Homestay Hosting Level 3

Who it is for. People who have finished Homestay Hosting Level 2, or can show the same skills, and who want to own a homestay with several rooms in one or two family houses, or to lead a network of host families in a village or town: as the coordinator, the chair of a homestay association, or the owner of the booking office that serves the families. Ghana's TVET framework places National Proficiency II below National Certificate I. This module is written at an advanced level, comparable to National Certificate I; that comparison is the author's judgement, not a CTVET ruling.

Bridge from Level 2: what you already know

Level 2 made one homestay good. Level 3 joins several good homes into a network with one standard, one booking desk, one set of books and one fair rule for sharing.

The running example

All the money examples follow one invented network, so the sums carry from unit to unit. Auntie Esi Mensah began with two guest rooms in her family house at Akwidaa in the Western Region (Level 1) and grew to three rooms with an online listing (Level 2). Now she coordinates the Sea Breeze Homestay Network (example name), six host families in the village (example). Two of her three rooms are on the network rota; the third is her grown-up son's room again. The network's price band, GH¢300 per guest-night with breakfast, is lower than her own Level 2 rate of GH¢350 a room-night, because the network sells mostly to study groups and prices for one guest per room (examples). Every name, price and count in the example is invented and marked "(example)". Replace them with your own.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 60% of the time is practical. Every unit ends with a three-question Check yourself. Money examples are examples unless a source is named: always replace them with your own real prices. Fees from regulators must be confirmed in writing before you quote them.

Competency standard

Range. A network of 5 to 12 host families, each with 1 to 3 guest rooms, in a village or small town anywhere in Ghana, serving individual guests, study groups and tour operator groups. Evidence. Network model choice; constitution and membership agreement; host and room database; allocation rota for a month; booking register; sharing calculation; minutes of an allocation meeting; oral questions.

Why a network?

A single homestay with two rooms cannot take a group of 12 university students, cannot answer the phone while the host is at the market, and cannot afford its own marketing. A network can. The ASEAN Homestay Standard, which this course uses as a foreign model, describes a homestay as tourists staying with the host's family in the same house to experience the everyday life of the family and the community, and it expects at least five registered homestay providers in a village before a homestay programme is recognised. Ghana has no national homestay network programme that was found; community tourism projects such as Tafi Atome in the Volta Region run through a tourism management committee working with the community and a support organisation, and the income supports community development, compensation to landowners and education funds. In Amedzofe, an 11-member governing council for the local tourism industry was inaugurated in 2021. These are the closest Ghana models: a committee, written rules and shared income.

A network only works if three things are true: every home meets one standard (Units 2 and 3), bookings are shared by a rule everyone can see, and money is counted in the open. Lose any one and families stop trusting each other.

Three network models

The ASEAN standard asks for a local champion to lead, a clear organisational structure, the involvement of women and youth, and partnerships with the local community. Whatever model you choose, put it in writing and give the chief and elders a copy. For how to form a community tourism committee with a short constitution, see Tour Guiding and Community Homestay Level 3, Unit 3; do not reinvent it.

In the running example, the six Sea Breeze families chose an association of host families, registered later as a company limited by guarantee (Unit 5), with Auntie Esi as paid coordinator (example).

The network rule book

Every network needs a short, written rule book. Read it aloud at the first members' meeting and have every family sign it.

Standard house rules for every home

Guests move between homes, and study groups compare notes. One set of house rules, printed the same way in every room, stops "but the other family allowed it". Build it from your Level 1 house rules card and agree it at a members' meeting:

The host and room database

The ASEAN standard expects a homestay programme to keep a guest database and simple manuals on welcoming, registration, billing and payment. For a network, start with a host and room database: one line per room.

(Example lines; the scores come from Unit 2.)

Keep it in a notebook and a spreadsheet. Update it after every inspection and training session. The booking desk uses it to place guests.

Fair booking: the allocation rota

Unfair allocation is the fastest way to break a network. Families will forgive a slow month; they will not forgive a secret favourite. Use a written rota that anyone may read.

The course method (adapt it at your members' meeting):

1. Eligibility first. A room can receive guests only if its home is active: inspection score 75% or above with every gate item passed, or on a corrective-action plan above 65% (Unit 2). A paused home receives no new guests until it passes re-inspection.
2. Fit the guest. Match the guest's needs: a step-free room for a guest who uses a wheelchair; a woman guest only for Madam Efua (individual host, opposite-sex rule); a family with children only to a home whose household agreement allows children; a vegetarian to a home that can cook it well.
3. Then take turns. Among the homes that fit, give the booking to the room lowest on the month's tally of guest-nights per room. On a tie, use the order on the rota sheet, and move the tie-winner to the bottom for next time.
4. Groups are split by rooms, never by squeezing. One guest per room in the examples (the Third Schedule gives a guest exclusive occupation of the room and forbids sharing a bed; ask the GTA how this applies to couples and families travelling together).
5. Guest requests. A returning guest may ask for the same family. Honour it and count it in the tally.
6. Record everything. Date, booking number, home and room, nights, reason if the turn was skipped.
7. Publish the tally at the monthly members' meeting.

Booking flow at the central desk

1. Enquiry by WhatsApp, phone, email or a listing site. Reply within the same day (network rule).
2. Ask the questions from your Level 2 booking form: dates, number of guests, ages, purpose of visit (study programme, holiday, family visit), diet and allergies, access needs, arrival time and transport.
3. Check the rota and the database; pencil in the room.
4. Quote the network price and the cancellation policy in writing; take the deposit by mobile money or bank (Level 2).
5. Confirm to the guest with the home's first name, the village directions and the coordinator's phone. Do not send the family's private details before the deposit is paid.
6. Tell the family: guest's first name, arrival time, nights, diet, access needs.
7. Arrival: the coordinator or the family meets the guest; the family fills the guest register in their home (Level 1). Write the ID type and number; never photocopy, scan or photograph a Ghana Card.
8. During the stay: the coordinator calls or visits once ("How is everything?").
9. Departure: the family says goodbye and asks for a review (Level 2); the coordinator records the stay and any comment.
10. Pay the family on the agreed day (weekly in the example).

