Hand over a shift without losing a task

This article is a checklist for the front desk (reception): what to look at when the shift starts, how to read and leave an entry in the shift log, and how to turn an instruction about a guest or a room into a task that does not get lost at shift change.

Who: front desk staff (the "Receptionist" or "Night auditor" positions, or a position with front desk rights) and the owner. Housekeepers do not see the shift log. The location's business type must be "Hotel".

Where: everything below is on the "Rooms" page (the hotel's room board).

Shift start checklist#

1. Open the shift log — the "📒 Shift log" button above the room board. A number on the button means there are entries you have not read yet.
2. Read the new entries and mark them (see Read the log).
3. Look at the day's lists — "📊 Reports" → "Front desk": arrivals, departures, in-house guests and bookings without a room (see Front desk lists).
4. Assign rooms to bookings in the "Without a room" list.
5. Check open tasks on the "Shift tasks" board — yours and unassigned ones (see Open tasks).
6. Check lost items whose storage period is over — the "🧳 Lost & found" button (see Register, keep and return a lost item).

Shift end checklist#

1. Everything the next shift needs to know — an entry in the shift log with the right importance.
2. Everything the next shift needs to do — a task on the board (for a booking or a room), not only a log entry: a task has a due date, an assignee and a "done" mark.
3. Close your completed tasks.

Front desk lists: arrivals, departures, without a room#

1. Open "Rooms" → the "📊 Reports" tab → "Front desk" ("Arrivals, departures and in-house").
2. Choose the date: "Today", "Tomorrow" or any date in the "Date" field.
3. Switch lists: "Arrivals", "Departures", "In house", "Without a room" — each tab shows the number of rows.
4. Need paper — "Print (A4)", a spreadsheet — "CSV". "Refresh" reloads the data.

Columns: room, type, guest, number of guests, check-in, check-out, nights, status ("Expected", "Checked in", "Checked out"; marks "option until …" and "form received"), notes and the bill balance. The "Balance" is visible only to staff with the "Hotel money" right and to the owner; everyone else sees "Balances are hidden".

"Without a room" lists bookings for a room type that have no specific room assigned yet. Start the shift with it: assign rooms before guests arrive. How to assign — Create, change and cancel a booking.

Rooms in the lists follow the floor plan order. A list longer than 2000 rows is cut off.

Next to it, the "Daily summary" tab has the manager's daily summary (occupancy, revenue, comparison with last week) and its email distribution. More — Front desk lists and the manager's daily summary.

Read the log#

1. Click "📒 Shift log" above the room board. The "Front desk: shift log and lost & found" window opens on the "Shift log" tab.
2. Entries new to you are highlighted and marked "new". Each shows its importance, author, time and room, if one was given.
3. After reading an entry, click "Read" on it. After reading everything — "Mark all as read".
4. Looking for an old entry — the "Search the log" field: it searches text, room and author, and all words must match.

How "read" works. The mark is set for each staff member separately: you mark an entry read only for yourself. Below the entry you see "read by N" — how many people have read it. Your own entries never count as unread. A mark cannot be removed.

The counter on the "📒 Shift log" button refreshes by itself about every 2 minutes while the tab is open.

Leave an entry#

1. In the log window, type the text in "What should the next shift know…" (up to 2000 characters).
2. Choose the "Importance":

3. If needed, fill in "Room (optional)".
4. Click "Add entry".

Link to a room#

The "Room" field in the log is a text label (up to 40 characters): search finds the entry by it, but it is not linked to the floor plan and does not become a task. If something needs to be done in a room, create a task with a place: on the room board, open the room's menu → "Task here" → describe it → "Create task". Such a task appears on the task board with the room, and for the housekeeper — in the room window.

An instruction about a guest: booking tasks#

If an instruction concerns a specific guest ("baby cot in the room for arrival", "remind about the transfer on departure day"), create it in the booking — the due date is calculated from the check-in or check-out date.

1. Open the booking on the room chart.
2. In the "Tasks for this booking" block, click "Add task".
3. Describe what to do.
4. In "Due", choose "From check-in", "From check-out" or "No due date" and set "Shift, days" — from −60 to 60 (for example, −1 — the day before check-in).
5. Save.

⚠️ The due date is calculated once, when the task is created. If the booking dates change later, the task's due date does not move by itself — correct it on the task board.

A booking task is an ordinary shift board task: it appears on "Shift tasks" with a booking mark, you can choose its assignee, and you can mark it done both on the board and in the booking itself. "Open the task board" takes you to the board.

Open tasks to hand over#

1. Open "Shift tasks".
2. Filter "Assignee" → "Mine" to see your open tasks, and look at tasks without an assignee ("Unassigned").
3. Whatever you didn't finish — assign it to the next shift in the "Assignee" field, or leave it unassigned and mention it in the log.

More about the board — Shift task board.

Who sees what#

If a position has no access, the "📒 Shift log" button is not shown. More about rights — Front desk, housekeeping and accountant permissions.

What is not available yet#

• Editing or deleting a log entry. A mistake is corrected with a new entry.
• Pinning entries and categories. There are only three importance levels.
• Confirmation by a specific next-shift person. You can see how many people read an entry, but not a named "accepted by the shift".
• Turning an entry into a task. A log entry and a board task are separate things; create an instruction as a task.
• Recalculating a booking task's due date when dates move. The due date is corrected manually.
• Linking an entry to a booking from the log window. Create instructions about a guest in the "Tasks for this booking" block.

The log keeps entries for 180 days (no more than 1000 entries per location); old ones drop off as new ones are added.

Related sections#

• Front desk lists and the manager's daily summary
• Register, keep and return a lost item
• Create, change and cancel a booking
• Night charges and closing the business day
• A housekeeper's shift
• Shift task board
• Front desk, housekeeping and accountant permissions

Frequently asked questions#

I don't see the "📒 Shift log" button#

Your position has no front desk rights, or you are in the housekeeper workspace. The log exists only for a location with the "Hotel" business type.

Why is the entry still "new" for the next shift, even though I read it?#

"Read" is set for each person separately. The next-shift colleague has to mark the entry themselves.

Can I fix a typo in an entry?#

No, log entries cannot be edited or deleted. Add a new entry with the correction.

How long is the log kept?#

180 days. If there are more than 1000 entries, the oldest are removed.

A guest who was due to check out is not in the "Departures" list#

"Departures" lists only guests who checked in or have already checked out. A booking whose guest never checked in does not appear there. Cancelled bookings and no-shows are not in the lists.

Why is there no balance column in my lists?#

Your position does not have the "Hotel money" right.