Night shift means the hours of work that start in the evening and go through the night, usually ending in the morning. In hospitality, this shift is usually 11pm-7am but can vary depending on the property. Night shift workers, also known as night auditors in hotels, do a lot of tasks during the quiet hours of the night.
Night shifts are important to the hospitality industry because it ensures 24/7 service and security to the guests. Hotels, restaurants and bars that are open 24/7 need night shift staff to run the operations, handle emergencies and provide guest services during non-traditional hours. These shifts also allow for behind the scenes work such as accounting reconciliations, deep cleaning and preparation for the next day.
Let’s say you’re a night auditor in a busy city centre hotel. It’s 2am and most of the guests are asleep. You’re balancing the day’s accounts when a guest calls the front desk, panicking because they lost their room key. You calm them down and tell them you’ll help, create a new key card and deliver it to their room. On your way back you see a spill in the lobby and you quickly clean it up. Before you know it, it’s 6am and you’re preparing the morning shift handover report to ensure a smooth transition for your daytime colleagues. This is how night shift workers in hospitality must be versatile, calm under pressure and ready to do many tasks to keep the operations running smoothly at night.'