The sharing rule

Every cedi a guest pays is split by a written rule. The example rule for Sea Breeze (the members decide their own):

This is a course example, not a Ghana standard; the members and the community decide the real split. The method for writing, calculating and reporting a benefit-sharing rule is in Tour Guiding and Community Homestay Level 3, Unit 3.

What does a family earn per guest-night? (example) Network price GH¢300 per guest-night, bed and breakfast (example). Host share 70% = GH¢210. The family's own costs per guest-night: breakfast 35, laundry 15, water and power 20, soap, tissue and cleaning materials 10 = GH¢80 (examples). Family profit per guest-night: 210 − 80 = GH¢130. A university group pays a contract rate of GH¢270 (10% group discount, example); host share 70% = 189; profit 189 − 80 = GH¢109.

Worked example: November allocation (example)

In November the desk sold 80 guest-nights to individual guests at GH¢300 and 40 guest-nights to a university group of 8 students for 5 nights at GH¢270. Home E was paused for the first half of the month after its October inspection (score 60.08%, Unit 2), so it took no part in the group week and had only 8 guest-nights after it passed re-inspection.

Checks: guest money = 80 × 300 + 40 × 270 = 24,000 + 10,800 = GH¢34,800. Host shares = 70% × 34,800 = 24,360 (matches the table). Network office 20% = 6,960. Community fund 10% = 3,480. 24,360 + 6,960 + 3,480 = 34,800.

The group's 8 students filled exactly the 8 active rooms in A, B, C, D and F. Per room, the fair share was 120 ÷ 9 = 13.3 guest-nights; the 2-room homes had 14 per room, and Home E fewer because it was paused. Write that reason in the rota book.

Leading the allocation meeting

Hold a short members' meeting at the start of every month. Agenda: last month's tally, complaints and praise, next month's bookings, inspection news, money paid, any dispute.

Model script: explaining why a family gets fewer guests this month.

"Good evening, everyone, and thank you for coming. Before we look at December, here is November's tally on this sheet; please look at your own line. Madam Efua, your home had 8 guest-nights, fewer than the others. I want to say why, in front of everyone, so there are no stories later. After the October inspection your safety score was below the line we all agreed, so by our own rule your room was paused until the re-inspection. You fixed it in two weeks, and I thank you for that. From 1 December you are back on the rota at the bottom of the tally, so you get the next turns first. If anybody thinks the rule was used wrongly, say it now, or speak to the checker, Mr Quaye, this week."

When families disagree

1. Talk first. The two families and the coordinator meet within a week.
2. Check the record. Rota book, booking register, inspection sheet, payment record.
3. Members decide. If the families still disagree, the next members' meeting decides by the rule book.
4. Elders. If it is still not settled, ask the chief's elders or the community tourism committee to help, as the rule book says.
5. Write it down. Decision, date, who agreed.

Never move a guest out of a home because of a quarrel between families. The guest comes first; settle the quarrel after the guest leaves.

Check yourself

1. Why must every booking go through the central desk?
2. A man asks to stay with an individual woman host because her room is the cheapest. What does L.I. 2239 say?
3. In the example, the network sold 120 guest-nights worth GH¢34,800. How much went to the host families in total, and how much to the community fund?

Competency standard

Range. Routine and complaint-led inspections of 5 to 12 family homes, each with 1 to 3 guest rooms. Evidence. Inspection calendar; two completed inspection sheets with scores; corrective-action plan; re-inspection record; network results table; oral questions.

Law, foreign model and course method

Be clear with families about which rules are which.

Third Schedule minimums (L.I. 2239), in short: building, fixtures and fittings in good repair, clean and tidy; a bed with a clean mattress, pillow, blanket and bed linen, hanging facilities and a bedside cupboard; well-ventilated, hygienic bedrooms with a net or insect proofing; clean bathrooms and toilets, which may be shared; basic breakfast provided; premises and bedrooms cleaned daily; the host preferably a family unit; an individual host at least 25 and never boarding a guest of the opposite sex; each guest has exclusive occupation of the room and does not share a bed; linen changed for each new guest and at least every other day for a staying guest; other meals and more linen changes by arrangement; free entrance and exit for the guest; and a daily charge approved by the GTA.

Form D, the GTA field sheet for a home stay, records the location, rooms, beds, toilets, tariffs and host data, and lists as mandatory: a homestay licence issued by the GTA, a statutory permit and a lodger's register; guest-room facilities (a bedside table per occupant, a writing desk with chair and lamp, an armchair with side table per occupant, a full-length mirror, a wardrobe with a door and at least 4 hangers, full blinds, comfort bedding, bedside lamps or switch, a guest-room door with a secure lock, bedside rugs on hard floors); and safety and security (a first aid kit, burglar proofing at least on the ground floor, security lighting). It ends with the inspector's recommendation that a licence should or should not be given.

The ASEAN audit has 9 criteria, 27 sub-criteria and 91 requirements, each marked Yes, No or NA. The score for each criterion is Yes ÷ (requirements − NA) × the weighting. The weightings are Activities 20%, Management 15%, Hygiene and cleanliness 15%, Accommodation 10%, Safety and security 10%, Marketing 10%, Sustainability 10%, Host 5% and Location 5%, and a total of 75 to 100% qualifies as an ASEAN Homestay.

South Africa's B&B minimums include a host who lives on the property and is contactable 24 hours a day, daily servicing of rooms, and, for guest safety, emergency numbers and evacuation procedures displayed in every bedroom, emergency lighting per room (a torch or solar light, not candles) and bedroom doors lockable from inside and outside.

