Ashok's Breakage Log

Write down what broke and who owes for it, before the guest walks out to the car.

Who this is for

Ashok Bopanna runs a six-room homestay on a coffee slope outside Madikeri. Rekha does the cooking, one caretaker handles the garden, and Sandeep joined nine days ago to look after the front desk. It is Sunday, quarter past ten, three families are checking out inside the same half hour, and the wash basin in room three has a crack down one side that was not there on Friday.

How the job is done today

There is a long notebook near the register with a rubber band around it. When something breaks, whoever finds it rings Ashok, who is usually somewhere on the slope with bad signal. By the time the call connects the guests have loaded the car. Nobody at the desk knows what a wash basin costs to replace, so the number gets guessed low or the whole thing gets let go. Sometimes a photo lands in the family WhatsApp group with no room number on it. Months later Ashok cannot tell whether that geyser was the one in room two or room five.

The screens, in order

1. Rooms checking out — Shows which rooms are leaving today so the person at the desk knows where to look before the car is loaded.
2. Add what broke — Lets whoever found the damage take a photo, pick the room, and record it in under a minute.
3. Pick the item — Puts Ashok's own priced list of things that break in front of a person who has never had to price anything.
4. Split it — Divides the amount across the guest names staying in that room, or puts the whole thing on one name.
5. Settle up — Records what was actually taken in cash or by UPI, what was let go, and what is still owed.
6. Old breakages — Lets Ashok look back and see what the same thing cost the last three times it happened.

What it keeps track of

• Rooms and stays — room name, guest names, which nights, checked out or still here
• Breakages — which room, what broke, photo, who found it, which day, amount, or marked as ask Ashok
• Things that break — name of the item, what Ashok charges for it, what it cost to fix last time
• Settlements — which breakage, which guest name, how much of it, cash or UPI or let go, which day, who took it

The one decision that matters

Can the person at the desk type any amount they like, or only choose from a list Ashok has already priced. Free typing is faster to build and covers everything. The priced list is more work and will always be missing something. Go with the priced list, because the whole point is that Sandeep on day nine has no idea a plastic bucket is 250 and a glass jug is 400, and guessing in front of a guest is exactly the moment the money is lost. Anything not on the list gets marked ask Ashok, which still lets the check-out finish and lands the item in front of Ashok that evening to price properly. The list then grows on its own.

What to leave out of the first version

Leave out collecting money through the site. No payment links, no online settlement. The guest is standing at the desk with a phone open and will scan the same UPI code they used for the room. What is broken here is not the transfer, it is knowing the number and having a record of it. Also leave out any link to the booking calendar. Typing four guest names once a day is not the part that hurts.

How you would know it worked

Sandeep handles a check-out with a cracked wash basin in it, all the way to the guest paying, without ringing Ashok even once. Ashok reads the entry that night with the photo attached and does not have to ask a single question about it.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I run a six-room homestay near Madikeri and I want a small website my desk staff can use on a phone. When a guest is checking out and something in the room is broken, whoever finds it should open the site, pick the room, take a photo, and choose the broken thing from a list I have already made with my prices on it, like a bucket at 250 or a glass jug at 400. If the thing is not on my list they should mark it as ask Ashok and still finish the check-out. Then they split the amount between the guest names in that room, and mark it taken in cash, taken by UPI, or let go, with the date saved. I also want a page where I can search old breakages and see what the same item cost last time. Make it simple enough that someone who joined last week can use it on their first morning with nobody standing next to them.