Little Hotelier allows you to create your own reservations, saving money and empowering you to manage the guest relationship.
This article covers how to create a reservation, which details to enter, and a description of each tab that all reservations include. You can create reservations from the Calendar page and the Reservations page in Front Desk.
When do I need to create manual reservations?
Reservations from OTAs and your booking engine are added to your calendar automatically. However, if a guest books via phone or e-mail, or for walk-ins, you'll need to manually create that reservation in your Little Hotelier front desk.
Create manual reservations for:
Walk-in guests requesting last-minute bookings
Direct contact via phone, email, website, or social media
Requests from physical travel agency bookings (not OTAs)
Property chain or partner property relocations
Creating a reservation allows you to select and hold a room for guests. Your availability will also be updated automatically on your connected channels. Making sure these bookings have a reservation in your front desk helps to prevent overbookings.
How do I create a reservation?
Go to My Apps > Front Desk. There are three ways to create a reservation manually in Little Hotelier:
Directly click and drag on the Calendar on your Calendar page
Use the +Reservation button (also on your Calendar page)
Use your Reservations page
How do I create a reservation on my Calendar page?
There are two easy ways to manually create a reservation on your Calendar page in Front Desk:
Option 1: Through the +Reservation button
In Front Desk, go to the Calendar page.
Click on the +Reservation button at the top right corner.
A New Reservation pop-up will appear where you can enter the reservation information in the applicable fields. See section: Add new reservation details.
Option 2: Clicking and dragging on the Calendar
In Front Desk, go to the Calendar page.
Locate the new reservation's check-in date.
On the cell corresponding with the room where you wish to create this reservation, click and drag to the right across the days the booking will be required.
On the Create new pop-up window, click on the +Reservation button.
A New Reservation pop-up will appear where you can enter the reservation information in the applicable fields. See section: Add new reservation details.
How do I create a reservation on my Reservations page?
You can also create reservations from the Reservations page. Follow these steps:
In Front Desk, go to Reservations.
Click on +Create reservation, just below the searching filters.
A New Reservation pop-up will appear where you can enter the reservation information in the applicable fields. See section: Add new reservation details.
Add new reservation details
Once you have created a reservation, you'll need to fill out some fields from the reservation's Details tab. This tab contains a reservation's most crucial data, including general information about the stay, the primary guest, and payment summary.
General reservation details
Enter Check-in and Check-out dates. The length of stay and the booking status are to the right of these dates.
Select the room type and the room rate you want.
Select a specific room name or number (Room ) from the drop-down to allocate a physical room to the booking. If you leave this field blank, the reservation will appear as unallocated on your Calendar, but your availability will still decrease. The Check-in, Check-out, Room type and Room fields are automatically filled in for reservations created from the Calendar page. ⚠️ If the Room drop-down menu is empty, you have no more rooms available for this room type. Check for fully booked dates, room closures, or booking conflicts before creating the reservation to avoid overbookings.
Select the number of Adults, Children, and Infants included in this reservation. ⚠️ The number of adults should always be more than 0 if the room type settings have adults required selected.
The Room price field shows the total room price, excluding extra person fees and discounts. If the room rate field is filled in, the Room price is greyed out and automatically calculated based on your inventory rates. To manually apply a different rate, select the blank option on the room rate field.
The Extra person field shows the price for all additional occupants not included in the Room total price. This field is automatically calculated based on the room rate’s occupancy settings. If you leave the room rate
field blank, you'll need to include any extra fees in the Room price.
Add a Discount, if applicable.
You can add more rooms to a reservation by clicking the +Add another room button.
Primary contact
The Primary contact section contains details for the main guest (usually the person who made the booking or who is paying). If more than one guest is included, you can add additional guests in the Guests tab.
Note: The primary contact details (name and ID document) appear on the invoice. All contact details are stored on the Guests page.
Mandatory fields:
Optional fields:
E-mail and Phone number
Address (city and country are mandatory in Germany)
Payment details (card number, expiry date, cardholder name)
Arrival time
Referral information
ID document type and ID number (legally required in some locations, including Spain)
Marketing e-mails consent
Remember:
An e-mail address is essential for sending booking confirmations, summaries, and invoices.
Credit card numbers are encrypted once saved. Only admin users can view them.
Check local laws for ID document requirements.
The Guest comments section is for special guest requests, such as "I prefer a room with a view" or "Please give me an accessible room at ground level." These comments appear on the confirmation e-mail. For internal staff notes, use the Notes tab.
⚠️ Avoid including credit card information in the Guest comments or Notes tab, as the system will automatically encrypt them if detected.
Click Save at the bottom right corner to create the reservation.
Once saved, a booking reference number (starting with "LH") is generated, and new tabs become available: Guests, Inclusions, Extra items, Payments, Notes, and Invoices.
⚠️ Reservation confirmation e-mails are not sent automatically to the guest for manually created reservations. You will need to click the E-mail button in the reservation to send the confirmation to the guest manually.
Note: You can add a custom field in the Primary contact section for additional questions, such as allergies or guest loyalty codes.
Booking summary
The Booking summary on the Details# tab provides a quick overview of the total charges:
Room total: total room price, excluding extra person fees and discounts
Extra person total: price for additional occupants not included in the Room total
Extras total: price for all extras added in the Extra items tab
Discount total: value entered in the Discount field
Credit card surcharges: additional fees for certain credit cards
Total: grand total owed, including all charges, taxes, and surcharges, minus discounts
Total received: amount already paid
Total outstanding: remaining amount to be paid
Percentage taxes: displayed as "included" or "total" depending on your tax settings (Setup > Set up taxes > Settings)
Record payment: button to record payments and refunds manually
Note:
Different payment statuses display as colour flags on your Calendar.
You may see Fixed amount taxes if configured.
If using Little Hotelier Payments, you'll see a Process payment button.
If you haven't saved your reservation, click Save at the bottom right corner.
How do I apply a discount to a reservation?
You can apply discounts to the manual reservation on the Details tab on a room level or per night basis. You can only use one method at a time.
Room level discount:
Click the amount/percentage symbol to choose between an amount or percentage (%) discount.
Enter the discount value.
Per night discount:
Click the drop-down arrow beside Discount to reveal pricing per night (not visible for one-night bookings).
Click the amount/percentage symbol to choose between amount or percentage (%).
Enter the discount value.
Note: Different nights can have a mix of amount and percentage discounts. Percentage discounts apply to the Room total, not the reservation Total.
What's available after creating a reservation?
Once you click Save and create the manual reservation, the following become available:
Booking reference number: starts with 'LH' followed by a number
New tabs: Guests, Inclusions, Extra items, Payments, Notes, Invoices
New options on Details tab: Keep rates for existing dates, Length of stay, Booking status, Add guests button, Print button, E-mail button