The network standard manual

The ASEAN standard expects simple manuals on welcoming, registration, billing and payment, hygiene, communication, activities, marketing and storytelling. Your network's manual can be a ring binder in every home, with one or two pages per topic:

The network inspection sheet (course method)

The sheet below uses the ASEAN nine criteria and weights, and fills each one with items from L.I. 2239 (Third Schedule and Form D), the ASEAN standard and the TGCSA safety items. The item counts are the course's own, not the ASEAN 91. Items marked (G) are gate items: a "No" on any gate item means the home is paused whatever its score.

Sources for the items: Third Schedule and Form D; ASEAN host, hygiene, safety, activity and sustainability requirements; emergency card, room light and lockable doors; gas and generator rules; Ghana Card rule.

The decision rule (course method; members adopt it in the rule book):

The last line mirrors the grounds on which the GTA may suspend a licence under L.I. 2239: failing the minimum requirements, persistent complaints of poor service, a serious or fraud conviction, or failing to submit returns.

The quality cycle

1. Entry inspection before a new home receives any guest.
2. Routine inspection of every home twice a year, by two people: the checker and one host from another home. Never let a host inspect a close relative's home.
3. Spot check of one home each month, chosen by drawing lots at the members' meeting.
4. Complaint-led inspection within 7 days of any serious complaint.
5. Re-inspection after an action plan or a pause.
6. Mystery guest once a year: a trusted outsider books and stays as an ordinary guest and fills a short report.
7. Review watch every month: read every review and every guest comment card. On Booking.com, guests give an overall score from 1 to 10 and optional sub-scores for cleanliness, comfort, value, facilities, location and staff (summary only). Note the home behind every low sub-score.
8. Results table to the quarterly members' meeting; agree one network improvement each quarter.

Inspecting a home, step by step

Worked example: scoring Home C (example)

The October inspection of Home C found:

Home C scores 76.59%, all gates passed: Active. Its weakest criterion is Activities (5 of 8): the Quayes are retired teachers and could offer an evening storytelling or a school visit with permission. That goes in the improvement note, not a penalty.

Network results, October round (example):

Check: 88.40 + 81.20 + 76.59 + 70.59 + 60.08 + 79.30 = 456.16; ÷ 6 = 76.03%. The average passes 75%, but two homes do not, and one home nearly failed a gate. Never report only the average.

Corrective action that works

A pause is not a punishment; it protects guests and the other families. Write the plan with the family, not for them.

Model script: the corrective-action talk.

"Madam Efua, thank you for showing us round. Your welcome is one of the warmest in the network; two guests wrote that in their reviews. Today the score came to 60 per cent, and our rule says a home below 65 is paused until we come back. I know that is hard to hear. Here are the three things that pulled it down, and none of them is expensive. Shall we write the plan together now, with dates you can keep? As soon as the re-inspection passes, you go back on the rota, at the bottom of the tally, so the next guests come to you first."

Preparing for official inspections

Your own inspections prepare every home for the people with the power to close it.

Check yourself

1. Which of these is Ghana law and which is a foreign model: the Third Schedule, Form D, the ASEAN audit?
2. A home scores 82% but its gas cylinder is inside the kitchen. What is its status, and why?
3. Write the ASEAN formula for one criterion's score.

Competency standard

Range. New and existing host families and their helpers (cleaners, cooks, drivers) in a network of 5 to 12 homes. Evidence. Training plan; session plan; one session delivered; two observation checklists; a feedback record; a helper terms sheet; safeguarding sign-off sheet; oral questions.

Why training is a duty, not a favour

L.I. 2239 expects accommodation operators to train staff in hospitality, health, security and fire safety, and to keep a staff register with residential addresses. The ASEAN standard expects every homestay provider to complete a basic homestay course, and it encourages community-to-community training, where an experienced village teaches a new one. In a network, you are the one who makes it happen.

The network training plan

Food handlers: the FDA's licensing guideline for food service establishments asks for a health or food handler's certificate covering tuberculosis, hepatitis A, typhoid and other communicable diseases for each worker in food preparation and serving. Assemblies issue yearly food-handler health certificates (summary only). Whether every family cooking only breakfast needs one is not verified; make it the network rule for anyone who cooks for guests.

How adults learn a skill: tell, show, do, review

1. Tell (5 minutes): what the skill is and why it matters to the guest.
2. Show (5 minutes): do it slowly, naming each step.
3. Do (15 minutes): each host does it while you watch; help, but do not take over.
4. Review (5 minutes): what went well, one thing to improve, one question each.

Train in the home, with real beds, real gas cylinders and real registers, wherever you can. A host who has never pressed a smoke alarm test button in a classroom will not do it at home.

A 1-day network induction (example)

The host observation checklist

Use it at the entry inspection and once a year. Watch a real or role-played guest arrival and morning.

Decision: Competent when at least 8 of 10 are seen and every gate is seen (course method). Otherwise Not Yet Competent: name the missing item and set a date.

Giving feedback

Use praise, improve, praise, in private, the same day:

1. Praise one real thing you saw.
2. Improve: one or two things, described as actions, not as character.
3. Praise again and agree the next step with a date.

Model script: feedback after an observation.

"Mrs Arthur, the breakfast was beautiful, and you asked the guest about groundnuts twice, which is exactly right. One thing to change: you went into the room to fetch the tray while the guest was in the bathroom. Even with good intentions, our rule is knock and wait, and if no one answers, leave it until the guest comes out. Can you show me tomorrow how you will do it? You are nearly there; your welcome is the one I will ask new families to watch."

Safeguarding and privacy in every household

Ghana's law defines a child as a person below 18. L.I. 2239 itself carries two safeguarding rules for home stays: an individual host may not board a guest of the opposite sex, and each guest has their own room and does not share a bed. "The Code" is an international tourism industry programme for protecting children in travel and tourism (summary only). Use the child protection policy method in Tour Guiding and Community Homestay Level 3, Unit 3, and make these the network rules every adult in every home signs:

Model script: talking to a host after a privacy complaint.

