Guest invoicing and E-invoicing - Setup

Use this article to set up guest invoicing and e-invoicing in Hostaway, including seller profiles, invoice templates, and invoice configurations.

Introduction

Governments around the world, especially in Europe, during 2026 are preparing their local tax systems for Electronic Invoicing, also known as E-invoicing. To support you, Hostaway works together with the partner Invopop.com as a certified e-invoicing connection provider for over 30+ local country tax office submission systems. For this, we have built a new version of our guest invoicing system to support you with your direct bookings and OTA reservations based on various country-specific requirements during the year, where possible.

The New Guest Invoicing System

The guest invoicing system supports guest invoice generation and credit note generation for all channels.

Where to find the New Invoicing System?

As we are rolling the new guest invoicing system out, you, as the main account owner, should have access to the new menu. 

Please follow the next steps: 

1. Go to your Hostaway Dashboard> Reservations > Guest Payments
   
   
    
2. In the upper tab, click on Invoices
   
   
    
3. In the upper right-hand corner, click on Settings
   
   
    
4. There you will find the Invoice configurations, Sellers and Templates
   
   
    
5. If you haven't added sellers or templates, you will be prompted to do so
   
   
    
6. If you do not yet have access, contact support to get access.

Setting Up Your Invoicing System

1. Set up or verify you listing level Tax setup: Taxes that apply based on your local needs and guest reservations.
2. Add Seller profile(s): The Seller profile is the one who charges the guest legally and needs to submit invoices to tax authorities. (More details below)
3. Add invoice template: provide additional details for the invoices to use, like logo, company website URL, T&C, Policies, and other locally needed custom fields to be used for every invoice created. You can have multiple templates based on needs and "Seller" profiles. (More details below)
4. Add invoice configurations: The invoice configuration allows you, for each connected seller, to add, for example, the consecutive number prefixes, the template applying, closing, and submitting invoice settings manually or automatically, the listings this invoice configuration applies to, and the channels whose reservations should be invoiced. (More details below).

Guest Invoicing Standard vs E-invoicing Connection

Hostaway supports a combination of 2 different guest invoicing creation flows.

1. Standard invoicing: These new invoice setups support sequential invoice numbering, and manual and automated closing are the default settings to support all countries where electronic submission to local tax authorities is not supported or possible.  
   • Based on GOBL and configuration setups, the guest invoice PDF will be generated for your guest reservations by common international standards. Standard Invoicing is available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German. 
2. E-invoicing: These new invoice setups allow you to connect with partner Invopop to supported local tax authorities in Spain VeriFactu, Italy SDI, and France DGFIP during the setup of a Seller and invoice configuration per country, where applicable. 
   • You can connect to the local tax authority by providing the details of the seller to make the connection possible. Once the local tax authority is connected, the generated invoice will follow the country's specific compliant rules and look and feel as provided by the local tax authority after submission. 

Local tax regulations and needs can vary from location to location. As a software provider, we provide the best tools possible to generate these invoices. Ultimately, the "Seller", you, the host, etc., remain responsible for an ongoing correct setup, invoice outcome, and so we do recommend you to always consult local tax advisors where needed to remain compliant.

The Invoice Setup Process

Step 0. Add a seller

Every invoice needs the seller's details to provide to the guest. In general, the seller is the merchant of record and the person or company who charges the guest and files taxes with local authorities, where applicable, manually or automatically. To add a seller, please follow the steps above, and when you arrive at the 5th step, select Add seller.

Step 1. Country of the seller

When you start adding a new seller profile, the system will ask you first for the country of the seller that you can select from the dropdown, and click Next.

Step 2. Submit the invoices to the tax authority

E-invoicing is available in Spain, France, and Italy. The system will ask you if you want to submit the invoices to the tax authority:

1. Yes. Send invoices once closed automatically to a connected tax authority.
   • The system will ask you for a seller's name and legal tax ID to start creating an e-invoicing connection. The seller's address and other details will eventually be populated based on the local tax office's registered details.
2. No. You handle the invoices locally and submit them manually externally, where needed, to the tax authority.
   • The system will automatically skip the e-invoicing connection setup and move to step 3 below.

Important note: it's not possible to later switch from a yes to a no anymore, and so if you wish to move between sending to tax authorities, you have to create a new seller profile from the start that will only apply to new reservations afterwards.

Step 3a. E-invoicing Supporting Profiles

When an e-invoicing connection was selected above. 

The system, depending on the country involved, will ask you for the full official registered seller name and international tax ID number belonging to the seller.

From here, the system will start loading the country-specific vs. Invopop connection guide steps, where more details will be asked. 

For some countries, you will be asked to download a PDF contract for legal signing, and in the next step, asked to upload this legally signed document to the connection wizard step.  

Once followed all the steps, the connection request will be initiated, and depending on the local country, tax authorities may take a couple of days to get approved. 

The system will show you in the seller overview the status of the connection once completed as successful or rejected based on the tax authority response. 

If rejected in some cases, you can restart the submission, correcting details in other cases. We ask you to contact support for case-by-case support.

Step 3b.Non-E-invoicing seller Address Details

When you do not use the above step 3a, or it's not available yet for your country.
The setup asks you to provide various details of the seller.

