The Night Audit is one of the most important financial and operational processes in a hotel. It is usually performed late at night after most guests have completed their daily transactions. The purpose of the night audit is to review, verify, and finalize all financial activities of the hotel for the day. In hotels using Opera Cloud Property Management System (PMS), the night audit process helps ensure that all room charges, payments, and departmental revenues are correctly recorded before the business day is closed and a new day begins after this.
The night auditor acts as both an accountant and front office supervisor, ensuring that all hotel transactions are accurate and that daily financial reports are prepared for management review.
1. Preparing for Night Audit
- Before starting the night audit process in Opera Cloud or any other software that your hotel is using, the night auditor must make sure that all hotel departments have completed their daily transactions.
Tasks before starting the audit
The auditor must verify the following:
* All guest postings such as room charges, restaurant charges, and laundry charges have been posted.
* All cashiers have closed their shifts.
* Any pending bills or charges are posted to guest accounts.
* Credit card transactions are properly processed.
* All departments like restaurant, spa, and laundry have transferred their charges to guest rooms.
If any transaction is missing, the auditor must correct it before proceeding to the next step.
2. Reviewing Arrivals and Departures
The night auditor reviews the arrival and departure list in Opera Cloud to ensure accuracy.
Key checks include:
* Confirm that all guests who arrived are properly checked in.
* Verify that guests who departed are checked out.
* Check for No Shows and apply charges if applicable.
* Confirm room availability and status.
This step ensures that the hotel occupancy data is correct before closing the day.
3. Verifying Guest Accounts
A very important responsibility of the night auditor is reviewing guest folios before night run.
What the auditor checks:
* Accuracy of room rates
* Correct posting of charges
* Payments and deposits
* Package inclusions
* Discounts or adjustments
The auditor ensures that each guest account reflects the correct balance. Any incorrect postings must be adjusted before running the night audit by the night Auditor.
4. Checking Housekeeping Status
The night auditor must ensure that room status in Opera Cloud matches the actual housekeeping status.
Common room statuses include:
* Vacant Clean
* Vacant Dirty
* Occupied
* Out of Order
Any mismatch between front office and housekeeping records must be corrected before from night run. This ensures accurate room availability for the next day.
5. Verifying Cashier Closures
5. Verifying Cashier Closures
Each cashier working during the day must close their shift before the night audit begins.
What The auditor checks:
* Cash balance
* Credit card transactions
* Payment postings
* Refunds or corrections
Opera Cloud allows the auditor to review cashier reports to confirm that all transactions match the physical cash and payment records.
If any discrepancy is found, it must be investigated immediately before the business day is changed.
6. Reviewing Revenue from All Departments
Hotels have multiple revenue sources such as:
* Rooms
* Food & Beverage
* Laundry
* Mini bar
* Spa
* Telephone charges
The night auditor verifies that all department revenues are correctly posted into the system.
In Opera Cloud, revenue reports can be generated to compare departmental sales with postings in guest folios.
This ensures that the hotel does not lose revenue due to missed postings.
7. Posting Room and Tax Charges
One of the most critical tasks of the night audit is posting room and tax charges for all occupied rooms.
This process includes:
* Posting daily room rates
* Posting applicable taxes
* Posting package charges
In Opera Cloud, this process is automated but must be verified by the night auditor before finalizing.
Once completed, every occupied room will receive the correct room revenue and tax posting for that day.
8. Running System Reports
After verifying transactions, the night auditor generates various reports in Opera Cloud.
Important night audit reports include:
Daily Revenue Report
Shows total revenue generated by the hotel during the day.
Occupancy Report
Shows the number of rooms occupied, vacant, and available.
Cashier Summary Report
Shows total payments received by each cashier.
Trial Balance Report
Shows total guest ledger balances.
Departmental Revenue Reports
Shows income generated by each department.
These reports help management analyze the hotel’s daily financial performance.
9. Checking Credit Limits and High Balances
Hotels often allow guests to charge expenses to their room.
The night auditor checks:
* Guests who exceed credit limits
* Large outstanding balances
* Unsettled accounts
If a guest account exceeds the allowed limit, the front office may need to request additional payment or deposit from the guest.
This step helps reduce financial risk for the hotel.
10. Reviewing No-Show Reservations
Guests who booked rooms but did not arrive must be handled properly.
The night auditor will:
* Identify No Show reservations
* Apply No Show charges if hotel policy allows
* Release the room for sale
Opera Cloud automatically marks these reservations but the auditor must verify them.
11. Backing Up Data
Before closing the business day, the system data must be secured.
Opera Cloud automatically stores data in the cloud, but the auditor ensures that:
* All reports are generated
* Financial data is complete
* No pending transactions remain
This ensures that the hotel maintains accurate financial records.
12. Running the Night Audit Process
Once all checks are completed, the auditor runs the Night Audit function in Opera Cloud.
This process performs several actions:
* Closes the current business day
* Updates room availability
* Transfers financial data to accounting
* Prepares the system for the next day
* Generates final daily reports
During this process, the system verifies that no transactions are pending.
If errors occur, they must be corrected before continuing.
13. Closing the Business Day
After the night audit process completes successfully:
* The hotel business date changes to the next day.
* All financial records for the previous day are finalized.
* New guest transactions will be recorded under the new business date.
This marks the official end of the hotel’s financial day.
14. Preparing Management Reports
The final responsibility of the night auditor is preparing reports for hotel management.
Common reports include:
* Daily revenue report
* Occupancy report
* Average room rate (ARR)
* RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room)
* Cash and credit card summary
These reports are usually emailed or submitted to the general manager (GM), finance department, and department heads.
They help management evaluate the hotel’s performance and plan operations for the next day.
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