Overview
The night audit is an end-of-day procedure that closes out the current business date. In a traditional hotel, this is done by the night shift manager to reconcile the day’s activity. In Vesta, the night audit automates the most important parts: marking guests who did not arrive as no-shows, checking out guests who overstayed their checkout date, detecting financial discrepancies, and capturing a performance snapshot for the day.
Running the audit is a one-click operation. Once complete, you get a report showing what was processed, any exceptions that need manual attention, and a handover summary for the next shift.
Accessing Night Audit
Open Night Audit from the sidebar. The page shows the current business date’s report.
If the audit has not been run yet, you see a preview: the KPI cards show live numbers, and the actions section shows what will be processed when you run the audit.
Understanding the Dashboard
KPI Cards
Four key performance indicators are displayed at the top:
| KPI | What it shows | How it is calculated |
|---|---|---|
| Occupancy | Percentage of rooms occupied, with room count | Checked-in rooms / total active rooms x 100 |
| Revenue | Total payments received today | Sum of all completed payments for the business date |
| ADR | Average daily rate per occupied room | Revenue / number of occupied rooms |
| Outstanding | Total unpaid balance across checked-in guests | Sum of (charges - payments) for all checked-in bookings |
:::info KPI numbers are calculated live every time you view the page. Even for historical audits, the KPIs reflect current data for that business date. The audit also captures a frozen snapshot at execution time so you can compare. :::
Actions Section
This section shows what the audit processed (or will process):
No-Shows — Confirmed bookings where the guest never checked in on or before this business date. For each no-show, the audit:
- Changes the booking status to No-Show
- Applies the cancellation policy penalty (if a policy exists)
- Releases the room back to available inventory
- Creates a refund record with the penalty amount
Due-Outs — Checked-in guests whose checkout date has passed. For each due-out, the audit:
- Checks the guest out automatically
- Records the actual checkout time as the moment the audit ran
- Releases the room back to available
Each processed booking shows the guest name and a status badge: green for success, yellow for pending (preview), or red if processing failed.
Exceptions Section
Exceptions are issues the audit detected that require manual follow-up:
| Exception | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No-show without policy | A guest was marked as no-show, but the booking had no cancellation policy | Review the booking and decide on the penalty manually |
| Due-out with balance | A guest was checked out but still has unpaid charges | Follow up with the guest to collect payment |
| Zero-rate rooms | A checked-in booking has a total price of zero | Verify whether this was intentional (comp room, promo, or pricing error) |
| Rate mismatch | The sum of accommodation charges does not match the booking total | Review the rate calculation and invoice items for discrepancies |
:::warning Exceptions require manual attention. The audit flags them but does not resolve them. Check the exceptions section after every audit run and address each item before handing off to the next shift. :::
Handover Section
Shows preparation details for the next business date:
- Expected arrivals — bookings checking in tomorrow
- Expected departures — bookings checking out tomorrow
- Rooms in maintenance — rooms currently out of service for maintenance
- Out of order — rooms marked as out of order
Use this section to brief the incoming shift on what to expect.
Running the Audit
- Open Night Audit
- Review the preview — check the no-shows and due-outs that will be processed
- Click the Run Night Audit button in the top-right corner
- The audit processes all actions and the page updates with the results
:::info The audit can only be run once per business date. If someone has already run it, you will see the completed report instead of the “Run” button. The existing results are preserved — running the audit again returns the same report. :::
Auto-Run (Optional)
If your property enables Auto-Run in Night Audit settings, Vesta will run the night audit automatically at the configured time (in the property timezone). After the scheduled run completes, Vesta sends a manager report email (summary + link) to your property’s staff notification email address (if enabled).
Viewing Audit History
To review past night audits:
- Click View History in the top-right corner
- A drawer opens showing a list of past audits by business date
- Click any entry to view that date’s full report
- Click Back to Current to return to today’s audit
History is useful for comparing occupancy trends, spotting patterns in no-shows, or reviewing a specific date’s exceptions.
How the Business Date Works
The business date is determined by your property’s timezone and audit cutoff time:
- If the current time is before the cutoff (default: midnight), the business date is yesterday
- If the current time is at or after the cutoff, the business date is today
This means if you run the audit at 11 PM, you are closing out today’s business. If you run it at 1 AM, you are still closing out the previous day (assuming a midnight cutoff).
Handling Common Situations
Some no-shows should not be penalized
If a guest called to cancel but you forgot to update the booking, the audit will still mark them as a no-show. To fix this:
- Open the booking from the no-shows list
- The booking is already marked as no-show (this cannot be undone)
- Adjust the refund or penalty amount manually through the booking’s folio
A guest checked out late but the audit already processed them
If the audit auto-checked out a guest before they actually left, the checkout is already recorded. No further action is needed — the actual checkout time is set to when the audit ran.
The audit shows “partial” status
This means some bookings were processed successfully but others had errors. Check the status badges on individual items — any marked with red “failed” badges need manual attention through the booking detail page.
Related Articles
- Checking In a Guest — how check-in works before the audit runs
- Checking Out a Guest — manual checkout vs. audit-driven checkout
- Marking a No-Show — manual no-show marking vs. audit-driven
- Cancellation Policies — how penalties are calculated for no-shows
- Viewing System Logs — audit events appear in the system log
:::permissions
- night_audit:view — required to view the night audit page and history
- night_audit:run — required to execute the night audit (typically managers and owners only) :::