"Mr Ackah, thank you for meeting me. A guest told me that someone in the house came into her room yesterday while she was out, to collect a cup. She felt uncomfortable and she has the right to. I am not here to accuse anyone; I want us to understand what happened and stop it happening again. Who went in, and why? ... Thank you for being honest. Our rule is clear: nobody enters a guest room unless the guest is there and says yes, or has asked for cleaning. I will tell the guest we have spoken and that it will not happen again, and I will offer her a move if she wants one. Let us read the privacy rule together with the whole family this evening."

If a complaint suggests that a child may be at risk, do not investigate yourself: keep the child safe, stop the stay if needed, inform the safeguarding lead and report to the police or the Department of Social Welfare. Local numbers were not found; find them and write them in the manual.

Supervising helpers lawfully

Some families employ a helper for cleaning, laundry or cooking. The network should set a minimum standard for helper terms, because one exploited helper can ruin the network's name.

• Pay at least the minimum wage: GH¢21.77 a day for 2026. Casual workers are paid the full minimum for each day worked (s.74).
• Written terms: a written contract for work of six months or more (s.12) and a written statement of terms within two months (s.13); 15 working days' paid leave a year (s.20); 12 weeks' maternity leave (s.57); notice rules (s.17).
• SSNIT for employees: the employee pays 5.5% and the employer 13% of basic salary. See Unit 5 for a worked payroll.
• No child labour: a helper under 18 does not work in a guest home (course rule; see the child definition above).
• Staff register with residential addresses, as L.I. 2239 expects.

Check yourself

1. Which three areas does L.I. 2239 say staff of an accommodation enterprise should be trained in, besides fire safety?
2. What are the three steps of the feedback method in this unit?
3. Is GH¢20 a day lawful pay for a casual helper in 2026? Why?

Competency standard

Range. A network of 5 to 12 homes working with Ghanaian and foreign partners. Evidence. Partner list; rate sheet; one signed-off draft agreement; compliance register for the network and two homes; data handling sheet; oral questions.

Who your partners can be

The ASEAN standard recommends partnerships with tour operators, public agencies, NGOs and universities, and familiarisation (fam) trips for tour operators: a free or low-cost visit so that the people who sell your stays have seen them.

Prices for partners

Three words to keep clear:

• Net rate: what the network must receive for a guest-night.
• Retail price: what the guest pays.
• Commission: what the partner keeps; usually a percentage of the retail price.

Example 1: a tour operator (example). The network price is GH¢300 per guest-night, bed and breakfast. An operator asks for 15% of the retail price. Retail = 300 ÷ (1 − 0.15) = 352.94; round to GH¢355. Commission = 15% × 355 = 53.25. The network receives 355 − 53.25 = GH¢301.75, which covers the GH¢300 the families' 70% share is built on. Booking.com's commission is reported by third-party guides at about 15%, ranging from 10 to 25% (summary only); always read the contract you are offered.

Example 2: a university contract rate (example). For 40 guest-nights or more in one booking, the network offers 10% off: 300 × 0.90 = GH¢270. Host share 70% = 189; family profit after its GH¢80 costs = 109 (Unit 1). The families must agree the discount at a members' meeting, because it reduces their share too.

Example 3: a diaspora group (example). 12 guests for 7 nights at GH¢300: 12 × 7 × 300 = GH¢25,200. Deposit 30% = GH¢7,560, due when the agreement is signed.

Rate parity. Never sell more cheaply to the public than your partners sell. If you undercut them, they stop selling for you.

Withholding tax. A company partner that pays you for services may withhold 7.5% where the payee is paid over GH¢2,000 a year, and must give you a certificate. Ask each partner at the start whether it will withhold, and record the certificate (Unit 6).

Sample partner agreement: what to put in writing

The terms below are a model for discussion, not legal advice. Have a lawyer check your standard agreement once, then reuse it.

Example cancellation scale (example; members decide the real one):

The licence and compliance map

The full method for building a licence file, a regulator map and a mock inspection is in Tour Guiding and Community Homestay Level 3, Unit 2. Use it. Below are the items that matter most for a network of family home stays, and what this course found.

A Ghana Hotels Association leader listed, in August 2026, the charges hotels face from many bodies, including GTA, EPA, FDA, Assemblies, the Fire Service, SSNIT, data protection fees and the GHAMRO music licence. Use the list as a checklist of whom to ask, not as proof that each one applies to a home stay; whether a music licence is needed for playing recorded music to homestay guests is not verified.

The guest register and data protection

L.I. 2239 asks every accommodation to keep a register on the premises with each guest's name, gender, occupation, date and place of birth, particulars of a government-issued ID (for non-residents, passport number and place and date of issue), nationality, country and address of residence, number travelling together, port of arrival and next destination outside Ghana (non-residents), mode of payment, purpose of visit (non-residents), mode of travel, date and time of check-in, room number and departure time; each guest also completes a registration card which the operator submits to the GTA.

The Data Protection Commission lists eight principles: accountability; lawfulness of processing; specification of purpose; compatibility of further processing; quality of information; openness; data security safeguards; and data subject participation. For a network that means:

Insurance

The GTA must be satisfied about fire and public liability insurance before it licenses an enterprise. Graphic reported in 2016 that the Insurance Act 2006 (Act 724) made commercial property fire insurance compulsory for business premises, enforced by an NIC and GNFS task force; newer reports say the Insurance Act 2021 (Act 1061) carries this on (summary only). Whether a family house used as a homestay counts as "commercial" is not verified. Airbnb tells Ghana hosts to arrange their own insurance, because its AirCover does not replace home insurance.

The compliance register

Model script: pitching to a university study-abroad coordinator.

