Hotel Night Audit Checklist

The night audit is one of the least visible jobs in a hotel and one of the most important. While guests sleep, the night auditor reconciles the day's charges, payments and room status, closes the business day in the property management system, and is often the only person on site. A missed step shows up the next morning as a billing dispute, an overbooking or a room that cannot be sold.

This checklist is written for small hotels, inns and motels where one person often covers the front desk and the audit.

Start of Shift

• Get a handover from the evening shift: issues, VIPs, late arrivals, maintenance problems
• Count the cash drawer and confirm it matches the handover
• Check the arrivals list for guests still to check in
• Review any notes about noise complaints, special requests or security concerns
• Walk the lobby and public areas

Before Running the Audit

• Check in remaining arrivals or mark confirmed no-shows according to policy
• Post room and tax charges if your system does not do it automatically
• Post any outstanding charges from restaurant, bar or other outlets
• Review rate discrepancies: rooms charged at the wrong rate or with missing discounts
• Check that room status (occupied, vacant, out of order) matches reality

Reconciliation

• Reconcile card payments against the payment terminal batch
• Reconcile cash payments against the drawer
• Review accounts with high balances or failed authorisations
• Check that all departures were checked out and settled
• Investigate any variances before closing the day

Run the Audit

• Run the end-of-day process in the property management system
• Print or save the required reports: revenue, occupancy, payments, guest ledger
• Back up data if your system requires it
• Confirm the system date has rolled to the new business day

Overnight Duties

• Answer calls and help guests
• Do security walks at set times and log them
• Prepare registration cards or digital keys for early arrivals
• Prepare the breakfast area if part of the role
• Handle wake-up calls

Before Handover

• Prepare the morning report: occupancy, arrivals, departures, issues
• Note any incidents in the log
• Count and hand over the cash drawer
• Brief the morning shift in person

Security and Safety

Night staff are often alone. Clear procedures protect them: a way to call for help, a policy for when not to open the door, and known contacts for police and a manager on call. The American Hotel and Lodging Association has resources on staff safety, including personal safety devices for hotel workers. Make sure every night auditor knows the fire procedure and where the alarm panel is.

Common Night Audit Errors

• Posting charges to the wrong room
• Forgetting to post outlet charges before closing the day
• Leaving no-shows unprocessed, which blocks inventory
• Skipping the room status check, leading to "occupied" rooms that are empty
• Not documenting variances, leaving the morning team to guess

See boutique hotel front desk checklist and the real cost of skipping shift handovers for the shifts on either side of the audit.

How MyTeamTasks Helps

A night audit is the same sequence every night, done by a tired person alone. A MyTeamTasks checklist with each step as a task, text tasks for cash counts and variances, and timestamped security walks gives the night auditor a clear path and gives the manager a morning view of what happened, without calling anyone at 3am.