Guest self-invoicing

Guests invoice their own stay from a link or from the hotel's website, without going through the front desk. Deadlines, split invoices, cancellation.

Documentation · Invoicing

Getting startedWhat Containn is How it connects to hotel operations Setup: the six first-day steps Glossary of accounting and hotel terms

Paths by roleIf you are the hotel's accountant If you are the general manager If you are the night auditor If you work at the front desk If you are the owner If you are coming from another accounting system

Chart of accountsThe base chart of accounts for Mexico, account by account Account roles: what each one does How to add your own account without breaking the journal entry The SAT grouping code, explained

Hotel transaction codesWhat a concept is and why it exists How to map your codes to your accounts Concepts without an account: what it means and how to fix it Taxes: one account per tax Folio charge categories

Journal entriesThe daily póliza, line by line Manual pólizas Canceling a póliza Why a póliza is not generated: the eleven reasons Póliza numbering and the accounting period

Financial statementsIncome statement Balance sheet Cash flow statement, direct method Trial balance Account ledger

Daily operationsAccounts payable Payroll Fixed assets and depreciation Banks and reconciliation

CloseMonth-end close Year-end close Reopening: when, who, and what gets recorded

SATElectronic accounting: what you file and when Chart of accounts in XML Trial balance in XML Pólizas in XML What Containn does NOT do, and why

InvoicingStamping a CFDI 4.0 invoice Cancelling an invoice Guest self-invoicing Payment complement The digital seal certificate: how to upload it and where it lives

Accounting principlesWhy a signed day is never recalculated Accrual versus cash: why they don't match, and shouldn't The deposit ledger The business date and its cutoff Why a póliza is never edited Precision and rounding: where rounding happens, and why only once

Control and securityThe five accounting permissions Audit trail Safeguarding your information

TroubleshootingThe entry doesn't balance Cash flow doesn't tie to the balance sheet A day shows no activity The tax landed in the general account Bank reconciliation suggests nothing

ReferenceFinancial reports catalog Export formats Frequently asked questions

What it is

It is a page where guests enter their tax details and get their CFDI (Mexico's electronic invoice) without calling the hotel. It runs the same process as the front desk: the same checks, the same hotel seal and the same safeguards against invoicing a stay twice.

When to use it

Whenever you want guests to invoice on their own. They reach it in two ways:

With their personal link. In the reservation's invoices section, click Generate self-invoicing link. You can copy it, email it to the guest or send it via WhatsApp.
From your hotel's website. Once your hotel invoices online, the website footer shows Factura tu estancia (invoice your stay). There, guests find their booking with the booking number (from their confirmation or from the platform where they booked) and the phone number they gave when booking.

Step by step

The guest chooses the stay. With the personal link they also see the stays at your hotel that carry the same billing RFC (taxpayer ID); with the search, only the booking they looked up.
They choose Whole stay or Just my share, when your hotel allows splitting a stay into several invoices.
They enter their details exactly as shown on their Constancia de Situación Fiscal (the SAT's tax status certificate). Without a Mexican RFC, they use the generic RFC for foreigners, XEXX010101000.
They click Get invoice. They see the folio fiscal, download the PDF and XML and receive them by email. They can have them resent to another address and, if your hotel has WhatsApp connected, receive them via WhatsApp.

Action	Time window
Invoice and cancel	From the guest's check-out until 72 hours later
View, download and resend	Up to 7 days after check-out; then the link expires

Cancelling does not restart the clock: the stay reopens within the same 72-hour window.

What can go wrong

Payment is missing. The stay is invoiced once the booking is fully paid; the portal tells the guest how much is still due.
The details came out wrong. From the personal link, guests can cancel and invoice again within the window, if your hotel saved its seal for cancellations. The search by booking number and phone cannot cancel: that cancellation is done by the hotel.
The search expired. It lasts 30 minutes; after that the guest types the booking number and phone again.
Too many attempts. There is a cap on attempts per booking to protect the hotel's invoice folios. After a while, the guest can try again.
The hotel is in test mode. The portal warns that its invoices are not yet valid for tax purposes.

The portal is available in Spanish, English and Polish. The invoice itself is always in Spanish.

Stamping a CFDI 4.0 invoiceHow to issue the invoice for a stay, a master account or a standalone invoice, sealed with your hotel's digital seal.Cancelling an invoiceHow to ask the SAT to cancel a CFDI: which reason to choose, what signs the request and how to tell whether it went through.If you work at the front deskFolio charges and payments, deposits and the shift close: what you enter at the desk ends up in the books, and how to get it right.

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