• Full Name: can be an individual or company name.
• Tax ID: The full international official tax ID of the seller
• Address: Official address line
• City: The city the seller is registered in
• Zipcode: Zipcode/Postal code of the seller's address
• State: The state, region, or township name belonging to the seller's address.
• Phone: International phone number +XX XXX.XXX belongs to the seller.
• Email: The Email address for external use for guest invoice questions.

Step 4. The new guest invoice template (optional)

By default, the system provides one default template for the invoice, excluding items like the company logo and website URL. T&C, Policies, and other custom field details potentially needed at the top or at the bottom of the invoices. With the new custom template setups, you are able to create templates that will be used to enrich the official invoices based on your needs. Individual template configs can later on be selected for use when you set up the invoice configuration. The following options are available:

1. Add a new internal use template title: Used for better recognition and use per invoice config setup.
2. Add a website URL: The URL of the for example seller/company's public website.
3. Add a seller logo:  A logo, 800x400 or equivalent, used for invoices at the top.
4. Terms and conditions: General T&C you would like to have included in the invoice PDF as a new page attached.
5. Policies: General policies you would like to have included in the invoice PDF as a new page attached.
6. Custom fields: Optional listing or reservation-specific data fields you would like to add under top seller details or bottom invoice PDF.

Step 5. Add invoice configuration setup(s)

The invoice configuration, also known as Invoice preset, allows you to define many settings based on a seller profile, invoice template, e-invoicing or non-connection, and listings involved or belonging to the seller. You always need to set up the seller profile first before starting with an invoice configuration. Click on the Add invoice configuration button: 

Step 5a. Select the seller

When you click on the Add invoice configuration button, you will first see a screen to select the seller and its details, and the new invoice configuration will apply. Select one seller from the list you intend to create the invoice config for and click on Select at the end of the seller's row: 

Step 5b. General Settings

The general settings will open, where you are asked to provide an internal name for the configuration as the configuration title. Next, you can define the invoice sequential numbering formats for both the invoices and credit note invoices. It supports a list of various numbering formats, including Prefix and Suffix support and starting number adjustments where needed for the invoice and credit note levels. It's recommended to ask your local tax advisor what format fits your local requirements.

Step 5c. Invoice Template

Once you have completed the above, you can now select what invoice template should be used for this configuration based on the previous Step 4.

Step 5d. Closing Settings

Set up the configuration for closing your invoices.

With the settings below, you can choose based on your own requirements if you like to keep control manually.

At this time, invoices are automatically generated in Draft status every 24 hours, 14 days before the official check-in date. 

The draft status allows you to make adjustments manually or, where applicable, automatically before the invoice is closed and finalized. 

It's recommended in the beginning to keep this option set to manual closing. This allows you to review invoices in draft status based on your new setup and manually approve them once confirmed valid. You can later always opt for automated closing by editing the invoice config. 

For e-invoicing connected setups we only allow manual closing and will open up automated closing a bit later this year, based on request. 

Step 5e. Listings

You have now arrived at the "Apply to listings selection section".

Based on the previous completed step, the system will now show you all listings that have a matching country location and seller country location you have selected before. Now you can select the listings to which this invoice configuration should be applied. 

⚠️ IMPORTANT (DISCLAIMER)

• When you work with one seller profile, use the option to automatically apply it to the next new listings.

• When you work with multiple seller profiles, do not select the automated apply to new listings. In these cases, when adding new listings to your account, you can edit and select the new listing or create new invoice pre-sets based on your needs.

Step 5f. Channels

You have now arrived at the "Select Channels section".

Here you select which channels should have invoices generated for their reservations. The selection applies to this invoice configuration and can be edited at any time.

• The invoice always shows the full reservation amount. It does not separate what the guest paid through the channel from what they paid through Hostaway.
• If you hit an issue on one specific channel, unticking it stops new invoices being generated for it.

In some countries you may also need to generate invoices for channels where you are not the merchant of record. We recommend to consult a local tax advisor to understand and review what is required from you as host to provide to guest and possibly report on to your tax and other authorities.

What should I do if VAT is missing on a reservation?

Channels do not always send VAT with the reservation, and listing tax settings are not always complete. When a line item has no VAT, it is flagged on the invoice preview and you decide how to handle it before closing the invoice.

For each flagged line item, choose one of:

• Included – the total stays the same and is split into a base amount plus VAT.
• Added on top – the VAT amount is added to the total.

• Exempt – no VAT applies, for example city tax.

Then enter the VAT rate to apply. An invoice can only carry one non-zero VAT rate, so line items needing different rates are not supported yet.

For e-invoicing setups (VeriFactu, SDI, DGFiP) an invoice cannot be closed while a line item's VAT is unresolved. Standard invoicing lets you close it, but we recommend resolving it first.

Conclusion

Once you have followed all the steps, you are at the end of the setup. Moving forward, the system will apply the setup to the next net new incoming reservations it is applying to. 

Depending on your local demand and new reservations created with check-in <14 days in the future, you should see the first draft invoices appearing after 1 day minimum. When you use multiple sellers, as mentioned, you can start with the next seller profile and repeat the steps above as needed.