How to manage a hotel in Nigeria when you can’t be there every day

My father runs a hotel. Before Janus, checking his system meant connecting to the office computer through AnyDesk. Even then, the reports had to be rebuilt in Excel before they answered his questions.

He already had hotel software. Getting to the records was one task; making sense of them was another.

That distinction matters when you can’t be at the hotel every day. A manager can send a perfectly clear evening update and still leave you unable to answer the question it raises.

After the evening update

Suppose the WhatsApp message says, “Sales were ₦640,000 yesterday.”

You want to know how much was paid by transfer. Then you want to know whether those transfers arrived. A total for sales cannot answer either question: some guests may pay later, while today’s payments may cover an earlier stay.

If the supporting records are only on the manager’s phone or the office computer, answering means asking someone to look. The owner waits; the manager stops another task to assemble a reply.

Start by choosing one question you regularly have to call about. Can you open the records and answer it yourself? If not, find the missing piece: access, an entry nobody made, or a report that leaves out the detail.

Give the daily report somewhere to lead

Ask for the same basic figures each day: rooms sold, sales by department, payments recorded and confirmed, outstanding guest and company balances, and cash over or short. Our daily report guide includes a free template.

Then make sure you can follow a figure back to its record. A company balance should lead to the company’s bills and payments. A stock difference should lead to the count and the entries used to calculate it. Access to a total alone will leave you making the same phone calls.

Keep shared records in a place the relevant staff and owner can open with their own access. Decide who enters the work, who checks it and who corrects a mistake. Staff should know which questions they are responsible for answering.

What to look at when you open the records

Start with unresolved items rather than reading every entry:

• Payments waiting for confirmation. Who is checking each one, and when will they follow up? A recorded payment can reduce the guest’s bill before anyone has confirmed receipt.
• Guest and company balances. Which are due now, and which are still within agreed payment terms? A larger total alone doesn’t tell you that someone is late.
• Cash differences. What did the count show, and what explanation or follow-up is recorded?
• Expenses without receipts. What was bought, who approved it and what evidence is still missing?
• Stock differences. Which items differ from the expected count, by how much and at what cost?

Leave a next action against an unresolved item: the person responsible and the next check. On your next visit to the records, you can see whether anything changed.

Checking has limits

A drink sold without an entry will not appear in a sales report. Comparing stock with recorded sales can reveal a difference, but it cannot tell you the cause on its own. A missed delivery, a generous pour or an incorrect count can also explain it.

That is why the records need a routine around them. Staff record the work, someone checks against cash, bank or physical stock, and differences are investigated without treating them as proof against a person.

My father’s experience is the reason I care about the question after the report. An owner should be able to look further without asking someone to rebuild the answer each time.

Janus lets you open your hotel’s recorded sales, guest bills and payment checks from your phone. See how Janus works for hotels in Nigeria.