Booking engine¶
Your own booking page, on your own link, with no commission taken. A guest picks dates, enters their details, pays a deposit, and the booking lands on your calendar.
It is a hosted page rather than something you install — Zitlin gives you a link and a QR code to put wherever your guests already are: your website, Google Maps, Instagram, a WhatsApp reply, a printed card at the desk.
Zitlin switches this on for you
Direct bookings need your payment details configured before they can be enabled, so support does the initial setup. Send them the bank or wallet account you want guests to pay into.
Supported: PayPal, SEPA (EU), UPI, QRIS, DuitNow, Thai QR, SGQR, QR Ph and VietQR. Once it is live, the on/off switch is yours.
Settings¶
Settings → Admin → Direct Bookings
| Setting | What it does | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Direct bookings | Your own on/off switch. Turn it off to stop taking direct bookings without losing your setup. | — |
| PayPal.Me username | Just the username. From paypal.me/yourname, enter yourname. |
— |
| Min stay (nights) | Shortest stay a guest can book. | 1–120, default 1 |
| Max stay (nights) | Longest stay a guest can book. | 1–120, default 30 |
| Advance / Deposit amount % | How much of the total the guest pays to hold the booking. | 5–100, default 50 |
| Max booking window (days) | How far ahead guests can book. Stops someone booking three years out at today's rates. | 7–365, default 90 |
| Default meal plan | Pre-selected meal plan for new online bookings. | — |
The Booking engine footer under Settings → Admin → Property Listing is shown at the bottom of every page of the engine — use it for house rules or conditions. See Property setup.
Set the deposit to 100% to take full prepayment
The percentage is what the guest pays now; the rest is collected at the
property. At 100 the stay is paid in full up front. There is no
zero-deposit option — every direct booking is backed by a payment.
Sharing your link¶
Online Services → Booking Engine in the main menu shows your booking link as a QR code, ready to display or download.
Put the link on your website's Book now button, in your Google Business profile, and in your social media bio. The QR code works well printed — on a table card, a business card, or a poster in reception.
What guests see¶
Guests choose dates and guest numbers, then see your available categories with photos, descriptions and a total for the stay.
Prices are your Zitlin prices — category rate, seasonal and weekday multipliers, and the extra-guest surcharge for adults over base occupancy. See Pricing.
Availability is the same availability your front desk sees, so a room sold at the desk cannot be sold again online.
Stay restrictions apply here
Minimum and maximum stay, closed to arrival and closed to departure are all enforced on the booking engine — a guest breaking one is told why. Your own front desk is exempt. See Channel manager.
Your property description, photos, facilities, hotel policy and cancellation policy all come from Settings → Admin → Property Listing. Fill them in properly; this page is doing the selling.
Paying¶
The guest gets a QR code to scan, or a Pay with PayPal button, for the deposit amount you configured. SEPA shows the QR and your wire details rather than a button.
The money comes straight to you
There is no payment processor in between. The guest pays from their own banking or PayPal app directly into your account, so no commission is deducted, nothing is held for a settlement period, and there is no monthly gateway fee or provider to reconcile against.
The trade-off is that Zitlin cannot see your bank account, so it does not know when the money lands. You confirm the payment — that is the step below, and it takes a few seconds.
Guests have 30 minutes
A booking in progress expires after half an hour and the dates are released. A guest who wanders off mid-payment simply starts again.
Confirming a booking¶
This is the part to get into your daily routine.
When a guest completes the payment step, Zitlin:
- Creates the folio and booking with the status On hold.
- Records the deposit on the folio as an advance.
- Emails the guest to say the booking is on hold pending confirmation.
- Emails you that a booking has come in.
The booking is not confirmed yet. Check the money actually arrived in your account, then open the booking and choose Confirm Payment of <amount>. That moves it to a normal confirmed booking and sends the guest their confirmation email.
An On hold booking cannot be checked in
Zitlin blocks check-in until the payment is confirmed, so an unverified booking cannot quietly become a stay. If a guest arrives on an On hold booking, confirm it first — or take payment at the desk and confirm it then.
Check for On hold bookings every morning
They hold your inventory while unconfirmed. If a payment never arrived, cancel the booking and release the dates rather than leaving it sitting there.
Common questions¶
A guest says they paid but the booking is still On hold
Expected — Zitlin cannot see your bank account. Verify the payment against your own records, then use Confirm Payment of <amount> on the booking.
Can I give a corporate client a special rate online?
Not through the booking engine. Rate plans are chosen by your staff on a booking, not by guests, and there is no code or private-rate feature. Take corporate bookings at the desk on the appropriate rate plan — see Pricing.
How do I stop taking online bookings for a while?
Turn off Enable Direct bookings under Settings → Admin → Direct Bookings. Your setup and payment configuration are kept. To close specific dates instead, use a restriction or block the units.
A booking came in for dates I cannot honour
Cancel it from the folio and refund the deposit through the same channel the guest paid by. Zitlin records the advance but does not move money, so the refund is yours to make.
Why is my booking engine showing a higher price than my category rate?
Seasonal and weekday multipliers compound, and the extra-guest surcharge is added for adults over base occupancy — the booking engine applies it even though your front desk does not. See Pricing and Property setup.
Is the booking engine the same as the channel manager?
No. This is your own commission-free page. The channel manager sells the same inventory through Booking.com, Airbnb and others — see Channel manager. They share availability, so a room sold on either is immediately gone from the other.