Hotel: map of everyday tasks
Cenaly combines its own PMS with guest services: room inventory, bookings, rates, check-in, the guest bill, housekeeping, meals and website sales. The Hotel business type sets the hotel terminology and the initial sections. This page is a map: find your task and go to the step-by-step article.
Open: Admin Panel → Rooms (the same section restaurants see as "Floor Plan" — admin.cenaly.ge/tables, renamed for hotels). The section opens in the floor plan editor; the working rooms board is switched on with the 🛏️ Rooms button in the header. The board has the Board, Calendar and 📊 Reports tabs, and the 🏷️ Room types button opens the hotel settings (the Hotel settings window with the sections Rooms & types, Rates & restrictions, Sales channels, Stay rules, Payments & taxes, Housekeeping).
Map of everyday tasks#
Overview and setup#
| Task | Article |
|---|---|
| Launch the hotel on day one and finish setting it up within a week | First day: hotel, guesthouse |
| Create floors, rooms and room types; take a room out of order; assign a room to a booking | Rooms, room types and inventory readiness |
| Move future bookings from your previous system with a file | Moving future bookings |
Bookings and arrival#
| Task | Article |
|---|---|
| Create, change or cancel a booking; booking log, registration card | Hotel booking actions |
| Check a guest in and out, early check-in and late check-out | Check a guest in and out at the front desk |
| Drag a booking on the calendar, move a guest, split a stay | Moving, relocating and splitting a stay |
| The guest's form before arrival | Pre-arrival form and the front desk check |
| Option until a deadline and the waitlist | Option until a deadline and the waitlist |
| A group of bookings, a room block, the rooming list | Several bookings in one group, Room blocks and the rooming list |
| Sell a room for a few hours | Sell a room for a few hours |
Guest journey#
| Task | Article |
|---|---|
| Connect the guest's phone to the room: stay QR, room code | Stay pass |
| Requests, Do not disturb, food to the room | Requests and room service from an in-house guest |
| Online check-out from a phone | Online guest check-out |
| Guest emails, sending rules, "room is ready" | Guest messages: templates and rules |
| Messaging the guest, the AI concierge | Messaging a guest about their stay |
| Upsells and room upgrades | Upsells: services and room upgrades |
| Stay rating and review | Stay rating and public review |
| The room phone on the guest's smartphone | Hotel telephony |
Money and documents#
| Task | Article |
|---|---|
| Prepayment, deposit, card guarantee, hold, no-show penalty | Prepayment, card guarantee and hold |
| Guest and company bill, printing and sending the bill | Guest and company bill: charges and printing |
| Restaurant, bar, minibar and rate meals on the room bill | Restaurant, minibar and meals on the room bill |
| The hotel's fiscal receipt | Hotel bill, payment and fiscal receipt |
| Tourist tax | Tourist tax: setting up the calculation |
| Guest registration and filing by country | Guest registration register and filing by country |
Sales and revenue#
| Task | Article |
|---|---|
| Seasons, rate plans with meals, restrictions, cancellation | Hotel rates |
| Website booking, a booking button on your own site | Direct booking on the website, Hotel website |
| Booking.com, Airbnb and other platforms | iCal and channels |
| Company contracts and agents | Company contract rates and agent commission |
| Price recommendations and promo codes | Pricing rules and the Revenue screen, Promo code for direct bookings |
Housekeeping and front desk#
| Task | Article |
|---|---|
| Housekeeping: "My rooms", assignment, workload forecast, occupancy check | A housekeeper's shift |
| Cleaning inspection | Inspect a cleaning and send it back |
| Minibar, room check, damage | Room check, minibar and room items |
| Front desk shift handover | Hand over a shift without losing a task |
| Lost and found | Register, keep and return a lost item |
| Returning guests, VIP, duplicate cards | Returning guests, VIP and duplicate cards |
Management and control#
| Task | Article |
|---|---|
| Front desk lists, the manager's summary, KPI, meal forecast | Front desk lists and the manager's daily summary |
| Overnight charges and closing the day | Night audit |
| Front desk, housekeeping and accountant permissions | Front desk, housekeeping and accountant permissions |
| Several hotels of one network | Compare the hotels of one network |
| Electronic locks | Electronic key and the stay |
| An action does not go through | Hotel: why an action does not go through |
Several hotels in one account#
If the account has several hotel locations, Rooms shows one of them.
- Check the location selected in the sidebar. If All is selected, a location list appears next to the Rooms heading — choose the hotel there. The page remembers your choice.
- If a specific location is selected in the sidebar, Rooms opens for it straight away and there is no list on the page. To switch to another hotel, change the location in the sidebar — the choice applies to all sections and to other browser tabs.
The list shows only locations the employee has access to. The page's hotel mode depends on the business type of the selected location: for a restaurant, "Floor Plan" opens instead of "Rooms". To compare hotels with each other — Compare the hotels of one network.
