A night auditor is a hotel employee who conducts accounting and managerial duties for a hotel at night. Depending on the size of the hotel, these duties can range from simply closing out the business day and running financial reports to handling the aforementioned items as well as duties associated with housekeeping, security and guest relations. Night auditors generally perform their duties with a relatively limited staff because hours range from late night to early morning.
One primary function of a night auditor is to perform accounting functions to close out the hotel’s business day. This involves many things, some of which are balancing credit card receipts, entering information into spreadsheets, filing, verifying billing information and using property management software to close the business day. It is very important that a night auditor ensure the accuracy of all information.
Different hotels might have different ways of handling the audit process. Various property management systems exist, ranging from older models that require a great deal of user input and fast new models that do practically all of the work for the auditor. A night auditor will use some variation of this software to prepare his or her nightly audit.
In addition to performing the necessary accounting functions, a night auditor might also be in charge of guest services. This might include checking in late arrivals, offering assistance with room amenities or processing early checkouts. Basically, because the hotel drops to minimum staffing at night, they are the face of the hotel. As a result, the night auditor should provide optimal customer service. They might also perform housekeeping duties.
Another part of guest relations for which a night auditor might be responsible is ensuring that each guest's charges are accurate. It is important that all charges be correct in a hotel’s system for its own data processing, but it also is important that all guests receive the correct bills and are charged properly. In larger hotels, this can involve not only guests' room charges but also their charges at the hotel restaurant or gift shop and other charges.
A night auditor generally will have a nightly set of responsibilities, but there are times when quick thinking come into play. Sometimes the auditor might face some sort of emergency or a customer complaint. Knowing the correct protocol and having the ability to think on one’s feet will greatly assist a night auditor in these situations.
