Karibu — User Guide

Create Your Hotel

Setting up your hotel takes less than 30 seconds. No credit card needed — and you get 30 days of full Business access to try everything.

Logging In

To log in, you need your hotel code, username, and password.

1. Enter your hotel code on the first screen (e.g., "novam")
2. Enter your username and password
3. Click "Log in"
4. The first time, tick the box to accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy — the dashboard does not open until you do

Dashboard

The dashboard gives you a real-time overview of your hotel:

• Trial banner — Gold countdown card showing how many days of your free Business trial remain (only shown during the first 30 days)
• Setup checklist — 3-step onboarding card (room types, rooms, services) that disappears once your hotel is fully configured
• Stats cards — Rooms occupied, available, today's arrivals, departures, and revenue
• Quick actions — One-click buttons for check-in, new reservation, payment, and room service
• Today's arrivals — Guests expected to arrive today
• Activity log — Recent actions (check-ins, payments, etc.)
• Occupancy bar — Visual breakdown of room status

Reservations

Manage all bookings from this page.

Create a Reservation

1. Click + New button
2. Enter guest name and phone number
3. Select arrival and departure dates
4. Choose an available room (only rooms free for those dates are shown)
5. Add a deposit amount if applicable
6. Select the source (Phone, Walk-in, WhatsApp, Booking.com, etc.)
7. Click Save

Reservation Statuses

Check-in / Check-out

The Reception page handles arrivals and departures.

Check-in a Guest

1. Go to Reception → Check-in tab
2. Enter guest name (auto-suggests returning guests)
3. Fill in phone, email, ID type and number
4. Select room and departure date
5. Choose payment mode
6. Click Check-in

Check-out a Guest

1. Go to Reception → Check-out tab
2. Select the occupied room
3. Review the invoice summary (room charges + services)
4. Click Check-out
5. Print the final invoice if needed

Rooms

Visual room map grouped by floor. Each room card shows:

• Room number and type (Standard, Deluxe, Suite, etc.)
• Current status (color-coded: green=available, blue=occupied, red=dirty, amber=maintenance, purple=reserved)
• Guest name if occupied

Click any room to see details, change status, or view the guest's reservation.

Use the floor tabs and status filters to quickly find rooms.

Add Rooms

1. Go to Administration → Rooms
2. You'll see your rooms organized by floor
3. Click the + Ch. button next to a floor
4. Enter how many rooms to add and the starting room number
5. Select the room type (Standard, Deluxe, Suite, etc.)
6. Click Add — all rooms are created at once

Change Room Status

Click on any room card, then change its status:

Room Types & Pricing

Set up your room categories and prices:

1. Go to Administration → Manage Rooms (room types)
2. Click + Type
3. Enter the name (e.g., "Standard", "Deluxe", "Suite VIP")
4. Set the price per night (in USD)
5. Add a description and max occupancy
6. Optionally add a Photo (public page) — guests see it on your booking site
7. Click Save

Rate Rules (Dynamic Pricing)

Create rules to automatically adjust prices:

1. Go to Room Types → scroll down to Rate Rules
2. Click + Rule
3. Choose rule type:

Guests

Complete guest database with search and pagination.

• Search — Find guests by name or phone
• VIP badge — Automatically shown for guests with 5+ visits
• History — Click the eye icon to see all past stays and spending
• Add/Edit — Create new guests or update info

Billing & Invoices

Track all invoices, payments, and outstanding balances.

Filters & Summary

The billing page has filters that control both the invoice list and the summary cards at the top:

• Date filter — All, Today, This week, or This month. The summary totals (Total, Paid, Outstanding) update to match the period you pick.
• Status pills — All, Paid, Partial, Unpaid. Each pill shows a count for the current date window, and clicking one filters the list.
• Search — Find an invoice by guest name, room, or invoice number.

Long invoice lists are split into pages. Use the pager at the bottom to move between pages. Reservations and guests lists work the same way.

Record a Payment

1. Find the invoice in the list
2. Click the payment button
3. Enter amount and select payment mode (Cash USD, Cash local, Mobile Money, Card, Transfer)
4. Click Save

Print an Invoice

Click Print on any invoice. Choose between A4 (full invoice) or Receipt (80mm thermal printer).

Room Service PRO

Order services from the catalog and charge them to the guest's room.

Set Up Service Catalog

Before taking orders, create your service menu:

1. Go to Administration → Services
2. Click + Service
3. Enter the service name (e.g., "Room Cleaning", "Breakfast", "Laundry", "Airport Transfer")
4. Set the price (in USD)
5. Choose a category: Food & Beverage, Laundry, Spa, Transport, or Other
6. Click Save

Take a Service Order

1. Go to Room Service page
2. Click + Order
3. Select the service from the catalog
4. Enter the quantity
5. Choose the room or enter a client name
6. Select payment mode
7. Click Save — the charge is automatically added to the room's invoice

Track Orders

Orders show with status badges:

• Pending — Order placed, not yet delivered
• Delivered — Order completed and charged to the room

Click an order to mark it Delivered. The day's orders show a running total, and a red badge on the Orders tab counts today's still-pending items.

Housekeeping

Track cleaning tasks and room readiness.

• Pending — Rooms waiting to be cleaned
• In Progress — Cleaning started
• Done — Room is clean and ready

Tasks are auto-created on checkout. Any staff member can click "Start" to begin and "Done" to mark complete. The room status updates automatically.

