Connecting a hotel system to an e-invoice integrator: setup and first tests

A private e-invoice integrator (özel entegratör) is a company that the Turkish tax administration, GİB, has tested and authorised to send and receive e-invoices through its own IT system on a taxpayer's behalf. The hotel still owns the documents and their storage. Before signing, check the provider on GİB's published list of authorised integrators (opens in a new tab) (1 November 2026).

It is 00:40, night audit is closing the business day, and the e-invoice for a departing group is sitting unsent. Nobody at the desk knows whether the document was rejected or the connection simply dropped. This guide covers the whole link between a hotel system and an e-invoice integrator in Türkiye: what the integrator actually does, how to verify it on the official list, what the contract must settle, how to map tax lines, how to run the first test, what to do when a send fails at night, and how to change integrator without losing the archive.

What does a private e-invoice integrator actually do?#

It sits between the hotel's software and the tax administration: the hotel creates the document, the integrator's tested system transmits it and returns the accepted copy. GİB lets taxpayers whose own IT systems are not sufficient send and receive e-invoices through the IT system of a special integrator that has completed GİB's tests and received special integration permission, and GİB publishes the list of these authorised institutions on its website (GİB, "e-Fatura Özel Entegrasyon", 1 November 2026).

The integrator is a channel, not a party to the sale. The invoice is issued by the hotel, in the hotel's name and under the hotel's tax number. Technically, the integrator receives a structured document from the hotel's software, transmits it, and returns a status plus the accepted copy that the hotel must keep.

Three routes exist in practice, and the choice depends on document volume, the number of outlets and whether the document should be created inside the hotel system:

The integrator does not decide VAT rates, does not decide who is obliged to use which document, and does not take over the hotel's storage duty. Whether a given hotel must use e-Fatura or e-Arşiv at all is a separate question, covered in our guide to the certificate rule in Communiqué 509.

How do you check an integrator on GİB's official list?#

Open GİB's e-Belge pages and match the legal entity name and tax number on your contract to the published list of authorised integrators; a brand name on a sales page proves nothing. The list is published by GİB on its own website (GİB, "e-Fatura Özel Entegrasyon", 1 November 2026). Note the date you checked it and keep a copy with the contract file.

Match the legal entity and tax number, not the product name. A property management system vendor or a reseller may sit in front of the integrator, and the name on the invoice to you may be neither. Ask which document types the permission covers, and get the answer in writing for each type the hotel issues.

Ask whether the permission has ever been suspended, and what the provider did for customers when it was. Confirm the fallback in the rules: if an integrator's permit is cancelled it must warn its customers, who may then contract another private integrator, use the GİB Portal, or use their own IT systems (GİB, consolidated Communiqué 509, 7 November 2026). Finally, ask for the name and the hours of the person who answers when a send fails at 01:00, and test that number before go-live, not after.

What should the contract settle before you connect?#

Four things: units, archive, support hours and exit. Those decide what a bad night actually costs the hotel.

Units come first: per legal entity, per property, per outlet. A group with several taxpayer companies may need several registrations even when one vendor serves them all, so write down which entity each property invoices under. Volume matters next: what counts as a document, what happens at month end and at high-season peaks, and whether a burst of documents changes the service level.

The archive clause should state who stores what, in which format, for how long, and exactly what the hotel receives back on the day it leaves. Support should be a named channel with a response commitment during night audit and month end, not a general call center queue. Ask for test access before go-live, with an agreed number of test documents and no charge for them.

Exit terms are notice period, export format, handover date, and a written confirmation that the export opens without the old provider's software. Change control closes the list: who at the hotel approves a mapping change, and how quickly a rate change reaches production.

How do you map tax lines, revenue codes and foreign guests?#

Map one folio end to end before you map a thousand: every invoice line needs a VAT rate, a revenue code and, for a foreign guest, the right identity and currency fields.

Revenue codes are what let the accounting export and the revenue report agree. Finance owns that list; the software vendor only carries it. Accommodation tax belongs on its own line, not folded into the room rate, so it can be reported and checked separately at day end. Discounts, package splits and agency commissions change the taxable base: decide the rule once, write it down, and test it with a real folio rather than a clean one.

