The night audit is the routine that closes a hotel's day. It posts the night's room charges to every in-house guest, checks that the day's figures add up, and moves the hotel to the next business date. It usually runs after midnight, once the last arrivals have checked in.
What it does
- Checks first. Arrivals that never checked in, departures still in house, folios over their credit limit, stays with no room for tomorrow.
- Marks no-shows. Guests who were due and never came are marked as no-shows, and the no-show fee from their policy can be charged.
- Posts room charges. Each occupied room gets one night's charge on its folio.
- Produces the day's figures. Occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, payments and taxes for the day.
- Rolls the business date. The hotel's "today" moves forward, and the closed day can no longer change quietly.
Worked example
At 02:00 a 20-room hotel has 15 rooms occupied at 100 each and 1 guest who never arrived. The audit posts 15 room charges (1,500 in room revenue), marks the missing guest as a no-show, and reports occupancy of 75% (15 ÷ 20), ADR of 100 and RevPAR of 75.
Why it matters to a small property
The audit is where missing charges and wrong balances come to light while they can still be fixed. Skipping it leaves stays without their room charges and reports that do not match the bank.
In a small property, the owner or the last person on shift often runs it. It should take minutes, not an hour of adding up.
LobbyMind runs 11 checks before the audit and shows each problem with a link to the stay. The audit then posts the room charges, rolls the business date and flags anything that does not add up, as described on the folios and night audit page.