A shift handover checklist for hotels and restaurants

The most expensive words in a hotel are “I thought you knew.” A shift ends, a new team arrives, and something important stays behind in someone’s head: a late checkout, an unpaid tab, a guest still waiting on a request.

A handover is the fix, and it is cheaper than the mistakes it prevents. This checklist covers the four areas that matter most.

What a handover needs to answer

Whatever the department, the outgoing team should be able to answer three questions for the team arriving:

1. What is done? Sales closed, rooms turned over, counts finished.
2. What is still open? Tabs, requests, repairs, and anything promised to a guest.
3. What is unusual? Anything the next team would be surprised to find.

The checklist

Front desk

• Arrivals and departures still expected, with any special notes.
• Rooms occupied, ready, and blocked, and the reason for each block.
• Late checkouts and extensions that were agreed.
• Guest requests still open, and who owns each one.
• Messages, keys, and deposits to pass on.

Restaurant and bar

• Open tabs listed by table, with amounts.
• Sales closed and the payment method recorded for each.
• High-value stock counted and any variance noted.
• Items out of stock or running low.
• Reservations, events, or large groups expected next.

Housekeeping and maintenance

• Rooms cleaned, pending, or blocked, with the reason.
• Maintenance issues opened, in progress, and closed.
• Supplies running low, such as linen and toiletries.

Cash and payments

• Cash counted by two people and signed for.
• POS and transfer totals by payment method.
• Transfers with no matching sale, listed for follow-up.
• Any float, advance, or supplier payment still owed.

Keep it face to face, short, and written

Ten minutes is a good target. Walk through what is open and what is unusual rather than reading out everything that went well. Ask the incoming person to say back the two or three most important items, so you know they landed. Then write it down, and have both people sign off.

Why handovers fail

• They are only verbal, so details fade within the hour.
• Open items have no owner, so everyone assumes someone else has them.
• The list is too long, and nobody reads it to the end.
• Nobody checks whether the handover is actually used.

Start small

You don’t need a perfect template on day one. Pick the five items your team forgets most often, use them for two weeks, and add to the list only when something slips through. The same discipline helps the money side: a closing reconciliation routine belongs on the cash checklist.