"Good morning, Dr Owusu. Thank you for your time. We are the Sea Breeze Homestay Network: six host families in one village, all inspected twice a year against one written standard, with a coordinator on call day and night. Ghana's accommodation regulation defines a home stay as accommodation for guests on a cultural or academic study programme, so your students are exactly who we are built for. Each student has their own room, breakfast every day, and a family who will teach them to cook, fish or farm. We share our safeguarding rules, our insurance certificate and our last inspection results with every partner before they sign. May I leave you our two-page agreement and invite you for a free visit before your next intake?"

Model script: answering a diaspora group leader's safety questions.

Leader: "Some of our members are elderly and two use walking sticks. And frankly, people are worried about safety."

"Thank you for telling me now; it lets us plan. Home B has a ground-floor room with no steps to the toilet, and Home E has a ground-floor room with one low step, for a woman travelling alone; I will send you photos and measurements, not promises. Every home has a working smoke alarm that we test at each inspection, a torch in every room, an escape plan on the door, a lock on every guest room, and a first aid kit. Our coordinator lives in the village and her phone is on day and night; the nearest clinic is on the emergency card, and 112 is the first number. We do not let anyone swim at night, and we only book licensed guides. Would it help if I sent you our safety page and the names of two past group leaders you can call?"

Check yourself

1. Why does a university study programme fit the legal definition of a home stay?
2. Your net rate is GH¢300 and an operator wants 15% of the retail price. What retail price covers the net rate?
3. Name three things the guest register must not be used for or contain under the course rules.

Competency standard

Range. A homestay network of 5 to 12 families, or one owner with several rooms in family houses, in a village or town anywhere in Ghana. Evidence. Business model and legal form choice; registration checklist; tax question letter; start-up budget; payroll sample; access plan; one-page plan; pitch.

Which business are you starting?

Choose a legal form

Company annual returns cost GH¢175 a year, with late fees of GH¢1,000 (1 to 4 years late) or GH¢2,000 (5 years or more).

Which form for a homestay network? An owner with two or three rooms can start as a sole proprietor. A network handles other families' money and other families' guests: if a guest is hurt in one home, the claim may reach the body that took the booking. A company limited by guarantee suits an association or community network: the families are members, the company holds the bank account and the insurance, and profits are not shared out as dividends; families are paid as suppliers through the sharing rule. An owner-run network that wants investors may choose a company limited by shares. L.I. 2239 asks a licensed accommodation enterprise to be a business entity registered in Ghana.

In the running example, the Sea Breeze families registered a company limited by guarantee (GH¢490) and employ Auntie Esi as coordinator (example).

Registration, step by step

Tax: what applies and what to ask

Income tax for a sole proprietor. Residents with business income only and no VAT registration may use the Modified Taxation Scheme: fixed instalments for turnover up to GH¢20,000, and for turnover from GH¢20,001 to GH¢750,000, 3% of turnover or the modified cash basis. Professionals, partners and owners of several businesses or outlets are excluded. The GH¢750,000 ceiling came with the Income Tax (Amendment) Act 2026 (Act 1178); GRA's own page still showed the old GH¢500,000 in October 2026. Whether an owner with rooms in several houses counts as having "several outlets" is not verified; ask GRA.

Company tax. Companies pay 25% as the standard rate, with other rates by sector and location; provisional tax is paid quarterly and the annual return is due within four months of the year-end. Whether a company limited by guarantee running a homestay network has any special tax position was not verified.

VAT. VAT 15% plus NHIL 2.5% plus GETFund 2.5% gives an effective rate of 20% from 1 January 2026. The registration threshold for goods is GH¢750,000, but for services there is no turnover threshold: a taxable person making taxable supplies of services registers within 30 days of starting. A VAT-registered business cannot use the Modified Taxation Scheme. Whether short-stay accommodation is taxable or exempt under the VAT Act 2025 (Act 1151) was not verified.

The network's biggest tax question: whose turnover is it? If the network sells the stay and pays the families (as in this book's example), its turnover is the whole guest price. If the network only arranges stays as an agent and the guest pays each family, its turnover may be only its commission. The difference is large (examples, using the Unit 7 forecast):

Which one applies depends on the contracts, the way money flows and GRA's view: not verified. Write to your GRA office, describe exactly how money moves, and keep the reply.

Withholding tax. A company partner may withhold 7.5% on services and must give you a certificate. Rent paid for a welcome desk may also carry withholding rules (8% residential, 15% non-residential); ask your landlord and GRA who deducts it.

Premises, equipment and start-up budget

The families' homes are the rooms; the network needs only a welcome desk (a small room or a corner of a member's front room), a phone, a laptop, signs and safety kits. Spend first on safety, licences and the things guests see.

Example start-up budget for a six-family network (examples except where a source is named):

Financing

Options, from safest to most demanding: member contributions; a susu or village savings and loan association (VSLA); family; microfinance; a bank loan once you have six to twelve months of records. The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) offers SME GO, Business-in-a-Box, SME High Growth and Kaizen support, and has Business Advisory Centres in Takoradi, Shama, Effia-Kwesimintsim, Mpohor and Ahanta West among other districts. The 2026 Budget set aside GH¢401 million for the Women's Development Bank, GH¢170 million for a National Apprenticeship Programme and GH¢160 million for Adwumawura; many host families are led by women, so ask what is open. The Bank of Ghana policy rate was 14.00% when this module was written (summary only); loans cost more than that, so borrow only when bookings are clear.

Never borrow against a family's house for the network. If a member wants to improve their own room, that is their own loan, decided by their own household.

Hire and pay staff lawfully

The Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) requires a written contract for work of six months or more (s.12), a written statement of terms within two months (s.13), 15 working days of paid leave a year (s.20) and 12 weeks of maternity leave (s.57); casual workers are paid the full minimum for each day worked (s.74), and notice rules apply (s.17). The national minimum wage for 2026 is GH¢21.77 a day, about GH¢587.79 a month at 27 days (summary only).