Reports

Analyze your hotel's performance:

• Revenue — Total, hotel (rooms), and service revenue
• Occupancy — Daily occupancy rate
• Bookings — Number of reservations
• Breakdown — Revenue by room type and payment mode

Filter by period: Today, Week, Month, Quarter, Year. Filter by source: All, Hotel only, Services only.

Night Audit BUSINESS+

End-of-day closing that summarizes daily activity:

• Revenue breakdown (hotel + services)
• Arrivals and departures count
• Payment collections by mode
• Room status summary
• Anomaly detection (unpaid invoices, no-shows, etc.)

Click Close the day to lock the audit. Printable report available.

Hotel Settings

Customize your hotel from Administration → Hotel Settings. You must click Save at the bottom for most fields (logo, cover, name, about, times, tax, rate, appearance).

• Hotel info — Name, city, address, phone, email
• About — A short text guests see on your public page (max 400 characters)
• WhatsApp number — Shown on the public page. Leave blank to reuse the hotel phone
• Logo — Upload your hotel logo (PNG, JPG, WebP or GIF). Shows in the app sidebar, login, and public-page nav
• Cover photo — Landscape photo for the public-page banner and for WhatsApp/Facebook when someone shares your link. Save after choosing it
• Check-in/out times — Default times for the hotel
• Tax rate — Applied to invoices
• Exchange rate — USD to local currency conversion
• Appearance — 10 palettes (Default, Dark, Ocean, Forest…)
• Language — French, English, Spanish, or Portuguese
• Export — Download CSV of reservations, invoices, guests, or rooms (CSV export of everything is Business+)

Admins also open Choose a plan from the trial banner or Settings to pay, change plan, or cancel at period end.

Public site & photos BUSINESS+

Each hotel has a public page at /book/your-hotel-code. Guests see your photos, rooms, and a Book button. This is included on Business (and during the 30-day trial) — not a website builder; booking stays the main action.

Cover photo (banner + WhatsApp)

1. Go to Administration → Hotel Settings
2. Under Cover photo (public page), click Choose photo
3. Pick a landscape JPEG. Karibu compresses it (keep it under ~280 KB after compression)
4. Click Save at the bottom of Settings — without Save, WhatsApp and Facebook keep the old picture (or none)

Room photos

1. Go to Administration → Manage Rooms → open a room type
2. Use Photo (public page) → Choose photo → save the type

Those photos appear on the room cards guests book from.

Extra gallery (pool, restaurant, neighbourhood)

1. On the same Settings page, open the card Site, gallery & journal
2. Keep Gallery checked in the layout list so the section shows on the public page
3. Click Add a photo and pick JPEG, PNG, WebP, or GIF. Photos appear as soon as they upload — no extra Save

Journal

In the same card, add a post: title, text, optional photo. Publish it so it shows on the public page (news, offers, events).

Share the page

1. Settings → Online booking — copy the link or Preview
2. Or tap WhatsApp to send the link to a guest
3. Business also gets an embeddable booking widget (iframe) for your own website

Staff Management

Manage your team from Administration → Staff.

Invite Staff

1. Click + Invite
2. Choose the role (Receptionist, Manager, or Admin)
3. An invite link is generated — send it via WhatsApp
4. The staff member clicks the link, creates their account, and they're automatically connected to your hotel

Roles & Permissions

Appearance & Branding

Customize the look of your hotel's app:

• 10 palettes: Default, Dark, Ocean, Forest, Rouge, Sahara, Arctic, Malachite, Plum, White
• Change anytime: Administration → Settings
• Logo: Upload in Settings — appears on sidebar and login screen

Offline Mode

Karibu works even without internet:

• All data is cached locally after first load
• You can create reservations, check-in guests, and record payments offline
• Changes are queued and automatically synced when internet returns
• A yellow "Offline" indicator appears when disconnected

Plans & Pricing

Pro $19 / Business $49 (the plan most hotels buy) / Enterprise $99 per month. Yearly is billed as 10 months (2 months free). An admin pays in the app with a card (Stripe): trial banner or Choose a plan. Cancel at period end from the same page — you keep access until the date shown.

During the 30-day trial, you have the Business-tier feature set (75 rooms, 20 users, public site, Night Audit, CSV Export, Booking Widget, WhatsApp, Rate Rules, Room Service).

On a phone

The app is built for a front desk phone as well as a computer:

• Menu — Tap the three lines (top left) to open the sidebar. Tap a page — the menu closes. Tap outside or the button again to close it
• Search — In the page header, next to USD/local and notifications
• Tables — Swipe sideways on reservations, invoices, and guest lists
• Login — The hotel-code and password fields stay full width; the keyboard should not zoom the page

Currency

Karibu supports dual currency:

• Primary: USD — used for room prices and invoices
• Local: Automatically set from your country (e.g., CDF for Congo, KES for Kenya)
• Toggle: Click the USD/local buttons in the top bar to switch display
• Exchange rate: Set in Hotel Settings, applied to all conversions

Keyboard Shortcuts & Tips

• Global search — Use the search bar at the top to find anything (guests, rooms, invoices)
• Quick actions — Dashboard quick-action buttons save clicks for common tasks
• Session timeout — Auto-logout after 30 minutes of inactivity for security

Need help? Contact us · Back to Karibu