The front desk

Checking a guest in

Room, identity, and the folio opens. What stops a check-in and what to do about it.

Open the booking from the calendar, or from today's arrivals list.

A booking open on the calendar, ready to check in.

Do this

Check the status — it should say CONFIRMED. A stay that says CHECKED IN is already in the room.
Press Check in. If the guest's identity or room is missing, this is where the system asks for it.
Folio opens the bill for the stay — you will want it the moment they charge anything to the room.

What it needs before it will let you

A room. A booking made on a room type alone has none yet. Assign one, and only rooms of the right type that are free for the whole stay are offered.
The guest's identity. Name, phone and address, and an ID — see Aadhaar, PAN, passport and Form C. A foreign national needs passport and visa details, and Form C follows from them.
Anybody else in the room. Additional guests belong on the booking, not in somebody's memory: the police register is built from them.

What refuses it

The room is vacant-dirty. Housekeeping has not released it. There is an override for whoever has the authority, and using it tells housekeeping.
"No room assigned" — assign one first.
"Cannot check in ..." with a date — the arrival is not today by the hotel's business date. Check the business date before deciding the booking is wrong; a night audit that has not run looks exactly like this.

When it succeeds the room turns occupied, the folio opens, and the stay starts charging room and tax every day at the hotel's check-out time — see Tonight is charged at check-out time.

Three things check-in now does by itself

A bill that is already open is the bill. A deposit taken last week, a no-show charge that was reversed, a cancellation fee on a booking that was un-cancelled — each opened the stay's bill before the guest arrived. Check-in posts to that bill rather than opening a second one, so the deposit is on the document the guest is handed.
A guest who paid the OTA is settled at check-in. The stay moves to the OTA's account; the card reads *Balance — from guest ₹0*. Collect nothing. See The guest who paid the OTA.
A room vacated this morning is free this afternoon. The guest who left at eleven no longer holds the room for tonight; the new arrival can be checked in to it after housekeeping has released it — or with the vacant-dirty override, which tells housekeeping.

For what is charged when a guest arrives before check-in time, see Early check-in and late check-out charges.

More in The front desk

Arrivals, in house, departuresThe day lists under Reports → Front office operations, and what the Rate and Payment mode columns mean. Aadhaar, PAN, passport and Form CWhat identity the law wants, what the system checks, and where Form C is filed. Form C for foreign guestsRecording a passport and visa, raising the form, reading out what the portal asks for, and the register. The folioOne guest, one stay, every charge and payment on it — and what its balance means. Settling the bill at check-outA balance at the door opens one window: collect, discount and waive, adding up to what is owed — then Settle and check out. Sending money backHow a refund is recorded, who may authorise one, and the four things that will stop you. Posting a chargePost a charge on the folio, choose what it is for, and it lands with your name on it. No-shows: marked by the desk, decided by the managerMarking a no-show charges nothing and tells no OTA. Every one goes on a queue where a manager, the revenue manager or an administrator decides twice — retention, and whether the channel is told — with their name on it. Early check-in and late check-out chargesWhat the hotel charges for a guest who arrives before check-in time or leaves after check-out time, who decides, and who can waive it. The guest who paid the OTABalance from the OTA is the stay; balance from the guest is zero. Collect nothing at the desk, and the invoice is still in the guest's name. A payment is trusted first, and verified afterA deposit recorded against a booking is paid from that moment. It also goes to the accountant, who confirms the money arrived or rejects it with a reason — and only then does it come off the bill. A date change inside the cancellation window is a question, and the policy's charge goes on the bill. A booking cancelled by mistake is put backA cancelled or no-show booking is found with Find and put back with one press and a reason. Before the night audit anybody at the desk can; once the audit has closed a night of the stay, the administrator can. The nights the audit passed over go on the bill. Taking a paymentTake a payment on the folio: method, amount, reference. It is the reference that saves you later. Splitting a payment across methodsOne settlement, several methods, checked against the folio as one movement. The registration card (GRC)Print it from the booking card. It carries the guest details, the stay, and the declaration they sign. Reprinting a registration cardReprints are allowed and counted. The second onwards is stamped COPY. Advances and depositsMoney taken before the charges exist, held against the stay and applied when they do. Correcting an invoice that has already been issuedDo not reopen the bill. Issue a credit note if the value falls, a debit note if it rises. The deadline for reclaiming tax on a credit noteTax may be adjusted until 30 November after the invoice financial year. After that, the money is credited and the tax is not. Voiding a posting, writing off a balanceNothing is deleted. A mistake is reversed with a reason, and both lines stay visible. Giving a discount on the billThe folio's fourth tab: a percentage or an amount off the whole bill, the room, the food, or one line — with the GST reduced to match, a reason, and a name on it. The GST number says who the company isType a guest's GSTIN on the card: the company is looked up, added to the CRM if it is new (pay at checkout, no credit), and the bill is made out to it. Checking out, and the tax invoiceSettle the folio, print the invoice, and the room goes dirty for housekeeping. Dummy rooms, and a guest walked to another hotelA dummy room parks a booking the hotel cannot house. Only an administrator puts one there, it is never stock, and a walk records where the guest went and what it cost. A guest who arrives in the night: here for last night?Arriving after midnight but before the hotel's day starts, on a booking for today — the desk is asked whether the guest is here for last night. Checking a company's GST registration before the invoiceThe panel on the Invoices tab lists the companies on your bills and bookings, and says when each GSTIN was last checked. Search for one that is not there yet. Corrections: putting a booking rightOne screen that finds a booking and lists every correction there is — including the ones that do not apply to it, and why. Each needs a reason and is logged. Splitting a stay across several invoicesRoom, food and spa on one bill or three — the guest decides, and you tick the lines. Waiving a small balance at check-outA guest owes ₹150 and has their bags in hand. The desk may forgive it up to the hotel's limit, with a reason and their name on it — the money is not taken out of the till. A guest who paid for more nights than they stayedAt check-out the bill may hold more than it owes. You are asked: keep it, or send it back — and the guest leaves either way. Proforma invoice — a bill before the stayWhat a company needs to raise a purchase order. Not a tax invoice, and it says so. The day book: opening, closing, expenses and the bankOne row per day of the month, cash opening to closing carried day to day, the bank receipts ticked when the bank shows them, and the till's expenses written where they happened. The OTA refunded a night to the guestA prepaid OTA guest left early and the OTA gave the unused night back. Take it off what the OTA owes — nothing goes back from the desk. Undo a mistake the desk made todayThe administrator takes back the last thing done to a booking — check-out, check-in, cancellation, a charge — as long as the night audit has not closed the day. The administrator corrects any booking — and the log is the priceAn account administrator may correct a booking that is audited, in house, departed or billed: its dates, room, guests, rate or status. Every correction is recorded with login, time, machine and reason. Reopening a settled billA bill closed at zero or in credit is reopened only by an account administrator; then a charge can be voided, money refunded, and the bill closed again — every step with a name on it. Billing a company: the city ledgerA folio routed to a company instead of collected, and the ageing that follows it. Money owed and open balancesThe list that stops a hotel losing money quietly, and the red dot that counts it.