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What do you do when the cash box is off?

Front Desk Operations

Rucksack Brian started this discussion 7 years 4 months ago

What do you do when the cash box is off at the end of someone’s shift?

Too much money means a payment has been made, but not punched into the register. Too little money means something has been punched into the register, but the cash didn’t make it into the cash box.

Obviously there are a few things that have to be checked to find a mistake:

Balance due - Is the difference equivalent to a bed price or a payment that was marked as being due during that shift?
Credit cards – Did someone pay with a card, but the payment was punched in as cash, or vice versa?
Drink/merchandise inventory – is an item missing from your inventory in the value of the difference?
Deposits – if you keep a separate cash box for key/towel/etc. deposits, could cash have been put in the wrong box?
Deliveries – Did any deliveries arrive that required payment from the cash box? Is there a receipt/invoice stashed away somewhere to account for that payment?

But what do you do when the cause of the discrepancy can’t be found or is simply a receptionist’s error?

Maybe incorrect change was given to a guest.
Maybe the wrong amount was asked from a guest.
Maybe the money handed over was miscounted.
Maybe someone paid for their lunch out of the cash box or brazenly decided to steal money from the hostel.

When money is missing do you cut your losses and let it go? Do you put money from your own pocket to make it up? Do you ask the receptionist on duty to pay the difference from their pocket? Do you withhold wages to cover the loss?

On the flip side, would you ever let your receptionist keep the money if there were too much at the end of the shift? Would you punch it in as a purchase to ensure the accounts balance? Would the owner take that money for himself under the table?

How are these discrepancies handled in your hostel?

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SilverSeagull

7 years

1) Balance - I suppose it depends on PMS system, but normally admin (manager) can see if prices/payments were manipulated, when and by whom (as each team member should have their separate account to work with the system). Also all PMS systems have tools/printouts for balance. Though this, we have double balance register: one in PMS (automatic), other in Excel (introduced manually and stored in Dropbox Business). It helps easily to find any error. Also in the end of each turn receptionists print balance sheet and sign it. Of course, nobody will sign incorrect balance sheet before finding and fixing errors.

2) Credit card - you can print summary of all daily payments from your terminal, so it's easy to find out, if any payment by credit card was noted by mistake as cash and vice versa.

3) Our receptionists don't have access to inventory, only managers (me and my partner) and maintanance person. Cleaning ladies of course also have access to their inventory only. If receptionists will take some office inventory (pens or whatever), we will not suffer over it.

4) As all reservations are guaranteed with credit/debit cards we don't have deposits. We also have insurance in case of complex problems. We have separate cash box for tourist tickets sales, but this money are distributed between receptionists in the end of each month, this is a bonus to their salaries. As for towels, cleaning ladies leave certain ammount of towels at the reception, so it's easy to find out, if receptionists registered towel money in PMS/Excel or not.

5) You always know in advance, if you have such delivers, and how much you have to pay. We just leave money in a separate envelope in cash box for such occasions. Invoices are easy to request once again, if they are lost.

In case of errors:

- Incorrect change given to a guest: if receptionists give less change, when they ought to, so they have to find the guest and give him/her the missing amount of money. If receptionists give more change, when they ought to, we don't bother the guest. It happens rarely, and normally sums are just a few euro or less, so we (managers) put this money to cash box and that's all.

- If wrong amount - depends on situation, but also happens rarely, and losses are just a few euro or less.

- Normally happens only if a guest pay with a lot of coins, rarely and losses are just a few euro or less.

Maybe I'm not right, but you can't punish your receptionists for any insignificant mistake. But if somebody steals money, you have no other choice, than fire such person.

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