The front desk

Early check-in and late check-out charges

What 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 hotel's check-in and check-out times are on Hotel details. What happens on either side of them is the hotel's policy, set on the same screen under Policies, as a ladder of bands on each side — *up to 2 hours: nothing; up to 4 hours: 25%; up to 8 hours: 50%; beyond that: the full night* — each band a percentage of the night's rate or a flat amount, as many bands as the hotel wants. The hours count from the hotel's own door time, so moving check-out from 12:00 to 11:00 moves every band with it. With no policy, nothing is charged and nothing is asked.

Hotel details → Policies: the late check-out bands and the early check-in bands, each row "up to N hours → X per cent or ₹ flat".

Do this

Late check-out — a row per band: *up to 2 hours: 0%; up to 7 hours: 50%; beyond the last band: the full night*. As many rows as the hotel wants.
Early check-in — its own ladder, counting down from the check-in time.
Hours past the door time, so the bands follow the door time when it moves.
Per cent of the night's rate — or a flat amount in the next box, which wins where it is set. A band at 0 with no amount is a grace.

At check-in. The dialog shows what the policy says about this arrival — *arrived at 09:30 against check-in time 14:00 (50 per cent of 8,000)* — and the charge is posted to the folio when you press Check in. It is room revenue, with GST at the night's slab, and it prints on the bill.

At check-out. The booking shows the late check-out line once the guest is past the hotel's check-out time, with Post charge beside it. Check-out refuses until the charge has been posted or waived, so it cannot be forgotten on a busy morning — post it, take the money, then check out.

Waiving it. Only a manager or an account administrator can waive, and a written reason is required; the waiver is recorded against their name and the manager's report can list them. A receptionist sees the charge and posts it. If your hotel wants the desk to waive as well, the account administrator grants Waive an early check-in or late check-out charge to the front desk role.

What it is not: a day-use room, or an extra night. A guest who leaves the day after their departure date owes the night, not a late check-out.

On the card, and on the list

The late check-out line on a booking card: how far past the door time, the charge, Post charge and Waive.

The line says how far past the door time the guest is, which band applies and what it costs.
Post charge puts it on the bill as room revenue with GST at the night's slab.
Waive (a manager, with a reason) records the waiver against their name.

Reports → Early check-ins & late check-outs: every decision, with who made it, and PENDING for a guest in house past the time with nothing decided.

Reports → Early check-ins & late check-outs (under Front office operations) is the list the owner asked for: one row per side per stay — the day and the hotel-clock time, the room, the guest, the door time, how far past it, the band, the charge and its GST, the decision (*charged*, *waived*, *free*), the reason and who decided. PENDING is a guest in house past the door time today whose late side nobody has decided yet — "not yet taken" is the row the question is about. The window is the last thirty days unless you say otherwise.

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