Why we built it
Every guest house we speak to invoices the same way: a Word template, a number typed in by hand, a PDF saved to a folder, an email written from scratch. It works until it doesn't — a number gets skipped, a corporate guest's accounts department bounces the invoice because the VAT number is missing, or nobody can find what was sent to whom in March.
The booking already holds the guest, the room, the dates and the rate. The invoice should come from there, take thirty seconds, and be right.
What you get
Tax invoices that are actually valid
Sequential numbers per property, the words SARS requires, your VAT number, the recipient's details where the law needs them, and VAT shown the way the Act says — or not shown at all if you are not registered.
Emailed as a PDF, in your name
The guest receives the invoice laid out in the email and attached as a PDF, with your logo, address and banking details. Replies come to you, not to us.
Credit notes and pro formas
Correct a mistake the lawful way with a credit note against the original. Send a pro forma for a deposit or a corporate booking, then convert it to an invoice when the money arrives.
A history you can search
Every document on the property in one list: drafts, unpaid, paid, credit notes, pro formas. Re-send, download the PDF, mark paid — and see every send attempt, including the ones that failed.
How to get access
Invoicing is an add-on to your GHM Suite subscription. Go to Subscriptions (from your avatar menu) and, under Add-ons, choose Enable invoicing. You will be taken to the same secure checkout as your property subscription.
- R250 a month for your whole account. Own one property or ten — invoicing is switched on for all of them, for one price.
- Free while you are on trial. Enable it on day one; nothing is charged until the day your first property's free trial ends.
- Cancel any time from the same page. You keep invoicing until the end of the period you have paid for, and every document you have ever issued stays downloadable afterwards — those are your tax records.
Setting up — once, per property
Before you can issue a document, GHM Suite needs the details that have to appear on it. Open the property, go to Settings → Invoicing (or press Configure on the Invoices tab) and fill in:
Business details
- Registered name, if it differs from your trading name
- Company registration number
- Whether you are a registered VAT vendor — and your VAT number if so
Payment details
- Bank, branch code, account name and number
- These print on every invoice, with the invoice number as the reference
Appearance
- Your logo (PNG or JPEG)
- An accent colour for headings
- The prefix for your invoice numbers, e.g. RGH-2026-0001
- Terms printed under the totals
Your property's name, address and email come from Property Information, which you have already filled in. A note at the top of the Invoicing settings tells you if anything is still missing.
Issuing your first invoice
- Start from the booking. On the property's Invoices tab press New document, choose Invoice or Pro forma, and pick the booking. Or open the booking itself and use its new Invoice tab.
- Check what is prefilled. The first line is the stay — room, dates, nights, rate. The bill-to block comes from the guest. Add lines for breakfast, laundry or a discount (a negative price), and tick the box to save the company, VAT number and address back to the guest if they are worth keeping for next time.
- Watch the totals. They update as you type, VAT included. Over R5 000, a tax invoice must carry the recipient's name and address, and the editor will tell you so.
- Issue. The document gets its number and is locked. You can save a draft first and come back to it — drafts have no number and can be discarded.
- Send. Press the envelope on the Invoices tab. The dialog shows exactly which address it is going to (you can change it — accounts departments are rarely the guest) and lets you add a note. Every attempt is logged on the row.
When something is wrong
An issued invoice cannot be edited — that is the point of it. Open it and choose Credit note. The credit note starts with the original's lines; delete or change them to credit part of the amount, or leave them to credit all of it, and issue. It is numbered in its own series and names the invoice it corrects. If the whole invoice is credited, the original is marked void and keeps its number, so your sequence never has a gap.
Questions we have been asked
How much does invoicing cost?
R250 a month for your whole account, however many properties you own. It is billed separately from your property subscriptions and can be cancelled at any time from Subscriptions → Add-ons. If every property on your account is still on its free trial, invoicing is free until the first of those trials ends.
I am not VAT registered. Can I still use it?
Yes. Leave the VAT toggle off in your invoicing settings and every document is headed "Invoice", with no VAT shown anywhere on it. That is what the law requires of a non-vendor — issuing something that looks like a tax invoice when you are not registered is an offence. Switch the toggle on the day SARS registers you and the next document becomes a tax invoice.
What happens if I make a mistake on an invoice?
Once issued, an invoice cannot be edited or deleted — that is what makes it a valid record. You correct it with a credit note: open the invoice on the Invoices tab and choose Credit note. Credit the whole amount or just the line that was wrong, then issue a fresh invoice if you need to. The credit note references the original, which is exactly how SARS expects corrections to be made.
Does the guest get a PDF?
Both. The email shows the invoice laid out in the message itself and carries the same document as a PDF attachment, with your name, logo, address, banking details and — if you are registered — your VAT number. Replies to the email go to your property's own email address, not to us.
Are the PDFs stored somewhere?
No. Every document is stored as data and the PDF is regenerated, identically, each time you download or re-send it. Your supplier and guest details are frozen on the document the moment it is issued, so changing your address next year does not change an invoice from this year.
Can my manager issue invoices?
Anyone with full access to a property can create, issue and send documents. Only the owner can change the invoicing settings — legal name, VAT number, banking details, logo — and only the owner can enable or cancel the add-on, because it bills the owner's account.
What is a pro forma for?
A pro forma is a quote-shaped document you can send before the stay — for a deposit, or when a company needs paperwork before it will pay. It is not a tax invoice and says so. When the guest pays, convert it with one click and a real invoice is issued in its place.
What about stays longer than 28 days?
Commercial accommodation supplied for an unbroken period of more than 28 days is taxed on only 60% of the charge under section 10(10) of the VAT Act. GHM Suite applies that automatically for a registered property and explains it on the document itself. If your accountant says otherwise, you can bill the full rate with one toggle in the editor.
Something in your invoicing that does not fit this? Tell us — the feature was built from what owners told us they actually send, and it will keep being built that way.