Night Auditor: What is the cost of hiring?

Why hire a night auditor?

A competent night auditor should have a strong customer-focused mindset with excellent communication skills. Their orientation process helps the customers have a delightful experience during their hotel stay. The night auditor also:

• Establishes a professional guest management system by taking reservations over the phone or via email, making timely check-ins, processing invoices and providing a speedy resolution of guests’ complaints
• Oversees the accounting operation, processes supplier invoices and disburses payments to suppliers and employees
• Plays a crucial role in forecasting, budgeting and keeping accounting records for future reference and audits

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance night auditor

Businesses in the hospitality industry can hire freelance night auditors to cover shifts or administrative work for full-time employees who call out or are overwhelmed. Hotels experiencing a temporary and sudden upsurge in guests may consider hiring a freelance night auditor to give guests an extra point of contact. 

Hotels can also consider bringing in a freelance night auditor to train a new full-time hire on the general responsibilities of the job and provide support for their shifts. 

As a required job in the hospitality industry, all hotels should have at least one full-time night auditor on staff. 

What are the ranks of night auditors?

Night auditors are in the middle of the hospitality front office hierarchy. Some of the positions in this chain of command include:

• Front desk agent: Front desk agents handle reservations, check guests into the hotel and respond to residents’ concerns. 
• Night auditor: Night auditors have both financial and customer service responsibilities. They balance and reconcile accounts from the day shift, prepare paychecks for other employees and process invoices. Night auditors also help guests with concerns that come up during the night and check in nighttime guests. 
• Front office manager: Front office managers are responsible for training reception and front desk staff, supervising the hotel’s day-to-day duties and responding to guests’ questions. 
• General manager: General managers oversee the many departments of a hotel. These include the front desk, housekeeping and maintenance, room service and accounting departments. The general manager may also set various short- and long-term goals for the hotel staff. 

Where to find night auditors

To find the right night auditor for your business, consider trying a few recruiting strategies:

• Promote from within. Conduct interviews with your front desk agents to see if any of them possess the required skills to become a night auditor. Ask if they’d be open to moving to the night shift, and make an offer if they’re a quality candidate. 
• Search online. Job seekers with night auditor experience may be advertising their expertise on online forums. Connect with these individuals to see if they’d fit the job. 
• Post help wanted signs. Posting help wanted signs is a great way to notify the community about the open position and bring in potential candidates. 
• Post your job online. Try posting your night auditor job on Indeed to find and attract quality night auditor candidates.

Skills to look for in a great Night Auditor

An experienced Night Auditor should always have a customer-first approach and strong attention to details to fill all the gaps in front desk operations.

• Bachelor’s in Accounting. Finance and any other relevant field
• Years of experience in the role of Night Auditor or similar profile in the hotel or hospitality industry
• Expertise in handling Accounting and Front Desk software applications
• Exceptional customer service and multitasking skill
• Active communication skill with strong attention to details
• Excellent problem-solving skill

Writing a night auditor job description

A thoughtful description is important to finding qualified night auditor candidates. A night auditor job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your night auditor job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting . These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on night auditor jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Night auditor
• Hotel
• Hotel front desk
• Overnight
• Night audit
• Front desk
• Front desk agent
• Overnight shift
• Night auditor hotel
• Night

Interviewing night auditor candidates

Strong candidates for night auditor positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Experience in guest relationship management
• Knowledge of accounting software
• How they have ensured excellent customer service starting from the day of guests’ arrival until their departure

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of night auditor interview questions for examples (with sample answers).