SSNIT and PAYE. The employee pays 5.5% and the employer 13% of basic salary, 18.5% in all; the employer pays by the 14th of the following month, and late payment costs 3% a month. PAYE uses the 2026 monthly bands: the first GH¢588 at 0%, the next 80 at 5%, the next 100 at 10%, the next 2,900 at 17.5%, and higher bands above that, after deducting the employee's SSNIT; PAYE is due by the 15th of the next month. The tax-free band rose to GH¢588 a month from 1 September 2026.

Worked example: the coordinator on GH¢2,000 basic a month (example).

The coordinator who is also a host (as Auntie Esi is) must keep the two roles apart: her salary is for the network's work; her family share is for her rooms, on the same rota as everyone else.

Accessibility and inclusion

The Persons with Disability Act 2006 (Act 715) asks owners of places the public uses, and service providers, to make them accessible; reports say many places are still not (summary only). L.I. 2239's rule on accessible rooms applies to star-rated hotels, not to home stays, so for a homestay network access is good practice and good business, not a numbered rule. UN Tourism's recommendations say staff should be trained to serve persons with disabilities courteously and to give complete information about access (summary only).

Guests with disabilities: what the network does.

Example adaptation budget for Home B (examples; Ghana prices not verified): small concrete ramp 1,200; two grab bars 2 × 150 = 300; shower chair 350; raised toilet seat 250; lever taps 200; vibrating door and alarm signal 300. Total GH¢2,600. The network can fund one accessible room from the network share and record it as equipment (Unit 6).

Hosts with disabilities: roles in the network.

Ask each member what they need. The hub's sign language and assistive technology courses help with deaf-guest and deaf-host training.

Marketing the network honestly

The one-page plan and pitch

Fit on one page: who you serve; your homes and rooms; your price bands and what is included; your licences (and what is not yet found); your standard and inspection results; your sharing rule; your team; start-up cost and how it is funded; monthly fixed costs and break-even guest-nights (Unit 7); your community fund target; how you will find guests; your safety, safeguarding and privacy rules.

Model script: the pitch opener.

"Good morning. My name is Esi; everyone calls me Auntie Esi. I coordinate the Sea Breeze Homestay Network. Six families in our village host guests in their own homes: nine rooms, one standard, inspected twice a year. Seventy pesewas of every cedi a guest pays goes to the family that hosts them, and ten pesewas to our community fund. We are registered, we are applying for our GTA licences, and every home has a fire plan and a tested smoke alarm. We need GH¢47,125 to start properly, and we have GH¢30,000 from our members and our VSLA. Here is how the rest comes back."

Check yourself

1. Why might an association of host families choose a company limited by guarantee?
2. What is the VAT registration threshold for services in 2026, and what is not yet verified for home stays?
3. The coordinator earns GH¢2,000 basic. What does the network pay to SSNIT in total by the 14th?

See the hub's Money Skills for Small Business Level 2 for the general basics. This unit is specific to a homestay network (and works for a single owner with several rooms: use "owner capital" and "drawings" where the network uses "members' fund").

Competency standard

Range. A homestay network or a single owner with several rooms, taking individual guests, groups on contract and online bookings. Evidence. Booking and deposit registers; host payout record; cash book for a month; trial balance; income statement; balance sheet; reconciliation; members' report; oral questions.

The core rule

Assets = Liabilities + Equity. In double entry every transaction has a debit and a credit of equal amount: debits increase assets and expenses; credits increase liabilities, capital and income. A trial balance checks that total debits equal total credits, but it cannot catch every error. Keep network money and family money apart: no family's housekeeping is paid from the network account, and no guest pays a family directly for a network booking.

The records every network keeps

Money that is not yet the network's, and money that is never the network's

• Deposits. A deposit in November for a December stay is in the bank in November, but it is not November income. The network still owes the stay. It is a liability (guest deposits) until the stay happens.
• Cancellation fees. When a guest cancels and the written terms let the network keep part of the deposit, the part kept becomes income and the part refunded leaves the bank. Both reduce the deposits liability.
• Families' shares. In this book's model the network sells the stay, so the families' 70% is a cost of the network, paid weekly. A share earned but not yet paid is a liability (host families payable). Ask GRA whether your network sells as principal or arranges as agent (Unit 5); if agent, the families' shares are never the network's income at all.
• Community fund. The 10% belongs to the community from the moment the stay is delivered. Record it as a cost and hold it as a liability (community fund payable) until it is paid at the quarterly meeting. Never borrow from it.
• Tips. Tips that guests give a family or a helper belong to them, not to the network (course rule). They do not go in the network's books.
• Withholding tax. If a partner withholds 7.5% from a payment, the network receives less cash, but the full amount is income; the amount withheld is a tax credit backed by a certificate.

Depreciation

Straight-line depreciation = (cost − salvage value) ÷ useful life. In the example, the network's equipment cost GH¢12,000 (laptop and phone 4,800; welcome-desk furniture and signs 2,400; safety kits and spare linen lent to homes 4,800), salvage 0, life 4 years: 12,000 ÷ 48 months = GH¢250 a month. New items start depreciating the month after they are bought (course method). Linen wears faster: if you keep it as a separate item, 18 sets at GH¢250 each = 4,500 over 2 years, salvage 0, is 4,500 ÷ 24 = GH¢187.50 a month (example).

Worked month: November at the Sea Breeze network (example)

The network started smaller than the full Unit 5 plan, paying for licences and kits as bookings came in. This is its November (example name, invented numbers).

