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In a hotel, a restaurant or bar guest often says “put it on room 214”. The restaurant collects nothing: the hotel adds the check to the guest’s folio, which they settle when they leave. For the NowOS register to do this, connect the location to the hotel’s PMS, the software that runs stays and folios. NowOS asks the PMS to accept each room charge. The guest’s balance and limit stay with the hotel; NowOS keeps the proof that the PMS accepted. Backoffice → Integrations → PMS connection. Any member with access to the location in the backoffice can manage its connection.
The first supported PMS is Sothis. Each location has its own connection: the restaurant and the bar of one hotel each connect, with the same property and their own PMS outlet (Restaurant, Bar). A location connects to a single PMS outlet.

From the hotel’s catalogue

The simplest path when the hotel uses Sothis: no key goes through your hands.
1

The hotel starts the connection

In Sothis, the hotel opens its integration catalogue and taps Connect on NowOS. The backoffice’s Open the integration catalogue button leads there.
2

Pick your places

Sign in to NowOS with an owner or manager account, then tick the locations to connect.
3

The hotel picks the outlet

Back in Sothis, the hotel matches each location to its outlet. NowOS reads that choice and subscribes to the events by itself.
The connection card then says The hotel’s integration catalogue. Renewing and choosing the outlet happen at the hotel: Edit does not appear here. If the hotel reconnects the same place, NowOS keeps the same connection, and the reversals of charges already posted stay possible.

With an address and a key

For another PMS, or if the hotel prefers. Ask the hotel, or the PMS vendor, for:
  • the PMS address. It starts with https:// and must be reachable from the internet;
  • an API key created for this location, with the four scopes: read the property, read stays, post to the room, manage webhooks.
That is all. The property is the key’s own, and NowOS subscribes to the hotel’s events itself: there is no property ID and no secret to copy.
NowOS reaches the PMS over the internet. A PMS installed only on the hotel’s local network cannot be reached: the hotel must first make it available over HTTPS on the internet.
Settle one more point with the hotel and your accountant: VAT. The hotel declares what is charged to the room: the charge appears on its invoice, with its VAT. On your side, a room charge is a settlement by transfer to the hotel, and your accountant removes those sales from your own return. The “Room charge” column of the Z report gives the amount concerned.

Connect the PMS

1

Enter the access details

Tap Connect the PMS, enter the PMS address and the API key, then save. NowOS checks the key with the PMS, shows the Property it reaches and subscribes to the hotel’s events (check-ins, room moves, check-outs, reversals): Hotel events reads Subscribed. The key is never shown again: NowOS keeps it encrypted and shows only its last four characters.
2

Pick the PMS outlet

In Outlet in the PMS, pick the outlet this register’s charges should appear under (Restaurant, Bar…). The list comes from the PMS itself: if it shows, the connection works. Test the connection reloads it at any time. Under the outlet, NowOS shows whether the hotel takes tips on the room from this outlet: the register offers a tip only then.
3

Create the payment method

In Settings → Payment methods, add a method of type Room charge (for example “Room charge” or “Note de chambre”), then publish. This type is offered only once the PMS is connected.

Editing the connection

Edit lets you enter a new API key. The PMS address cannot be changed, and the new key must reach the same property: to switch hotel or PMS, disconnect, then connect the new one. Once a room charge has gone through this connection, the new key must be the same key with a renewed secret: ask the hotel to renew the secret of the existing key rather than create another one. The PMS recognizes a charge it already received by the key that sent it; under another key, a resent charge could be posted twice. NowOS checks this and refuses another key.

