One option can be billed at 3.5% of online bookings instead of a fixed fee. It also offers a 15-day free trial.
I’d use the Aiosell trial to check the Indian-specific things above: the GST invoice format, your OTA list, and how foreign guest details are captured. If something doesn’t fit, ask them directly while you’re still testing, and bring your accountant along for at least one session so the GST output gets a proper look before you rely on it. A PMS only earns its place when it matches how your hotel really works, and the trial is the cheapest way to find out.