Opening balance sheet, 1 November (example)

What happened in November (the Unit 1 allocation)

1. Individual guests stayed 80 guest-nights at GH¢300 = GH¢24,000. 24 of those nights (GH¢7,200) were paid in October as deposits; the other 56 nights (GH¢16,800) were paid during November.
2. The university group stayed 40 guest-nights at GH¢270 = GH¢10,800. The network invoiced the university on 30 November; payment is due in December.
3. Families' shares, 70% of 34,800 = GH¢24,360. Paid in November: weeks 1 to 3, GH¢21,210. The last week's GH¢3,150 is paid on 2 December.
4. Community fund, 10% of 34,800 = GH¢3,480, held for the quarterly meeting.
5. Booking.com commission on November stays, GH¢900, paid.
6. Deposits of GH¢9,000 came in for December stays. One guest who had paid GH¢600 cancelled 20 days before arrival; under the scale (Unit 4) the network kept 50% (GH¢300) and refunded GH¢300.
7. Payroll: the coordinator's November pay as in Unit 5 (net 1,679.65 paid; SSNIT 370 and PAYE 210.35 to pay in December).
8. Overheads paid: welcome-desk rent 800; phone and data 350; marketing 500; insurance (monthly share) 450; bank and MoMo charges 95; host training day 600; inspection transport 200.
9. Bought safety kits (5 smoke alarms, 2 fire blankets) for GH¢1,200; depreciation starts in December.
10. Depreciation on the opening equipment: GH¢250.
11. Guests gave tips of GH¢650 to families and helpers. These are not network money and are not recorded.

Cash book, November (bank and MoMo together, example)

Check: 18,000 + 25,800 − 28,284.65 = 15,515.35. Host payouts paid: 7,140 + 7,350 + 6,720 = 21,210; with the 3,150 still due, 24,360.

Income statement for November (example)

Overheads in total: 2,000 + 260 + 800 + 350 + 500 + 450 + 95 + 600 + 200 + 250 = 5,505. Surplus 6,360 − 5,505 = 855. The families earned GH¢24,360 between them; the network office earned GH¢855. That is the sharing rule working as intended, and also a warning: the office runs on a thin margin (Unit 7).

Trial balance at 30 November (example)

Balance sheet at 30 November (example)

Check: assets 15,515.35 + 10,800 + 11,950 = 38,265.35. Liabilities 8,400 + 3,150 + 3,480 + 370 + 210.35 = 15,610.35. Equity 12,000 + 9,800 + 855 = 22,655. 15,610.35 + 22,655 = 38,265.35. Assets = liabilities + equity.

Reporting to the members

At the monthly meeting, give every family one page:

Read the community fund figures aloud at the quarterly community meeting, as the benefit-sharing method in Tour Guiding and Community Homestay Level 3, Unit 3 requires.

Month-end routine

1. Total the cash book and agree the closing balance with the bank and MoMo statements.
2. Reconcile: list any difference (often charges not yet recorded) and correct the book.
3. Update the booking register, deposit register, host payout record, community fund record, debtors and creditors.
4. Check every home's guest-nights against the payout record: no family under- or over-paid.
5. Record depreciation for the month.
6. Run a trial balance: debits must equal credits.
7. Write the income statement and the balance sheet; check that assets equal liabilities plus equity.
8. Prepare the members' one-page report.
9. Update the next three months of the cash-flow forecast (Unit 7).
10. Pay SSNIT by the 14th and PAYE and withholding tax by the 15th; file everything.

Bank and MoMo reconciliation

Example: the cash book says GH¢15,515.35. The bank and MoMo statements together say GH¢15,485.35. The difference is GH¢30. Checking line by line, you find three MoMo transfer fees on host payouts (GH¢10 each) not yet in the book. Record GH¢30 as bank and MoMo charges; the book becomes GH¢15,485.35 and agrees (the November surplus falls to GH¢825). If a difference remains, look for a missed payment, a number typed wrongly, or a deposit not entered. Never ignore a gap.

Tax records and filing calendar

Keep records in Ghana for at least six years from the end of the year of assessment or VAT period, longer if under dispute. Filing calendar: SSNIT by the 14th; PAYE and withholding tax by the 15th; VAT (if registered) by the last working day of the following month; provisional company tax quarterly; annual return within four months of the year-end. Company annual returns go to the ORC every year. Ask the GTA whether a home stay must file returns: L.I. 2239 lists failing to submit returns as a ground for suspending a licence; the dates were not found.

Free tools: a paper cash book, Excel or Google Sheets, the Zoho Books free plan or Wave (summary only). From 1 January 2027 the 2025 edition of IFRS for SMEs applies to entities that use that standard.

Check yourself

1. A guest pays a GH¢900 deposit in November for a December stay. Is it November income? Where does it go?
2. Why is the community fund recorded as a liability until it is paid?
3. The network's assets are GH¢38,265.35 and its liabilities GH¢15,610.35. What is its equity?

Competency standard

Range. A homestay network or multi-room owner in its first one to three years. Evidence. Quality checklist; growth option table; break-even workings; 12-month forecast with stress test; panel score sheet; oral questions.

Quality systems

A quality system makes sure the hundredth stay is as safe and as good as the first, whichever home the guest is in.

The GTA may suspend a licence for persistent complaints of poor service, and a guest may complain to the GTA in writing within 30 days of noticing the problem. Handle complaints fast and fairly (Level 2), record them, and fix the cause.

Growth paths

Know your break-even

The network office needs enough guest-nights each month to pay its fixed costs.

Example (from Units 1, 5 and 6): price GH¢300 per guest-night; the families get 70% and the community fund 10%; listing-site commission averages 4% of receipts and a reserve for tax and repairs 1% (examples). The network keeps 300 × (20% − 4% − 1%) = 300 × 15% = GH¢45 per guest-night. Fixed cash costs are GH¢5,255 a month: coordinator 2,260 (salary plus employer SSNIT); rent 800; phone and data 350; marketing 500; insurance 450; bank charges 95; training 600; inspection transport 200.

Break-even guest-nights = 5,255 ÷ 45 = 116.8, so 117 guest-nights a month. With 9 rooms and 30 nights (270 room-nights), that is 117 ÷ 270 = 43% occupancy. Below that, the office loses money even while the families earn well.

Reputation and reviews

Model script: answering "How do you keep six different homes at one standard?"

