Do I need to register my B&B in Canada?

It depends on your province and municipality. Quebec requires a registration number for tourist accommodation, British Columbia requires a provincial registration number for listings, and many municipalities, such as Toronto, run their own registration or licensing. Check with your province and city before opening.

Does my B&B have to charge GST/HST?

That depends on your revenue: small suppliers below the federal threshold are not required to register, although they can choose to. Provincial and municipal accommodation taxes follow their own rules. Ask your accountant about your situation.

Can Vezpa send messages in French?

Yes. Each automation has a text per language, the presets come with French and English versions, and every guest receives the one in their language.

Which Vezpa plan suits a five-room B&B?

Smart, at C$49 a month, covers up to 8 rooms with channel manager, booking engine, online check-in and automations. Smart+ adds staff logins and housekeeping if you have help.

Software for B&Bs and country inns in Canada: what you need in 2026

Paolo Vezzola

Founder · Vezpa PMS · Profile →

A five-room B&B in Prince Edward County, a gîte in the Eastern Townships or a country inn on the Sunshine Coast all share the same problem: one or two people doing everything, with bookings arriving from the phone, email, Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb. This guide covers what is specific to running a B&B in Canada and what your software should take off your plate.

In short

Provinces and cities increasingly register B&Bs and short-term rentals: check yours first.
GST/HST and provincial or municipal accommodation taxes depend on your revenue and location.
The software must sell the room with breakfast and keep one calendar for every channel.
In Quebec and for many visitors, messages in French and English make a difference.

The Canadian context

Rules for B&Bs are set by provinces and municipalities. In Quebec, tourist accommodation, including a B&B in your principal residence, must be registered, and the registration number has to appear in every advertisement and listing. In British Columbia, short-term accommodation listed on platforms must carry a provincial registration number, and in many communities rentals are limited to the host's principal residence plus one secondary suite. In Ontario, the rules depend on the municipality: Toronto, for example, registers short-term rentals and caps whole-home rentals. Add zoning, food service and fire safety requirements, which vary from town to town. Our province-by-province guide summarizes the main ones.

On the tax side, GST/HST registration depends on your revenue, and many provinces and cities add an accommodation tax or a municipal accommodation tax. The details are in our guide to tourism levies and lodging taxes.

What B&B software should do

Sell the room with breakfast

The rate you publish should include breakfast, on your own site and on every channel, with different prices for one or two guests in the same room. Dinner, a picnic basket or a bottle of local wine should go on the room's folio and be paid at checkout.

One calendar for every channel

With five rooms, one double booking means turning away a guest who has already paid. You need a single calendar that updates Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb and any regional site at once, plus a booking engine on your own website to keep commissions down. See our guides to the channel manager and direct bookings.

Deposits and cancellations

Long weekends and fall colours fill up early, and late cancellations hurt. The software should take a deposit or keep a card on file at booking, apply your cancellation policy and send a payment link for the balance, in Canadian dollars.

Taxes per booking

Accommodation taxes are usually a percentage of the room rate. The software should calculate them on every booking, so you know what to remit for direct bookings and can compare with what each channel collects.

Messages in two languages

Confirmation, directions, arrival time, breakfast hours, thank-you and review request: these repeat with every stay. In Quebec, and for many visitors from Quebec and France, a French version is expected. Automations should send the right language to each guest.

Help in the kitchen and in the rooms

If someone helps you with breakfast or cleaning in high season, give them their own login with only what they need: today's arrivals and departures, which rooms to clean, which are ready. They do not need to see your rates or revenue, and a shared password is the first thing to go wrong when a seasonal worker leaves.

Seasons

A B&B's year is seasonal: summer and fall colours at one rate, ski weekends at another, quiet weeks in between. Seasons and minimum stays should be set once and sent to every channel, as described in the guide to seasonal pricing.

Switching from paper

Enter your confirmed future bookings first, then your rooms and rates, and connect the channels last, when the new calendar is complete. Half a day is usually enough for five rooms. Keep the old calendar for a week or two to confirm that every new booking from Booking.com or Airbnb lands where it should, then retire it: two calendars kept side by side are exactly how double bookings happen.

How Vezpa works for a Canadian B&B

Rooms and meal plans: the room with breakfast, half board if you serve dinner, prices by number of guests.
Built-in channel manager with more than 60 channels, including Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb, and a booking engine with Stripe payments in Canadian dollars (deposit or card on file).
Accommodation tax set up as a percentage and calculated on each booking.
Online check-in with a PIN and optional ID photo; guest register exportable for any period.
Automations with ready-made texts in English and French, sent in the guest's language.
Till: dinner and extras charged to the room and paid by card at checkout, including on a phone.

Vezpa does not register your business or file tax returns for you. Plans start at C$49 a month (Smart, up to 8 rooms or 3 rentals); Smart+ at C$79 covers up to 15 rooms and adds team access and housekeeping; Pro at C$119 covers up to 25 rooms and includes revenue management. No commission on bookings. See all plans.

Try Vezpa for your B&B or inn

Breakfast in the rate, one calendar for Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb and direct bookings, deposits in Canadian dollars and messages in the guest's language. Demo in your browser.

Try it in your browser →

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to register my B&B in Canada?: It depends on your province and municipality. Quebec requires a registration number for tourist accommodation, British Columbia requires a provincial registration number for listings, and many municipalities, such as Toronto, run their own registration or licensing. Check with your province and city before opening.
Does my B&B have to charge GST/HST?: That depends on your revenue: small suppliers below the federal threshold are not required to register, although they can choose to. Provincial and municipal accommodation taxes follow their own rules. Ask your accountant about your situation.
Can Vezpa send messages in French?: Yes. Each automation has a text per language, the presets come with French and English versions, and every guest receives the one in their language.
Which Vezpa plan suits a five-room B&B?: Smart, at C$49 a month, covers up to 8 rooms with channel manager, booking engine, online check-in and automations. Smart+ adds staff logins and housekeeping if you have help.

Sources and caveats. Government of Quebec, Tourist Accommodation Act reminder; British Columbia short-term rental registry, summarized by Bennett Jones; Canada Revenue Agency guidance on GST/HST small suppliers. This is not legal or tax advice. Vezpa prices and features as of October 2026.