Night audit and the daily routine
How the business day works: what the night audit does, how to run it automatically, and a simple routine for every day at the front desk.
What is a night audit?
The night audit is a hotel’s end-of-day close. Once the day’s arrivals and departures are done, it posts each in-house guest’s room charge for the night, closes the day’s figures for the reports and rolls the business date forward. A night auditor used to do it by hand after midnight. In Roomsy it can run automatically at a time you choose.
The selling date
Roomsy works on a selling date, the business day your property is currently operating. It doesn’t change at midnight. It moves forward one day each time the night audit runs. A guest arriving at 1 a.m. after a late flight still belongs to the previous night.
What the night audit does
- Posts the room charge for the night to every in-house booking, turning that night’s Forecast row on the invoice into a real charge.
- Advances the selling date by one day.
- Closes the day’s figures used by the reports.
- Optionally checks out guests who were due to leave, and runs automatic housekeeping.
Run it automatically (recommended)
- Turn on Enable Auto Night Audit
- Pick the Auto Run TimeChoose a quiet hour after your last arrival, such as 2:00–4:00 a.m. It uses the property’s timezone from General Information.
- Review the options below it and click Save Changes
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Post room charges automatically | Posts each night’s room charge to in-house bookings. Turn it off only if your front desk posts room charges by hand. Otherwise the audit adds a second charge on top. |
| Charge In-House Only | Only charges checked-in bookings, not reservations that haven’t arrived. |
| Ignore Check-Out Date | Keeps charging checked-in guests even past their check-out date, until you check them out. |
| Charge leftover days daily on weekly/monthly stays | For long stays billed weekly or monthly, posts the leftover days that don’t make a full week or month as daily charges. |
| Force Check-Out | Checks out guests automatically when they are scheduled to leave. |
| Housekeeping | Mark all rooms Clean at a set time, and how often to change sheets. |
Night Audit History at the bottom lists every audit in the last 30 days, when it ran, and whether it ran automatically or by hand.
Run it by hand
Click Run Night Audit on the same page. Roomsy confirms which day you are closing and which day comes next. To jump the selling date several days at once, for example after a seasonal closure, type the date and click Update Date.
A day at the front desk
Morning
- Open the Dashboard for today’s arrivals, departures, stayovers, occupancy and housekeeping progress.
- Check out departing guests: settle each invoice, then click Check Out.
- Give housekeeping their list from Room Status.
During the day
- Check in arrivals with Check In on the dashboard or the booking. Confirm guest details, have them sign the registration card, and take a deposit.
- Take walk-ins and phone bookings with + New on the calendar.
- Post extras (minibar, parking, F&B) to invoices as they happen, not at checkout.
Evening
- Confirm every arrival is checked in or marked No-show, and every departure is checked out.
- Reconcile the day’s payments in Reports → Payments.
- Let the night audit close the day, then glance at the next two weeks in Revenue management.
Common questions
What time should the night audit run?
At a quiet hour after your last arrival, such as 2:00–4:00 a.m. in your property’s timezone. A guest arriving at 1 a.m. still belongs to the previous night, so don’t close the day too early.
What happens if the night audit doesn’t run?
The selling date doesn’t move, so the property is still on yesterday: today’s arrivals look wrong, yesterday’s guests still show and that night’s room charges aren’t posted. Run it by hand from Night Audit settings, and turn on the automatic audit.
Why do I see a room charge twice after the audit?
Your front desk is also posting room charges by hand. Turn off Post room charges automatically or stop posting them by hand, and delete the duplicate from the charge row’s ⋮ menu.
What should the front desk check before the night audit?
That every departure is checked out, every arrival is checked in or marked No-show, and the day’s payments match Reports → Payments. A booking left In-house past its check-out keeps its room blocked.
Still stuck?
Our support team answers every message. Inside Roomsy, open Help → Support Request, or email us.