Front desk guide, part 4: the stay, check-out and your shift

This is part 4 of 4 of the Xenia front desk guide: 1. Signing in · 2. Bookings and guests · 3. The guest's bill · 4. The stay, check-out and your shift.

This part covers the rest of a guest's stay, how a stay ends, and how you hand over at the end of your shift.

During the stay

Extend a stay

A guest wants another night. Open their booking and choose Extend stay. Pick the new check-out date and choose Extend. Xenia adds a charge for each extra night, as long as the room is free.

Change a guest's room

Open the booking and choose Change room. Pick the new room and give a reason, for example "air conditioner not working". Nights the guest has already slept stay as they are. The nights still to come are charged again at the new room's price, and Xenia tells you the difference.

Edit changes other details of the booking, such as the phone number or the number of people.

Keep the room board right

Open Room board for every room right now: who is in it, who is due, and whether it is clean. The boxes at the top count rooms by status, and the filters narrow it to a room type or a housekeeping state.

Choose a room to see who is in it and to set its housekeeping state: Mark dirty, Mark being cleaned or Mark inspected. When housekeeping changes a room, Xenia records who did it.

Report a repair

Work orders lists repairs and other jobs on rooms, who has each one, and when it is due. Taking a room out of service opens a work order for the repair, and you can also open one for any job on a room.

Check a guest out

1. Open the booking from Leaving on the front desk screen, or from Bookings.

2. Look at the bill. Still owed should be nothing before you check them out. If it is not, take the payment first (part 3).

3. Choose Check out. Xenia checks the bill, closes it and frees the room.

If a balance is still owing, Xenia tells you, and what happens next depends on what your manager allows. Do not let a guest leave owing money without telling a manager.

Your cashier shift

A shift is how Xenia counts the cash you take. It starts with the cash already in the drawer and ends when you count it. The difference between what you counted and what Xenia expected is kept, and the owner is told when it is large.

Start your shift

Open Cashier shifts. Count the cash in the drawer, type it under Cash in the drawer (naira), and choose Open shift. Do this before you take any payment.

While it is open

The shift page shows your Float (what you started with), the Cash taken and Cash you should hold, with a line for each way guests paid.

Close your shift

At the end of your shift, count all the cash in the drawer and type it into Cash you counted (naira). Add a Note if anything is unusual, and a Handover note for the next cashier if there is something they need to know, such as a guest who is paying later. Choose Close shift.

End of shift checklist

• Every payment you took is recorded on the right bill.

• Every charge you added has the right department and amount.

• No void is waiting for a manager's answer.

• You counted the drawer and closed your shift, with a note for anything unusual.

• You signed out of Xenia, especially on a shared computer.

That is the whole of the front desk. If you get stuck at any point, ask your manager or the owner first, and the Xenia support team after that.