"Three ways. First, one written standard: every home has the same manual, the same house rules and the same safety kit, and every host has done the same course. Second, we check, not trust: every home is inspected twice a year on an 86-item sheet, with spot checks and a mystery guest, and a home that fails a safety item takes no guests until it is fixed. Here are last round's results, including the two homes that were below our line and what they did about it. Third, we listen: every review is read every month and traced to a home. The families are different, and we want them to be; the standard is the same."

Records for a loan

Lenders ask for: ORC registration, TIN, GTA licences or applications, insurance, six to twelve months of cash book with bank and MoMo statements, the booking, deposit and host payout records, the income statement and balance sheet, partner agreements, and a plan with a 12-month forecast (course method). Tidy books are your best collateral. Ask about programmes at the GEA; Ghana EXIM has SME and export facilities (summary only).

Succession and ethics

Write everything down (the rule book, the manual, the rota method, the forms) so the network runs without any one person. Name a deputy coordinator who can reach the bank (with the second signatory), the booking phone and the registers. Rotate the inspection checker so no family inspects its relatives.

Write the network's ethics on one page and live by them: never operate a home without its papers; never hide a commission from the families; never take a side booking; never borrow from the community fund; never copy a Ghana Card; never let a guest be alone with a child of the household; never enter a guest room uninvited; never promise access, safety or comfort you have not checked; never serve bushmeat or sell protected-species items; never let tourism push the village beyond what the elders agree.

Capstone: one-page plan and 12-month cash-flow forecast

Your capstone is a one-page business plan and a 12-month cash-flow forecast with a stress test, presented to a panel in five minutes.

Assumptions for the example forecast (all examples; the Sea Breeze plan for next year):

• Price GH¢300 per guest-night for every booking (group discounts left out to keep it simple).
• Each month the network pays out 85% of receipts: families 70%, community fund 10%, commission 4%, tax and repairs reserve 1% (examples; the community fund is paid quarterly in real life, shown monthly here).
• Fixed cash costs GH¢5,255 a month (above). Depreciation is not a cash cost and is left out.
• Opening cash GH¢20,000. Money is received and paid in the same month (a simplification; deposits really arrive earlier). Payments are rounded to whole cedis.
• Guest-nights follow an invented seasonal pattern with peaks in the diaspora-festival and school-holiday months and at Christmas. No verified seasonal data for Ghana homestays was found; booking-site snapshots only show prices (summary only). Build your own pattern from your booking register and check each year's festival dates.

Check: 20,000 + 426,000 − 425,160 = 20,840. The families receive 70% × 426,000 = GH¢298,200 in the year and the community fund GH¢42,600, while the network office ends only GH¢840 better off. Average guest-nights are 1,420 ÷ 12 = 118.3 a month, just above the 117 break-even. Cash falls in every month below 117 guest-nights (January to June, and October).

Stress test: only 70% of the planned guest-nights (rounded), fixed costs unchanged.

Cash falls to GH¢940 in November: one late partner payment and the network cannot pay the families on time. Fixes (examples): (a) cut fixed cash costs by GH¢1,000 a month (move the welcome desk into a member's front room, saving 800, and trim marketing by 200): the lowest cash becomes GH¢10,535 in June and the year ends at GH¢13,670; (b) also sign a university contract for 40 extra guest-nights in each of May and June: the lowest cash becomes GH¢14,135 in June and the year ends at GH¢17,270. Keep a lean-season reserve of three months of fixed costs (3 × 5,255 = GH¢15,765).

Panel scoring (20 marks each): guests and partners; licences, insurance, safety and safeguarding; money (start-up, sharing rule, break-even, forecast and stress test); people and fairness (rota, training, inspections, community fund); clarity and answers. Competent: at least 60 out of 100 with no zero in safety, safeguarding, licensing or honesty with money (course method).

Model script: the capstone opener.

"Good afternoon. Next year, if this plan holds, six families in our village will share GH¢298,200 from guests who sleep in their own homes, and our community fund will receive GH¢42,600 (example figures). Nobody had to build a hotel. This plan shows how we keep it safe, fair and licensed, why our office needs 117 guest-nights a month to break even, and what we do if a bad year gives us only seventy per cent of that."

Check yourself

1. Why can the network office lose money in a month when the families all earn well?
2. Fixed costs are GH¢5,255 and the network keeps GH¢45 per guest-night. What is the break-even?
3. What is the lean-season reserve for fixed cash costs of GH¢5,255 a month?

1. Under L.I. 2239, what is a home stay, and from how many guest rooms does a guest house start?
2. Name four things the Third Schedule requires of a home stay.
3. What two rules does L.I. 2239 set for an individual host?
4. In the course rota method, what is checked before taking turns?
5. Write the ASEAN formula for a criterion's score, and give the pass mark.
6. A home scores 72% with all gates passed. What is its status under the decision rule?
7. Name three areas of training L.I. 2239 expects for staff, besides fire safety.
8. Your net rate is GH¢300 and a partner wants 20% of retail. What retail price covers it?
9. What does L.I. 2523 forbid, and from what date did the Interior Ministry say photocopying must stop?
10. Which insurance must the GTA be satisfied about before licensing, and how do you check an insurer?
11. Why are the families' unpaid shares and the community fund liabilities in the network's balance sheet?
12. Why do you run a stress test on your cash-flow forecast?

What this module does not cover: a GTA licence for any home or network; the GTA home stay fee, the provisional short-stay fee and the licence route a network should use (none confirmed); whether the GTA applies the manager rule and all premises documents to a family home stay; whether the 1% tourism levy applies to category C home stays; whether short-stay accommodation is VAT-taxable and whether a network's turnover is the whole guest price or its share; whether a breakfast-only home stay needs an FDA Food Hygiene Permit; the GNFS fire certificate class for a home stay; whether each family must register with the DPC; how a small host can verify a Ghana Card under L.I. 2523; compulsory insurance for a family house used as a homestay; Ghana homestay prices and seasonal data (none found); legal advice on partner agreements (have a lawyer check your standard forms).

Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.