Hotel Night Audit Checklist Template

The hotel night audit checklist template helps accommodation providers monitor financial and operational activities occurring on any given business day, to ensure all departments are functioning smoothly.

Hotel management software enables them to review all booking vouchers for check-in, check-out, no-show reservations and maintenance block reservations on any given business day, in addition to viewing active room folios.

Pre-Audit
Hotel operations operate 24/7/365 and must accommodate various types of guests with different requirements. From check-in and check-out procedures to guest requests management and following customer service procedures, the front desk must review accounting records regularly to keep an accurate picture of business operations.

An audit involves reviewing and reconciling all revenue transactions, reservations, room states and guest accounts up until that point in time. It helps establish how much total revenue the property has earned since inception.

In the pre-audit phase, you must use the Hotel Transaction Report to validate all payments made by users such as deposits, refunds, voids and adjustments. Filter by date, user and transaction type (credits/debits/items/services). This enables your night auditor or manager to more efficiently assess whether any changes to transactions have taken place and verify whether these are accurate changes.

Post-Audit
Hotel night audit processes can be complicated for hotels as they must daily reconcile various transactions to account balances, which requires close examination of accounts and an eye for discrepancies. Night auditors also must manage other front office functions while attending to overnight guest issues – which may cause additional stress and potentially result in mistakes being made.

At night audit time, hotel auditors look through their ledger and verify check-ins and no-shows as well as cash and POS payments received, settle unsettled folios, check adjustments/taxes discrepancies flagged, prepare reports relevant for each shift as well as closing cash drawers/updating room status for next shift.

Hotel night auditors utilize a reporting module which offers an overall view of all operations, helping eliminate errors and improve operational efficiencies while meeting compliance regulations such as ESIGN, UETA and eIDAS.

Post-Analytics
Once all transactions have been closed for the day, an auditor reviews the hotel transactions report for any discrepancies or mistakes. This step is especially vital if there are multiple users posting, as this report helps cross-check them all for errors or discrepancies that might exist between their posts.

At this phase, the night audit manager creates departure reports for guests scheduled to check-out on either a specific date range or in a specified day or date range, aiding morning staff in preparing for new arrivals by making sure all rooms are available and waiting to accommodate new reservations.

Finalize the hotel night audit by conducting a room status report, which categorizes rooms based on their status (occupied, booked but not yet checked in, available to sell, due check-out date or maintenance issues etc). Shared with housekeeping and front office departments for action plans as well as monitoring occupancy and revenue figures.

Final Report
Before the end of each day, hotel night auditors review all reservations to ascertain which rooms have been filled and whether there have been any no-shows. They also identify discrepancies pertaining to length of stay or occupancy rates that need further investigation.

Hoteliers need to understand that monitoring data and making strategic decisions is crucial for increasing revenue and managing their operations efficiently. Hoteliers should consider taking this important step when creating long-term revenue strategies to increase profitability.

At the conclusion of each hotel night audit phase, the final step involves creating essential reports for general managers and other members of staff. Property Management Systems [PMSs] automate these reports, making the process quick and efficient for hotels to complete.

One of the most essential hotel audit reports is the departure report, which provides front desk and cleaning staff with important information regarding guests who plan on checking out in a given period. Furthermore, it allows hotels to identify any room issues and adjust accordingly.