Running it, and what stops it

The Night audit tab lists what is in the way. Clear those, then run.

Operations → Night audit. The tab shows the state of the day before it lets you close it.

Do this

1. Read the checklist. Nothing on it blocks the audit — a hotel must always be able to close its day — but everything on it is what the audit is about to do something with.
2. Arrivals not checked in are listed with the retention each one would be charged. Pick a reason for each you know about.
3. No-show marks that one now, with your reason, and frees the room tonight rather than at the audit. Anything left is swept up when the day closes as "never arrived".
4. Run night audit and roll to… — posts room and tax for everyone in house, marks the rest as no-show, and moves the business date forward.

What typically stands in the way:

• Arrivals not dealt with. A booking arriving today that is neither checked in nor marked no-show. Decide which.
• Departures still in house. A guest whose departure date is today and who has not checked out. Either they left and nobody recorded it, or they are staying and the booking needs extending.
• Open balances that the hotel wants resolved before closing.
• An open cashier shift, where the hotel runs the audit after cashiering.

Then run it. It is one action, it takes a moment, and it is idempotent — running it twice for the same day does not post room charges twice. That was tested deliberately, because the commonest panic on this screen is somebody clicking twice.

If it refuses with a sentence not listed here, copy the sentence and search this manual for it — the refusals are indexed under When the system refuses.

A day can only be closed after it has ended. The audit closes yesterday, never today: if the business date is today by the hotel's own clock, the button is greyed and the sentence beside it says when it opens — midnight. Pressing it twice at two in the morning used to close today as well as yesterday; now the second press is refused. If a day WAS closed early, an account administrator can take the last audit back from the Recent audits table on this tab (Reverse, with a reason): the date goes back, every room charge and no-show retention that audit posted is voided — never deleted — its no-shows are confirmed again, and the day closes again that night as usual.

The retention shown before the audit

The amount beside each arrival that has not checked in is what the policy would take — a quote, not a charge. Since September 2026 neither the No-show button nor the audit itself charges it: both only mark, and the retention is decided afterwards on Operations → No-shows by a manager, the revenue manager or an administrator, together with whether the OTA is told. Marking one here is still the right thing to do before running the audit; it frees the room tonight.

By itself, or by a person

Each hotel chooses whether its day closes by itself at an hour, or when a person closes it, and whether the front office may do it — see Closing the day: by itself, or by a person. While a day that has ended is not closed, check-in waits and offers to close it first.