Foreign guests need passport fields, the currency of the sale and the rate date, and the invoice must tell the same story as the folio. The full field list is in our guide to invoicing foreign guests: identity fields and currency. Exemptions and zero-rated cases are the accountant's call, but the system must be able to carry the code without a manual workaround. Keep a mapping table with an owner and a version date, and put every change to it through the same test as the first setup.

How should the first test document run?#

Run it in the integrator's test environment first, then send one small real invoice and check the accepted copy against the folio, line by line.

In the test environment, send a document that carries a discount, two VAT rates and a foreign guest, so the mapping is exercised rather than merely present. Then send one real, small invoice in low season. Do not make a group folio your first live document.

Check three things: the accepted copy returned by the integrator, the totals against the folio, and the accounting export after day end. A person reviews the document before sending as a matter of good practice; our review checklist lists what to look at when checking hotel e-invoices before sending. Record the evidence: date, document number, who checked it, and what was wrong the first time.

Repeat the test after any mapping change, integrator upgrade or hotel system version change, because a working connection is not a permanent one. The wider sequence for connecting any new system to a hotel system is in an integration test checklist.

What happens when a send fails during night audit?#

Nothing should close silently: a failed send is either a rejected document or a broken connection, and each has a different first move.

A rejection means the document's data is wrong: a tax number, a VAT rate, a missing field. Retrying will not help; correct the data and send a new document as your accountant directs. A timeout or an unreachable service is a transport problem: queue the document, retry on a schedule, and keep the folio flagged until the accepted copy arrives.

Night audit should not report a clean day while documents are unsent. The open-document list is part of the close, next to the cash and the room checks. Name the person who is called, and the order in which they are called; the integrator's support hours belong in the contract for exactly this moment. Log every attempt with time and response, so a question raised months later has an answer that is not a memory.

Keep the guest's bill and the fiscal document separate in your head. The guest can check out while the document is still pending, and the two are reconciled afterwards.

How do you change integrator without losing the archive?#

Export first, prove the export opens without the old software, then switch. Communiqué 509 has no separate storage rule for a change of integrator, so the general duty simply follows you.

The consolidated text GİB publishes includes amendments up to Communiqué No. 589 (Resmî Gazete, 31 December 2025) and is still listed as the latest amendment on 7 November 2026. It contains no separate storage rule for a taxpayer who changes integrator (GİB, consolidated Communiqué 509 (opens in a new tab), 7 November 2026). The general rules apply: the hotel must keep the e-documents it issued, including the financial seal or electronic signature on them, on its own electronic, magnetic or optical media for the legal periods, and present them when asked. Where the document must be kept is a duty on the taxpayer, not a property of any software: confirm the current rule for your own case with your integrator and your legal adviser. Buying storage from a third party, including a GİB-authorised storage provider, does not remove the hotel's primary responsibility. Note: moving AI Otel's hosting and AI processing into Türkiye is on our roadmap; until it is done, we do not claim it.

In practice, agree the export format and the handover date in writing, then test that the export opens, searches and prints without the old provider's software. If an integrator's permit is cancelled it must warn its customers, who may then contract another private integrator, use the GİB Portal, or use their own IT systems (same source). Tell the accountant the switch date in advance, so the ledger, the archive and the first document on the new channel line up.

What to do next#

Pick one real folio this week, map it line by line, send one small live document and write the failure path down before go-live. The pieces fit together in one order: check the provider on GİB's list, settle units, archive, support and exit in the contract, map the codes, test a document, decide what night audit does when a send fails, and only then think about changing integrator, with the export proven first.

For completeness: in the hotel operating system AI Otel builds, KBS, KVKK, e-Fatura and e-Arşiv are built into the core, and e-invoices wait for a person's review before sending. The integrator connection is built and fixture-tested; going live needs the authority and integrator credentials. If you want to discuss how this applies to your property, request a briefing.