Guides
How this part of the business actually works
Written for operators, about problems that exist whether or not you use our software. The tax articles are the ones we care most about getting right.
Canadian tax and compliance
What actually applies to an accommodation business, province by province, and who remits it.
How the Quebec lodging tax works, including the agency rule
The 3.5% you charge, the flat $3.50 per room-night an agency remits, and why who collects the money decides who files it.
8 min readWho remits the tax when a guest books through Booking.com, Expedia or Airbnb
Who took the money and who is the supplier for tax are two different questions, and confusing them is how accommodation tax gets remitted twice or never.
9 min readGST, HST, QST, PST: which taxes apply to a Canadian accommodation business
The three kinds of tax on a Canadian room night, which sales tax applies in which province, and why accommodation tax is a different animal from the rest.
9 min readOperations fundamentals
Folios, deposits, no-shows, turnovers and the arithmetic behind a well-run desk.
Deposits are a liability, not revenue
A deposit taken in February for a July stay is money you owe a service to. What that changes about your monthly numbers and the day somebody cancels.
7 min readWhat a folio actually is, and why the balance is not one number
Six numbers hide inside the one a desk reads out loud. Which one answers 'can this guest leave', and why an edit button is the costliest feature you can have.
8 min readBuying a system
What to ask, what it really costs, and how to switch without losing your books.
The real cost of a PMS is training, and nobody prices it
The subscription is the number on the quote. The number that matters is what it costs to make a new hire useful, paid again every season. How to calculate it.
8 min readWhat free campground software actually costs, and when it is the right answer
What free campground software actually costs. How to find the reservation count where a per-booking plan and a flat fee cross, and who really pays the fee.
9 min read12 questions to ask any PMS vendor before you sign
The PMS demo questions that have no rehearsed answer, in the order that matters, plus the one instruction that tells you more than the rest of the demo.
10 min readMore is being written. We list an article when it exists rather than promising one that does not, which is the same rule the software follows.
One email when the next guide is ready
We publish a guide or a tool every few weeks about Canadian small-property operations, tax and the desk. One email each time it happens, and that is the whole of it.
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4 free calculators that answer as you type.
What a per-booking price works out to against a flat one, who remits the tax on a booking, how many housekeepers you need tomorrow, and what your current system actually costs you a year.