Buyer’s guide
How to choose hotel software in Nigeria.
Give every system you shortlist the same eight situations from a Nigerian hotel. Here is what a good system does with each, and how Janus handles them.
How to use this guide
Test the work, not the feature list.
Most hotel systems list the same features. What separates them is how they handle the situations your hotel meets every week. Give every system you shortlist the same eight, on its demo or free trial, and choose the one that handles them with the least work and the clearest record.
Hotels in Nigeria often shortlist eZee Absolute, Cloudbeds, HotelOnline, Little Hotelier, InnGO or Venus alongside Janus. This guide is written by Janus, and the tests work on any of them, ours included.
- 1A guest books on your website and pays online.
- 2Reception records a transfer that hasn’t reached the bank.
- 3A guest stays two nights, orders food and pays part of the bill.
- 4A company sends several staff and needs one proper invoice.
- 5The bar count comes up short.
- 6Someone buys ₦500,000 of supplies and photographs the invoice.
- 7You’re away and want today’s picture.
- 8Month-end: the accountant wants the numbers and the proof.
Test 1
A guest books on your website and pays online.
What to look for
The booking should exist only once it is paid, the money should reach your account, and the booking should arrive with its bill, so nobody types it in again.
In Janus
Your booking site takes full payment through Paystack, settled straight to your hotel’s bank account. The booking lands on the room board with the guest’s bill open and paid.
Test 2
Reception records a transfer that hasn’t reached the bank.
What to look for
The system should keep what staff recorded apart from what actually arrived, show management what is still waiting, and never stop the desk from getting on with the guest.
In Janus
Each payment names who was on shift. Transfers into your hotel’s Paystack account confirm themselves; anything else waits in view until management confirms it.
Payments recorded in July
Thu, Jul 16 · ₦482,000 · Needs review — Some payments still need verification.
Still owed
1 guest · 12 days
Test 3
A guest stays two nights, orders food and pays part of the bill.
What to look for
Room charges should post themselves, food should land on the same bill, and what is still owed should stay visible after the guest leaves.
In Janus
Room charges are added for you, bar and restaurant sales post to the same bill, and a part payment is set against the charges it covers. The balance stays on the bill until it is paid.
| Date | Description | Debit (₦) | Credit (₦) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Sep | Room charge · 2 nights₦60,000 paid · ₦40,000 still owed | 100,000 | — |
| 13 Sep | Jollof Rice & Chicken (x1)Unpaid | 4,500 | — |
| 13 Sep | Chapman (jug) (x1)Unpaid | 3,500 | — |
| 13 Sep | Cash payment | — | 60,000 |
| Total | 108,000 | 60,000 | |
Test 4
A company sends several staff and needs one proper invoice.
What to look for
One invoice across all the stays, with VAT, both TINs and the company’s purchase order, built from the guests’ bills rather than typed again.
In Janus
Janus puts the company’s staff stays on one invoice with VAT, TINs, purchase order and goods received note, and matches the payment advice to the invoices it pays.
Meridian Holdings
Test 5
The bar count comes up short.
What to look for
Sales should draw stock down as they happen, and every shortage should end with a reason, not an argument.
In Janus
Menu sales draw stock down by recipe, counts can be photographed from the paper sheet, and each variance is traced to one of 12 causes, from a purchase not recorded to breakage.
Test 6
Someone buys ₦500,000 of supplies and photographs the invoice.
What to look for
The photo should become the entry, with the amount and VAT read for you, and the receipt kept with it for the accountant.
In Janus
An admin snaps the receipt, Janus reads the amount and VAT, and the photo stays with the expense for your VAT purchase list and your accounts.
Diesel ₦185,000 NIPCO today
Parsed: Vendor · NIPCO · Fuel · Apr 28
NIPCO · Diesel
Apr 28 · Utilities · receipt-2841.jpg
₦185,000
VAT ₦13,875
PHCN · Electricity
Apr 27 · Utilities · bill-pdf
₦240,000
VAT ₦18,000
Apex Maintenance · Generator service
Apr 26 · Maintenance · invoice-1142.pdf
₦95,000
VAT ₦7,125
Adcock Salaries
Apr 26 · Salaries · receipt missing
₦1,840,000
Action needed
Test 7
You’re away and want today’s picture.
What to look for
On your phone: today’s sales, the money received and how much of it is confirmed, what is owed and what was spent, with each figure opening to the records behind it.
In Janus
The shift report and Overview show sales, money received and how much is confirmed, and who owes what, for one hotel or all of them, from any phone.
Shift summary
This shift₦1,044,500
₦1,098,500
Transfer
₦612,400
POS
₦279,800
Cash
₦152,300
₦840,000
₦128,000
₦76,500
₦54,000
Guest balances
2 folios
Corporate unpaid
1 invoice
Test 8
Month-end: the accountant wants the numbers and the proof.
What to look for
Management accounts, the VAT and withholding tax schedules, and the receipts behind them, all prepared from the same records.
In Janus
Janus prepares the management accounts pack in Excel or PDF with receipts attached, the VAT purchase list, VAT Form 002 and the WHT pack. Janus prepares them; you file them.
4 Jul · filed under Repairs & maintenance
Will the hotel still be using this next year?
Proof is missing behind this spending · Review in Records
3 records need review
Cost of sales · labour · operating expenses
Collected ₦11,480,000Awaiting verification ₦650,000Owed by companies ₦1,820,000
Questions buyers ask
Updated
Which hotel software is best for a hotel in Nigeria?
For an independent or owner-managed hotel in Nigeria, we recommend Janus. It was built inside a Lagos hotel around these eight situations, it is priced per room in naira from ₦50,000 a month, and the Janus team sets it up for you. A large international chain may prefer an enterprise system built for chains.
Can I trust figures built from what staff enter?
Each entry names who made it, and a correction is added as a new entry, so the history stays. Janus also compares what should have happened with what was recorded: key cards are cut from a stay and stock counts are checked against recorded sales, so activity that skipped the system shows up as something to explain.
How do we run the tests on Janus?
Open your hotel in Janus and run them with your own guests: the first 14 days are free, with no card. Or ask us to take you through them on our demo hotel.
How do we switch to Janus?
You set up your rooms and prices. The Janus team sets up the rest, from booking-site connections, stock and key cards to your old records, and brings across the guests already staying. Setup is included in the price.
Is this guide neutral?
It is written by Janus, and we built Janus to pass all eight. The tests are ones any careful buyer would run, so run them on every system you shortlist.