What goes into a good shift handover?
Only what the next shift needs to act on or look out for. A handover is not a diary of the shift. If the incoming lead can’t do anything with a line, it doesn’t belong there.
- Guests who need something: an arrival with a request, a complaint that isn’t closed, a guest who is unwell or upset.
- Open items, each with one owner and a due time.
- Anything broken, who has been told, and whether it blocks a room.
- What is arriving or happening on the next shift.
- A short “watch out”: the thing you would tell a colleague at the door.
- The few numbers that matter at the changeover, and a signature from both leads.
Why does every open item need an owner and a due time?
“Minibar 104 not posted” is a note. “Post minibar 104 to the folio, L. A., by 09:00” is a job. The first one gets read, nodded at and forgotten when the desk gets busy. The second one has a person and a time attached, so the next lead can check it and the one after can see it was done.
If nobody can own an item yet, the owner is the incoming lead until they hand it on.
Should the handover be written or spoken?
Both. Write it first, then spend two minutes going through the open items face to face. The written handover survives a busy morning and a sick day; the spoken one is where the incoming lead asks “which guest in 207?”.
Keep the written part short enough to read in five minutes. If it runs over a page, it is probably a diary.
How do front desk, housekeeping and night audit handovers differ?
- Front desk: guests and folios. Arrivals with requests, open complaints, payments to chase, the float.
- Housekeeping: rooms. Rooms not finished, rooms out of order, early check-ins, lost property found, linen and stock that ran short.
- Night audit: what happened overnight and what the morning must not miss. Incidents, no-shows, late arrivals, anything the audit could not close.
What should never go in a handover?
A handover book is read by many people and kept for a long time, so treat it like any other record about guests and staff.
- Health details beyond what the next shift needs. Write “215: allergy instruction on the profile, check with the kitchen”, not the diagnosis.
- Card numbers, passwords and door codes.
- Opinions about colleagues. If it is a staff matter, it goes to a manager, not into the book.
Keep paper handovers somewhere locked and throw old ones away on a fixed schedule.
General information for hotel operations, not legal, tax or employment advice.
Questions
What is a shift handover in a hotel?
It is the written record one shift leaves for the next: what happened, what is still open, and who owns each open item by when. Front office, housekeeping and night audit each do one at every changeover.
How long should a hotel shift handover take?
Short enough that the incoming lead can read it in about five minutes, plus two minutes face to face on the open items. If it takes longer, it is probably a diary of the shift.
Can I change this template?
Yes. Download it as a CSV, open it in any spreadsheet and change the sections to fit your hotel. Keep the owner and due columns.