Hotel night audit checklist: a step-by-step guide (with a printable list)

The night audit is the hotel's daily close. Once the front desk goes quiet, someone checks that every room, rate, charge and payment from the day agrees across the property management system (PMS), the card terminal, the cash drawer and the outlets, then closes the business date and produces the reports management reads the next morning. This guide explains what the audit covers, gives you a step-by-step checklist you can print, lists the discrepancies that come up most often, and says what to hand to the general manager or owner when the audit is done.

What is the hotel night audit?

A hotel's accounts never close on their own: guests check in and out, charges post from the restaurant and the bar, rates get changed, cards get authorized and settled. The night audit is the routine that makes the day's records agree before the date changes. It is usually run by a night auditor (at smaller properties, the overnight front desk agent) in the early hours, when few guests are arriving or leaving.

The audit has three jobs. It reconciles the day: what was sold, charged and collected must match across systems. It closes the day: room and tax charges are posted and the PMS rolls to the next business date. And it reports: occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR), revenue by department and the open balances go to management. Most modern PMSs automate the posting and the date roll, but someone still has to review the numbers and resolve what does not match.

Hotel night audit checklist, step by step

Property, PMS and brand standards differ, so treat this as a starting point and adapt it to your own procedures.

Before the close

1. Clear the arrivals list. Check in late arrivals. Confirm every remaining reservation is either still expected or a no-show, and apply your no-show policy to guaranteed reservations.
2. Clear the departures list. Make sure every guest due out today has been checked out, or that the stay was extended with the right rate.
3. Reconcile room status. Compare the front desk status with housekeeping's report. Investigate any room the PMS shows as occupied that housekeeping found vacant, and the reverse.
4. Verify rates. Run the rate variance or rate check report and confirm each in-house rate matches the reservation, package or contract. Every discount or complimentary room should have an approval.
5. Check postings from outlets. Compare restaurant, bar, spa and other point-of-sale charges posted to rooms against the outlet's own totals, and fix charges posted to the wrong room.
6. Review adjustments, voids and refunds. Each one needs a reason and the name of the person who approved it.
7. Review high balances and credit limits. Flag guests whose balance is over their authorization or the property's limit.
8. Balance cash and cards. Count the cash drawers, match the card terminal batch to card payments in the PMS, and settle the batch.
9. Check direct bills and deposits. Confirm charges moving to the city ledger (direct-bill accounts) and advance deposits are posted to the right accounts.

Closing the day

10. Post room and tax charges (or confirm the PMS posted them) and check the tax amounts.
11. Run the end-of-day process to roll the business date. Take any backup your PMS or brand requires first.
12. Produce the reports: the manager's flash report or daily summary, daily revenue report, trial balance or ledger summary (guest ledger, city ledger, advance deposits), cashier and payment reports, no-show report, rate variance and high-balance reports.

After the close

13. Prepare for the morning: next day's arrivals, pre-assigned rooms, wake-up calls and any notes for the day shift.
14. Write the shift log: what did not balance, what was corrected, what is still open and who needs to look at it.

Common night audit discrepancies

• Room status mismatches. A room the PMS shows as occupied that housekeeping found empty (the guest may have left without checking out, or without paying), or a room shown as vacant that was actually used. Both throw off revenue and occupancy figures.
• Rate variances. A rate typed by hand, a package that did not apply, or a discount without approval.
• Charges on the wrong folio. An outlet charge posted to the wrong room number, or posted twice.
• Card batch does not match the PMS. A payment taken on the terminal but not recorded in the PMS, or the other way round.
• Cash over or short. Usually a change error, a payout without a receipt, or a payment posted to the wrong method.
• No-shows handled inconsistently. A guaranteed no-show not charged, or charged when the guest cancelled in time.
• Ledgers out of balance. The trial balance does not tie out, often because one of the above was missed earlier in the night.

Write every discrepancy down with what was done about it, even if it was fixed on the spot. A pattern of the same discrepancy is the most useful thing the audit can show a manager.

How long does a night audit take?

It depends on the number of rooms, the number of outlets posting to rooms, how much the PMS automates and how many discrepancies turn up. At a small property with one PMS and few outlets, the audit itself may take an hour or two of a shift; larger hotels with restaurants, groups and direct-bill accounts take longer. Most of the time goes into investigating what does not match, not into running reports.

What to hand to the GM or owner

The audit is only useful if someone reads it. A short, consistent package each morning works best:

• The flash report: rooms sold, occupancy, ADR, RevPAR and revenue by department for the day.
• The list of discrepancies found, what was corrected and what is still open.
• Adjustments, voids, refunds, comps and rate overrides, each with who approved it.
• Cash over/short and the card settlement total.
• No-shows and what was charged.
• High balances and city ledger changes worth a follow-up.
• The auditor's name and a confirmation that the audit was completed.

The last line matters more than it looks. When nobody confirms the audit was reviewed, small discrepancies sit unnoticed until they turn into a month-end problem. If you run more than one property, the same reports in the same format from every hotel make the review much faster.

Frequently asked questions

What is a night audit in a hotel?

The night audit is the hotel's daily close. Usually run overnight by a night auditor or the overnight front desk agent, it reconciles the day's rooms, rates, charges and payments across the PMS, card terminal, cash drawer and outlets, posts room and tax charges, rolls the PMS to the next business date and produces the reports management reads in the morning.

What does a night auditor check?

Arrivals and no-shows, departures, room status against the housekeeping report, rates against reservations, outlet charges posted to rooms, adjustments and voids, high balances, cash drawers, the card batch against PMS payments, direct bills and advance deposits, and the room and tax charges posted at the close.

How long does a hotel night audit take?

It depends on the number of rooms and outlets, how much the PMS automates and how many discrepancies turn up. At a small property the audit may take an hour or two of the shift; larger hotels with restaurants, groups and direct-bill accounts take longer. Most of the time goes into investigating what does not match.

What reports does the night audit produce?

Typically a manager's flash report or daily summary (occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, revenue by department), a daily revenue report, a trial balance or ledger summary covering the guest ledger, city ledger and advance deposits, cashier and payment reports, a no-show report, a rate variance report and a high-balance report. Exact names vary by PMS.

What should the GM or owner get from the night audit?

The flash report, the list of discrepancies found with what was corrected and what is still open, adjustments, voids, refunds and comps with who approved each, cash over/short and the card settlement total, no-shows and what was charged, and a confirmation of who completed the audit.