Floors and rooms#
The editor works like the Floor plan: halls are called floors, and instead of tables there are Room and Bed elements (for hostels and dorms). Rooms are created as a range with + Add rooms (up to 500 at a time, with a preview and existing numbers skipped), and a QR is bound to one room or to all at once. Step by step — Rooms, room types and inventory readiness.
Room types and rates#
A room type sets the base rate per night and the capacity; the type is assigned to a room in the properties panel on the floor plan. Seasons, rate plans with meals, prices by number of guests, the rate calendar and sales restrictions are in Hotel rates, and the room type list itself — in Rooms, room types and inventory readiness.
Photos, description and amenities of a room type for the website#
What the guest sees about a room type when booking online (photos, area, beds, amenities, a description in each language) is filled in with 📷 Add photos and description for guests in the type row and is published after Save. Step by step — Rooms, room types and inventory readiness, how it looks on the storefront — Hotel website. Photos and amenities are not sent to OTA channels.
Check-in and check-out#
The rooms board is the front desk's working screen: a card for every room with occupancy, housekeeping, the bill balance and guest requests. Check-in opens the guest bill (folio); check-out closes it at a zero balance and sends the room to cleaning. An uncleaned room only warns at check-in, a room out of order blocks it. Step by step — Check a guest in and out at the front desk, room states — Rooms, room types and inventory readiness.
Folio and charges#
The folio is the guest's bill for the stay: it opens at check-in and lives until check-out. Nights are charged automatically after 03:00 hotel time (Night audit), and the tourist tax, in-room orders, restaurant bills charged to the room and the minibar go there too. Money is taken by the till; the bill can be split between the guest and a company and printed or sent to the guest — Guest and company bill. Which receipt is issued — Hotel bill, payment and fiscal receipt.
Charge a restaurant or bar bill to a room from the till#
The cashier adds a bill to the room bill with the 🛏️ Charge to room command — the guest pays everything at check-out. First the command is put on the till screen in the screen layout settings. Step by step and what to do on a refusal — Restaurant, minibar and meals on the room bill.
Breakfast and other meals in the rate: deduct from the package#
Dishes included in the rate (breakfast, half board, full board) are deducted by the till from the meal package with a 100% discount, and portions are counted by the number of guests on the booking. Step by step — Meals in the rate, the breakfast forecast for a date — Meal forecast.
"No charges" and a charge limit per room#
The front desk can block charges to a bill from the till and from guest orders, or set a debt limit: room card → 🔑 Guest services → the "Charges to the room" block. Step by step — Block room charges or set a limit.
If the hotel already has an external PMS, you do not have to keep the folio with us: the "🔌 PMS" button switches the flow to external-system mode. A caveat: right now only the demonstration adapter "Mock (demo)" is available — live connectors to external PMSs are in development, so switching a live hotel over is premature.
Room service — guest ordering by QR#
The guest scans the QR in the room and orders from the menu just like at a table. An order from an unoccupied room is cancelled by the server, and a "Charge to room" order in the default mode is accepted only from a device connected with a stay pass. Details — Requests and room service from an in-house guest.
Guest service requests and the housekeeping panel#
The guest leaves requests (towels, cleaning, Do not disturb, wake-up, maintenance) from a phone; the front desk sees them in the Guest requests block of the room card and closes them with Start and Done — Requests and room service. Housekeepers work on the My rooms screen (in the phone browser or in the Housekeeping mode of the Cenaly Team app) — A housekeeper's shift.
"My Bill" for the guest#
The guest menu has My bill: charges, payments and the balance of their stay bill. Before check-in it is empty, after settlement it shows "Paid". It opens only on a connected device — Stay pass.
Stay pass: guest services only for the guest who is staying#
The room QR is only a pointer: the menu and hotel information. Ordering to the room, paying "Charge to room", leaving requests and opening "My room" are possible only from a device with a stay pass; check-out switches off all passes at once. The guest connects with the stay QR from the front desk (room card → 🔑 Guest services: Copy link, Send by email, Send by SMS, Share), with the room code (PIN) or by the link in the email. The window lists the Connected devices, and the banner Occupied rooms whose guests are not connected yet: N appears above the board. Step by step — Stay pass; how it works with the room phone — Hotel telephony.
Create a reservation and change its dates#
A booking is created by clicking an empty cell on the calendar or with 📅 Book the room in the room properties on the floor plan. Dates and the room are changed in the booking card or by dragging the bar on the calendar; nights already sold keep their price. Step by step — Hotel booking actions and Moving, relocating and splitting a stay.
Check in a reservation#
The Check in button of a booking — on the board, in the reservations list and in the hall panel at the till — opens the same check-in window; after it the room is occupied and the stay has an open bill. Step by step and what to do on a refusal — Check in a booking.
