Front desk Live

The clock on the door has a price

Early check-in and late check-out as the hotel's own policy — as many bands per side as it wants, in hours from the door time, each a percentage of the night or a flat amount. The desk posts; a manager waives with a reason; the list of who was charged or waived is a report.

The check-in and check-out times have been on the hotel's record since the first day. What happens on either side of them was a hand-typed charge that any receptionist could post or silently not post, with no rule behind the amount and no record that a waiver had happened.

Bands, in hours

Up to two hours: nothing. Up to four: a quarter. Up to eight: half. Beyond the last band: the night. As many rows as the hotel wants on each side, each a percentage of the night's rate or a flat amount, counted in hours from the door time so the bands follow it when it moves. A hotel that never opens the screen is charged nothing and asked nothing.

At the counter

At check-in the dialog says what the policy says about this arrival and posts it when the guest is checked in — room revenue, GST at the night's slab, on the bill. At check-out the card shows the late line once the guest is past the time, with Post charge beside it; check-out refuses until the charge is posted or waived, so it cannot be forgotten on a busy morning. Waiving is a manager's, with a reason, against their name — unless the hotel grants it to the desk.

The list

One row per side per stay: the day and the hotel-clock time, the room, the guest, the door time, how far past it, the band, the charge and its tax, the decision — charged, waived, free — the reason and who decided. And PENDING: a guest in house past the time today whose late side nobody has decided yet, which is the row the owner's question was about.

More on Front desk

The booking chartRooms down the side, nights across the top, every stay drawn as a bar — the one screen a front desk lives on, with the price and the rules on it. Taking a bookingA room, a rate and a guest in under thirty seconds — quoted first, so the price the desk says is the price the system takes. Check-inThe guest, their ID and the room in one screen; the bill that is already open is the bill; and a room is free the moment the last guest has left. The registration cardThe GRC the guest signs, on the hotel's own paper, drawn from the booking and reprintable. The folioOne stay, one bill — or several windows on it when the company pays the room and the guest pays their own dinner. The GST invoiceA tax invoice with the right slab, the CGST/SGST split, the buyer's GSTIN when there is one, and a QR code anyone downstream can verify. Check-outSettle, or bill to a company, or — for a small balance — waive it at the door with a reason and a name. The bill is still there after the guest has gone. Credit and debit notesAn issued invoice is never edited. A wrong value goes down by a credit note and up by a debit note — separate, numbered, pointing at the original. Room move and upgradeMove a stay to another room, or up a category, from the chart, with the reason and the person written on the move. No-shows and cancellationsA policy on every booking, a retention charge the audit applies, and a charge the hotel cannot collect is not posted as if it could. Group bookingsOne booking, many rooms, a rooming list, and each room checked in and billed on its own or on the master. The guest recordOne guest is one row across every hotel. A shared email is not a person, and the guest who is already booked is not booked again. Corrections by the administratorThe administrator can correct any booking — audited, in house, departed, billed — and the log is the price. Room blocks and closed datesRight-click a room to block it, with a reason, a range and a name; close a date for the whole hotel; and the channels are told in the same minute. Arrivals and departuresWho is expected, who has not arrived, who has not left — with the rate and how they pay, because the desk asked for those two columns. Money owedEvery balance somebody has to chase, in one panel — and a payment link that is chased until somebody knows what happened to it. Every change says who made itThe booking's own timeline: taken, changed, moved, checked in, billed — each with a person, a time and a machine. A full room is a question, not a wallThe owner's standing rule — refuse only for money; otherwise say what you see, ask once, and write down who said yes. A discount on the bill is a decision with a name on itThe folio's fourth tab: a percentage or an amount off the whole bill, the room, the food or one line, the GST reduced with it, a reason from the hotel's list and a name on every line — a manager above the hotel's limit. And a small leftover forgiven at the door, under a ceiling, recorded. A mistake made today is undone todayUndo on the card walks back what the desk did — a check-in, a payment, a charge, a cancellation — as a stack, until the night audit closes the day. A cancelled booking is put back from Find. A bill closed at zero is reopened by an administrator to void, refund and close again. Every one recorded.