Who this is for: front desk staff, night auditors, housekeeping, maintenance, and food and beverage supervisors at independent hotels, hotel groups, motels, resorts, bed and breakfasts, and parks who hand one shift to the next.

A shift handover is the five minutes that decides whether the next shift starts informed or blind. This template gives you a structured handover for every department, so nothing about occupancy, open folios, guest requests, or safety gets lost between shifts. Copy the checklist that fits the role, fill it in at the end of each shift, and have both the outgoing and incoming staff sign it.

What You Get

• A front desk shift handover checklist covering occupancy, arrivals, cash, and open issues
• Separate handovers for night audit, housekeeping, maintenance, and food and beverage
• A filled-in example showing how a clean handover reads
• A sign-off line so both shifts confirm the log was reviewed
• Downloadable PDF and Word files ready to brand

The Front Desk Shift Handover

This is the core handover. Work top to bottom at the end of the shift, then walk the incoming staff through anything open.

A Filled-In Example

A clean front desk handover reads like this.

Handover by Department

Each department carries its own handover, built on the same idea: status, open items, and a sign-off.

Night Audit

• Audit close: Confirm the audit ran, the business date rolled, and no errors remain.
• Revenue and postings: Verify room and tax posted to every folio, check packages and routing, and flag high balances.
• Reports and settlement: Hand over the daily revenue flash, reconcile cash, and batch-settle the card terminals.
• Carryover: Pass early arrivals, wake-up calls, breakfast counts, and any overnight incident to the day shift.

Housekeeping

• Room status: Rooms cleaned, rooms remaining, inspected-not-released, and rush rooms for early arrivals or VIPs.
• Requests and setups: Pending cribs, rollaways, the turndown list, and VIP welcome setups.
• Inventory: Linen par shortfalls, low amenities, and laundry status.
• Maintenance and lost and found: Defects found with ticket numbers, out-of-order rooms, and items logged to lost and found.

Maintenance and Engineering

• Work orders: Open tickets by priority and room, and in-progress jobs the next shift must finish.
• Critical systems: HVAC, hot water, elevators, fire panel, and pool plant status and any fault.
• Guest-impacting: Out-of-order rooms with cause and expected return date, and active in-room repairs.
• Safety and parts: Required logs recorded, active hazards or lockouts, and parts or vendors pending.

Food and Beverage

• Covers and reservations: Covers done, upcoming bookings, large parties, and VIP or allergy alerts.
• Stock and prep: Prep completed, the 86 list, and bar par levels to reorder.
• Checks and cash: Open tabs, unsettled checks, room-charge postings, and the till reconciliation.
• Equipment and events: Equipment faults, food-safety temperature logs, and in-progress or upcoming functions.

How Do You Run a Shift Handover?

• Write it as you go: fill the log through the shift, not from memory in the last two minutes.
• Lead with what is open: the incoming shift needs unresolved issues first, then the routine status.
• Do it face to face: walk the incoming staff through the log rather than leaving it on the desk.
• Name owners and deadlines: every carried-forward task needs a person and a time.
• Sign and time it: both staff confirm the log was reviewed so accountability is clear.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Handing over only the good news. The next shift most needs the complaints, failed authorizations, and open tickets.
• A verbal-only handover. Without a written log, details are forgotten and nothing can be checked later.
• No sign-off. If neither shift signs, no one owns what was or was not passed on.
• Burying the float and cash drop. Cash discrepancies are hardest to trace when they are not recorded at handover.
• One generic sheet for every department. Night audit, housekeeping, and the kitchen each hand over different things.

Stop Decoding Handwritten Handover Sheets

A handover template keeps every shift consistent, but a paper log at the desk is easy to lose and impossible to check once the shift has gone home. With roommaster, occupancy, arrivals, open folios, and guest notes stay live in one system, so each shift sees exactly where the last one left off without decoding a handwritten sheet. The template is where you start, and roommaster is how you keep every shift on the same page. See how it works on the roommaster platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What should a hotel shift handover include?

At a minimum: occupancy and room status, arrivals and departures, open guest requests and complaints, cash and pending authorizations, maintenance and housekeeping carryover, and safety or key issues. Each department adds its own specifics, and both shifts sign the log.

2. Why is a written handover better than a verbal one?

A verbal handover relies on memory and leaves no record. A written log lets the incoming shift check details through the night, and lets a manager see later what was passed on and what was missed. Pair the written log with a short face-to-face walkthrough.

3. Who signs the shift handover?

Both the outgoing and the incoming staff sign and time it. The outgoing staff confirms the log is complete, and the incoming staff confirms they have read and accepted it, so responsibility for open items is clear.

4. How is the night audit handover different?

The night audit handover confirms the audit ran and the business date rolled, verifies postings and settlement, and passes early arrivals, wake-up calls, and overnight incidents to the morning shift. It is the bridge between one business day and the next.