Move a checked-in guest to another room#
A room move transfers the open stay and its bill to another room, and the previous room goes to cleaning; for a future booking you change the room in its card. Step by step — Move a checked-in guest to another room.
Bookings and iCal export to OTAs#
A booking has a source (front desk, phone, direct, website, OTA), cancellation with a reason and a "no-show" mark. A regular room booking is a pair of dates, at least one night; selling a room for a few hours is a separate mode — Sell a room for a few hours. You can also sell a room type — such bookings hold the allotment and wait for a room assignment in the strip above the calendar (Assign a room to a booking). Early check-in and late check-out — Check a guest in and out. Reports (occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, front desk lists, the manager's summary) — Front desk lists and the manager's daily summary.
If the hotel has a restaurant, its tables are still booked by the hour — Table reservations.
Hotel sales channels#
Working today: online booking on the Cenaly storefront (Direct booking on the website), a "Book a room" button on your own website (Hotel website) and two-way availability exchange with Booking.com, Airbnb and other platforms via iCal (iCal and channels). iCal transfers only availability — no prices and no guest data.
Migration register (Russia)#
Russian hotels have a 🛂 Migration register button on the rooms board: a record is created at check-in, deadlines and filing statuses are visible, notification forms are printed and a CSV is exported. There is no automatic submission to the Interior Ministry — the employee marks the filing. Step by step and filing in other countries — Guest registration register and filing by country.
Extended hotel workflows#
The workflows previously listed here as "being rolled out step by step" now have their own articles:
| Workflow | Article | What to check before use |
|---|---|---|
| Payment and guarantee | Prepayment, card guarantee and hold | The provider must support this exact operation: payment support does not mean hold support |
| Pre-arrival | Pre-arrival form | The front desk still checks the guest's data |
| Night audit | Night audit | Corrections to a closed day go through adjustments |
| Company settlement | Guest and company bill, Company contract rates | Payer, company details and payment terms |
| Housekeeping and maintenance | A housekeeper's shift, Minibar and room items | Staff roles — Permissions |
| Electronic locks | Electronic key and the stay | A supported device and vendor account |
The demonstration external PMS adapter does not mean a ready integration with any hotel system. Guest registration depends on the country and the specific connection.
Guest self-service before arrival#
Through a private link in an email or SMS the guest confirms the contact, cancels the booking under the rate terms or changes the dates and number of guests with the new price confirmed, and with "Prepare for arrival" sends their name, contacts and arrival time. Documents are checked at check-in. Details — Pre-arrival form and the front desk check.
Not available yet#
- A two-way channel manager with live channels — only iCal (availability without prices).
- Live connectors to external PMSs — only the demonstration adapter.
- Automatic filing of notices to the Interior Ministry — a register, printable forms and the employee's mark.
- A separate monthly settlement for long stays — nights are charged every night.
- Room features are not used in automatic room assignment — only in manual picking.
Related sections#
- First day: hotel, guesthouse — launch and the first week
- Rooms, room types and inventory readiness — rooms, types, out of order
- Hotel rates — seasons, rate plans, sales restrictions and cancellation policy
- Hotel booking actions — create, change, cancel a booking
- Check a guest in and out at the front desk — the front desk's daily work
- Floor plan — the shared floor and room editor, QR binding
- Table reservations — table bookings at the hotel restaurant
- POS — the room bill on the till
- Hotel telephony — the guest's smartphone as the room phone
FAQ#
What happens if a guest orders from a room no one has checked into?#
The order is cancelled automatically with the note "room not checked in" — the server checks check-in for every order from a room QR, regardless of what the guest's phone shows.
A former guest photographed the room QR — can they order after check-out?#
No. The room QR only opens the menu; ordering on behalf of the room is possible only from a device with a stay pass, and check-out switches off all stay passes at once. A photo of the stay link connects nothing after check-out either.
Does a guest pay for room service right away or at check-out?#
Their choice: a regular payment or "Charge to room" — then the amount goes to the stay bill and is paid at check-out. In the default mode, "Charge to room" is available only from a connected device and if the front desk has not blocked charges to the bill.
Can a room's calendar sync with Booking.com?#
Yes, both ways via iCal: export — the room link, added as a calendar on the platform's side; import — the platform's export link in the hotel settings, refreshed about every 15 minutes. iCal does not transfer prices. Details — iCal and channels.
What does the nightly cron do, and do I need to wait for it?#
It charges the night just stayed to the bill of every occupied room on its own: the server checks hotels once an hour and charges the night after 03:00 hotel time. The morning check and closing the day — Night audit.
Is a fiscal receipt issued at check-out?#
No. Check-out closes the bill only at a zero balance and issues no receipt itself. The guest's money is taken by the till, which issues the receipts — Hotel bill, payment and fiscal receipt.