Insights
Janus vs Excel for running a hotel: when a spreadsheet is enough, and when it isn’t
If your hotel runs on Excel, an exercise book and a WhatsApp group, here is what that does well, which jobs need more than a spreadsheet, and how to tell which side your hotel is on.
by Mark Ezema ·
If your hotel runs on a spreadsheet, an exercise book at the desk and a WhatsApp group where the manager sends the day’s figures, you already have a system. The question is which jobs it still does well.
What Excel does well
You may already pay for it as part of Microsoft 365. If your staff know it, there’s nothing to learn. You can shape it to your hotel and send the file to your accountant.
For a small hotel with the owner at the desk every day, that can be enough. Our daily report template and bar stock sheet are free Excel files for that hotel.
Which jobs need more than a spreadsheet
Five jobs get harder as the hotel grows. Each has a step you can take with the sheet you have.
- Reports are rebuilt, not read. Someone types the day’s sales from the book and the bank app; the owner checks the sums. At Mitos Luxury Suites in Lagos, one calculation error in a rebuilt report only came to light the following month. Step: type the sales that evening, ticking each line against the book and the bank app.
- There’s more than one copy. The receptionist’s file, the manager’s file, a photo on WhatsApp. Step: keep one shared file that one named person changes, and settle any disagreement from the original bills and the bank record.
- It records what was typed, not what happened. A transfer typed in as received looks like one that arrived. Step: mark a transfer received only once someone sees it in the bank, and add a column for who entered each line. Check whether your file shows who changed each entry, and when.
- The next question waits. The evening update answers the first question; the next, such as which company still owes, takes a phone call. Step: agree what the update always covers: who owes, what was short, what was paid out. Here is what an owner away from the hotel needs to see.
- Company bills are typed again. Each stay is retyped from the guests’ bills onto an invoice. Step: file each company’s guest bills together as stays happen, and check the invoice total against them before it goes out.
Side by side
| The job | Excel and WhatsApp | Janus |
|---|---|---|
| The day’s report | Typed up from the book and the bank | Comes from the day’s records |
| A transfer | Typed in; someone checks the bank later | Kept apart from money confirmed as received |
| Who was on shift | Unknown, unless someone writes it down | Each payment names who was on shift |
| A company bill | Retyped from each guest’s bill | Built from the guests’ bills |
| A cost paid in cash | Remembered and typed in later | Recorded from a phone when paid, with the receipt |
| A question from away | A phone call | Open it from a phone |
| What it costs | Free, or part of Microsoft 365 | A monthly price; see pricing |
Which side your hotel is on
| Keep the spreadsheet if | Move if |
|---|---|
| The owner is at the hotel most days | You run it from a distance, or from another business |
| One person takes all the money | Several people take money across shifts |
| Guests pay at the desk, and no company stays on credit | Companies stay now and pay later |
| The monthly figures take an hour, not days | Someone rebuilds the reports monthly, and you’ve found a mistake after the fact |
What changed at one hotel
Mitos, in Surulere, Lagos, already had hotel software, spreadsheets and WhatsApp updates. A company client wrote to say one of its bills looked duplicated. Before Janus, answering meant a trip to the office and, by the owner’s estimate, at least a day. This time he opened Janus from home, saw that the company had been sent the wrong attachment, and sent the right one within minutes, by his account. Read the Mitos story.
If most of the right-hand column fits your hotel, start with Janus. If most of the left fits, keep the spreadsheet, and come back when that changes.