The rules of a room charge

  • The PMS accepts first. The sale is recorded only after the PMS answers. If it refuses (guest not in house, limit reached, room charges not allowed, tip refused), the register shows the reason and the team picks another payment method.
  • One room per check. To charge two rooms, split the check: one check per room.
  • Tips on the room. If the hotel takes tips from your outlet, the register offers a tip with the room charge. It shows on the folio on a line of its own, and goes to your staff. A refund never takes the tip back.
  • It is not drawer money. Room charges have their own line on the Z report, outside expected cash.
  • What the folio shows. The hotel receives the check number and the itemized lines, without complimentary items. If part of the check is paid another way, the folio gets one line per VAT rate instead (“Partial settlement · VAT …”). The same applies if your prices are entered before tax, or if the check is too long for the folio. The folio’s VAT is computed by the PMS from the rate NowOS sends.
  • Never refunded in cash. Each share of a sale is refunded its own way: the room share goes back only to the folio, through a reversal sent to the PMS. A sale paid 60 in cash and 40 to the room is refunded up to 60 in cash and up to 40 to the room. An item refund takes those items back on the folio; an amount refund is spread over the charge’s lines.
  • Unavailable offline. When the main register has no internet, the register can neither find the guest nor get the PMS’s approval: the tile is marked offline and the team picks another method.
  • Not in training mode. A room charge never reaches the hotel from training.

Following what was sent

The Sent to the PMS card lists the room charges and reversals sent to the hotel, and where each stands. Anything that needs action carries the Needs action badge and stays at the top of the list, however old.
  • Pending: the PMS has not answered yet. NowOS retries automatically.
  • Accepted: the PMS recorded the room charge or the reversal.
  • Refused: the PMS refused; the reason is shown.
  • Outcome unknown: NowOS stopped retrying, but the hotel may have received it. Check the connection, then tap Resend. Resending a room charge also sends the reversal that was waiting for it.
  • Nothing to do: the delivery was no longer needed; there is nothing to do.
  • Settled by the hotel: a manager recorded that the front desk corrected the folio by hand (see below).
Each delivery shows the room, the check number (Ticket), the Tip if there is one, and who charged the room. If the VAT the hotel computed differs from your ticket’s, the difference is shown: a cent of rounding is normal, and the ticket stays as it is.

When the connection has a problem

  • The hotel no longer accepts this connection: the key was cut on the hotel’s side. Room charges are refused until the hotel reconnects the place.
  • The hotel’s events no longer arrive: the subscription was deleted and could not be recreated. Charges carry on, but departures are no longer reported live. NowOS still reads the charges back every day.
  • Postings are turned off by the hotel: the hotel took postings away from this location.
These, like an Outcome unknown, also appear under Settings → Devices, in the location’s incidents.

A charge reversed by the hotel

The front desk can take a room charge back on its side (a wrong room, a goodwill gesture). Reversed by the hotel gives the amount taken back, and the delivery shows Needs action: that amount is no longer settled by the stay, and the restaurant must decide what to do about it (nothing, a refund, another payment). The NowOS sale does not change. Once it is dealt with, tap Seen, note what you did and tap Save. The amount taken back also appears on the next Z, with the ticket’s reference and by VAT rate. A Z already closed does not change. Even if the hotel could not tell NowOS at the time, the daily reading of the charges finds it.

Settling a reversal with the hotel

A reversal that is Refused or Outcome unknown means the guest’s folio may still carry the amount. The most common case: the guest’s folio was already invoiced when the guest checked out (“Folio already invoiced: ask the front desk for a credit note”). Check with the front desk: if it issues a credit note or corrects the folio by hand, tap Settled by the hotel, add a note (for example “credit entered by the front desk on 21/10”), the credit note number if there is one, and tap Save. Nothing is sent to the PMS and no sales document changes: you only keep a record that it is settled. If the hotel had already reversed the charge itself, the NowOS reversal settles on its own, with nothing for you to do. If NowOS had already taken it all back, the delivery shows Nothing to do.

Disconnecting

Disconnect stops all room charges, and NowOS destroys the key it held: only its last four characters stay, for the history. A connection from the catalogue withdraws on the hotel’s side, which can reconnect the place later. Then deactivate the “Room charge” method and publish: while it is active without a PMS, publishing is refused. Room charges already posted stay on the guests’ folios. A reversal that could not be sent, including one from a refund made after disconnecting, shows Needs action: settle it with the hotel, then tap Settled by the hotel.

Hotel guests’ data

To find the guest, NowOS receives their name, room and stay dates from the PMS. The PMS gives the name only while the guest is in house. The name is neither printed on the receipt nor kept on the sale. NowOS erases it one week after the guest checks out, and from deliveries one month after they are settled. The room, the stay and the amounts remain, for your reconciliation with the hotel. See the Privacy policy. See also: Taking a room charge · Payment methods.