At a glance
- One workspace runs one business — an office, a hotel, a restaurant, or a hotel with a restaurant.
- The type follows the pack you choose when you create the workspace; you are not asked twice.
- The country is asked once, inside, on the Finish setting up form.
- Country sets the money side: currency, tax and its rates, financial year, date format and rounding.
- It also keeps your emergency numbers free, so no extension can ever take 112 or 911.
On this page:
1The types of business
Filantis is one product that reshapes itself around the business using it. The type decides which section appears in your sidebar and what your customers are called everywhere.
| Type | What it gives you | Customers start as |
|---|---|---|
| Office | The phone system, with no vertical section — shops, clinics, agencies, any business | Customers |
| Hotel (rooms) | A Hotel section: front desk, rooms, bookings, housekeeping, folios | Guests |
| Restaurant (food, no rooms) | A Restaurant section: tables, orders, kitchen tickets, bills | Customers |
| Hotel & restaurant | Both sections in one workspace, on one set of accounts | Guests |
School / College / University and Hospital are on the list as launching soon. Until they open, those businesses run as an Office.
Every type has the same phone system underneath. A hotel’s room phones and a restaurant’s order desk are extensions like any other.
2How your type is set
You are never shown a “what kind of business are you?” question. On the sign-up page you pick a pack under What do you run?, and the type follows from it.
The same rule works later. Move a hotel to the Hotel + Restaurant pack on Subscription and the workspace becomes Hotel & restaurant — nothing you already run is taken away.
For a hotel, the type also shapes the numbering plan: blocks of extensions are kept for room phones, so each room phone can be numbered from its room number.
3Call it what you call it
Your panel uses your words, not ours. Three of them are yours to choose:
The section name
Resort, Guest House, Homestay, Inn… or Café, Dhaba, Bakery, Cloud Kitchen. It names the section in your sidebar.
The people you serve
Customers, clients, guests, diners, members, patients — used on every page and on their contact group.
The people who work for you
Staff, team, colleagues, associates, employees, agents or members.
The words for the people you serve and employ are asked on the Finish setting up form the first time you sign in. All three can be changed at any time — renaming a group keeps every contact in it.
4Choose your country
The first time you sign in, the Finish setting up form asks for your Country of business.
- Click the Country of business box and start typing — the list of every country narrows as you type.
- In India, also choose your State (GST registration). Your invoices need it for GST.
- Check the Timezone. It moves to the country’s main zone by itself; change it if you are in another one.
- Click Save and start.
5What the country sets
One answer fills in a page of settings an accountant would otherwise have to walk you through:
Currency
The money every invoice, bill and report is kept in.
Tax and its rates
GST, VAT or sales tax, with the country’s usual rates ready to pick.
Financial year
April to March, January to December, or July to June.
Dates, time and rounding
Day or month first, 12 or 24 hour, and how totals round.
A few of the countries with a ready-made setup:
| Country | Currency | Tax and starting rates | Financial year | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | INR | GST — 0%, 5%, 18%, 40% | Apr–Mar | day-month-year |
| United States | USD | Sales tax — you add your own rates | Jan–Dec | month-day-year |
| United Kingdom | GBP | VAT — 20%, 5%, 0% | Apr–Mar | day-month-year |
| Ireland | EUR | VAT — 23%, 13.5%, 9%, 0% | Jan–Dec | day-month-year |
| United Arab Emirates | AED | VAT — 5%, 0% | Jan–Dec | day-month-year |
| Germany | EUR | MwSt — 19%, 7%, 0% | Jan–Dec | day-month-year |
| France | EUR | TVA — 20%, 10%, 5.5%, 2.1% | Jan–Dec | day-month-year |
| Australia | AUD | GST — 10%, GST-free | Jul–Jun | day-month-year |
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Croatia have their own setups too. Any other country starts on the United States defaults — US dollars, sales tax, a January–December year — which you then adjust on Appearance.
The rates are a starting list, not a tax ruling. Add, rename or remove rates to match what you actually charge — see your accountant if you are unsure which apply.
6Emergency numbers
The country also tells the phone system which numbers must always reach help. They are held back from your numbering plan, so no employee, room or call menu can be given one.
Keeping a number free is not the same as connecting it. Emergency calls leave through your carrier, so check with them that your SIP trunk carries emergency calls from your address.
7Change it later
Both answers live on Tune up → Appearance, and an admin can change them there.
| Card on Appearance | What you can change | Button |
|---|---|---|
| Your business | Business type, What you call it, and your words for customers and suppliers | Save business |
| Country of business | Country and, in India, the state of GST registration | Apply country settings |
Settle the country before your first invoice. Once an invoice has been issued, the tax regime, the financial year and the rates stay as they are — your books must not change shape halfway through a year.
A type only shows its section when the matching pack is on your subscription. To add rooms or a restaurant to a workspace, add the pack — see Plans, upgrades and your bill.
8Questions
We are a hotel with a restaurant. One workspace or two?
One. Choose Hotel & restaurant: both sections share one set of guests, one set of accounts and one phone system, so a dinner can be charged to a room.
We run a clinic, a school or a shop. Which type?
Office. You get the full phone system, contacts and — with the accounting module — invoices and stock. Change the word for the people you serve to patients, students or customers.
My country is not in the table.
Pick it anyway — every country is on the list. You start on the US defaults; then set your own currency, tax and financial year on Appearance before you raise an invoice.
We have branches in two countries.
A workspace keeps its books in one country’s currency and tax. Use the country your business is registered in; branches abroad can still be extensions on the same phone system.
Does the country change what I pay for Filantis?
No. This is the country of your business’s books. Your own Filantis bill is in rupees for Indian customers and US dollars elsewhere.
Software that already knows your trade
A hotel sees rooms and guests; a restaurant sees tables and tickets; an office sees neither. And wherever you are, the tax, the financial year and the emergency numbers are right from the first day.
- Your tradeOffice, hotel, restaurant — or both.
- Your countryCurrency, tax and year set for you.
- Your wordsGuests, diners, clients, patients.
What to do next
With the business described, bring in the people: Add your staff and departments. Then make your first call.
Still stuck?
Write to support@filantis.com with your workspace name and what you were trying to do.