Hotel Night Audit Checklist Template

Enter the time the night shift starts first: every task falls due a set time after it. Then take over the desk from the evening shift.

• Record the hotel, the business date and tonight’s team — the hotel, the business date being closed, the time the night shift starts, the PMS, and who audits, signs off and takes the handover
• Read the evening handover and the manager’s log — open guest issues, VIPs and late arrivals, maintenance faults, and anything the evening shift left unfinished
• Count the front desk float and open your cashier shift — counted with the outgoing clerk, any difference recorded before you sign for it, and your own cashier shift opened in the PMS
• Print or save tonight’s backup reports — in-house, arrivals and departures lists and the room status, so the desk can keep working if the PMS goes down

Before anything is posted, make sure the PMS shows who is really in the hotel: room status, arrivals, departures and registrations.

• Compare front desk and housekeeping room status — the PMS room status against housekeeping’s evening report, with every room where the two differ listed
• Check mismatched rooms and correct their status — each room checked by the procedure the hotel sets, a sleeper (shown occupied, but the guest has paid and left), a skipper (shown occupied, but the guest has left without paying) or a room shown vacant that is occupied corrected, and the duty manager told
• Check the arrivals still due tonight — guaranteed and non-guaranteed bookings, late arrival messages, and which bookings will be no-shows under the hotel’s cut-off
• Check registration details for tonight’s arrivals — every guest who checked in has a complete registration record, with what your country’s rules ask the hotel to keep
• Check departures still in house — guests due out today who have not checked out, with late check-outs and extensions entered in the PMS
• Check walk-ins, room moves and day-use rooms — walk-ins registered with a payment method, room moves reflected on the right folio, and day-use rooms checked out
• Check out-of-order and out-of-service rooms — each one has a reason and a return date that match the maintenance log, so tonight’s figures count them correctly

Every occupied room charged once at the right rate, every outlet charge on the right folio, and every correction made with a reason.

• Post room and tax for every occupied room — posted by the night audit routine or by hand, once per room, at the rate on the booking, with the right tax
• Check rates against the booking and any approvals — the rate variance report reviewed, and every override, discount or complimentary room matched to a reason and an approver
• Check outlet charges posted to rooms — restaurant, bar and other outlet totals in the PMS matched to each outlet’s report, and charges on the wrong room moved
• Check packages, allowances and deposits — breakfast and package allowances posted as sold, and advance deposits applied to the right folio
• Correct posting errors with an authorised adjustment — every correction made as an adjustment with a reason code and an approver, never by deleting a charge
• Check direct bill and group master accounts — charges routed to the right master account, and balances moved to the city ledger only for accounts with approved credit

Cashier shifts closed, card payments matched to the terminal or gateway, the batch settled and the cash dropped with a witness.

• Close and balance each front desk cashier shift — each cashier’s report matched to the cash counted and the card payments taken, with any difference recorded against the shift
• Review high balances against authorisations and deposits — in-house guests whose balance has passed their card authorisation, deposit or the hotel’s limit, listed for follow-up in the morning
• Match card payments to the terminal or gateway totals — PMS card payments by card type against the terminal or payment gateway report for the business date
• Find and record the card payment variance — each difference traced to a payment, a refund or a timing gap, corrected or passed to accounts with the details
• Settle the card batch — the batch closed on each terminal or the gateway’s automatic settlement confirmed, and the settlement report kept
• Make the cash drop with a witness — cash counted, sealed in a numbered envelope, logged with both signatures and dropped in the safe
• Check paid-outs and refunds — every paid-out and refund made tonight has a receipt, a reason and an approver

Applies only when there are no-shows or late cancellations to process tonight. Charges follow the hotel’s policy and the guest’s booking terms, never a rule of this template.

• Confirm each no-show before charging — not checked in under another name or another room, no late arrival message, and the booking guaranteed
• Charge no-shows and late cancellations by the hotel’s policy — only what the booking’s terms allow, to the card or deposit given for that booking, with each result recorded
• Release or amend the rest of each no-show’s stay — later nights cancelled or kept as the policy and the booking terms say, so the rooms can be sold
• Mark no-shows with the booking channel — third-party bookings marked as no-shows in the channel or agent’s system as its terms require

Once the date rolls, charges post to the new day, so the checks above come first.

• Run the PMS’s checks before the rollover — arrivals checked in or marked as no-shows, departures checked out, and every cashier shift closed
• Run the end of day and roll the business date — the PMS’s end-of-day routine run, so the day just audited closes and the next day opens
• Produce and save the night audit reports — the trial balance, manager’s report, revenue and ledger reports and the exception reports your PMS gives
• Check the guest, city and deposit ledgers balance — each ledger’s opening balance plus charges less payments equal to its closing balance, with any difference explained
• Record tonight’s key figures — rooms sold, occupancy, average daily rate, RevPAR and revenue, as the PMS’s manager report shows them
• Confirm the system backup ran and the reports are filed — the PMS backup or export confirmed, and the reports saved where the hotel keeps them

The building, the fire panel and the guests’ early mornings, with every incident written down as it happens.

• Walk the building and check it is secure — fire exits and escape routes, external doors, public areas, plant and store doors, at the times the hotel’s procedure sets
• Check the fire alarm panel and record any fault — the panel shows normal, and any fault or alarm reported as the hotel’s fire procedure says
• Prepare wake-up calls and early departures — wake-up calls set, early breakfasts and taxis arranged, and early departures’ folios ready
• Send or deliver folios for express check-out — guests leaving today get their folio as the hotel offers it, with any wrong charge corrected first
• Check today’s arrivals and blocked rooms — today’s arrivals list, special requests and blocked or pre-assigned rooms ready for the morning team
• Log overnight incidents, complaints and requests — what happened, the time, the room or place and what was done, written as it happens

The morning manager takes the desk, the duty manager reviews the audit, and the pack goes to accounts only once it is approved.

• Write the handover note for the morning manager — open variances, high balances, no-show charges, faults, incidents and guests to follow up
• Take over the desk, the float and the keys — the float counted with the night auditor, keys and master keys accounted for, and the handover note read
• Fix what the duty manager’s review found — each point corrected or explained, then the duty manager changes the decision and completes the sign-off
• Duty manager signs off the night audit — the reports, variances, no-show charges, cash drop and handover reviewed, and the audit approved or sent back
• Send the audit pack to accounts — the reports, settlement report, cash drop log and sign-off passed to accounts or the income auditor