Rostering software for hotels and motels
Three teams on three clocks. Housekeeping works between checkout and check-in, reception cannot be empty, and if there is a restaurant it runs on hours of its own.
| Who | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marisol D.Reception | 7–3 | 7–3 | 7–3 | 7–3 | 7–3 | off |
| Tom H.Reception | 3–11 | 3–11 | 3–11 | 3–11 | 3–11 | 3–11 |
| Ruby N.Housekeeping | 9–2 | 9–2 | 9–2 | 9–2 | 9–3 | 9–3 |
| Yuki S.Housekeeping | off | 9–2 | off | 9–2 | 9–3 | 9–3 |
| Sam T.Maintenance | 8–4 | off | 8–4 | off | 8–4 | off |
| Ana F.Breakfast | 6–11 | 6–11 | 6–11 | 6–11 | 6–11 | 6–11 |
The desk is covered seven to eleven every day. Housekeeping doubles on Friday and Saturday for the weekend occupancy.
What makes a hotel hard to roster
Four things that come up in every one of these weeks, and what happens here instead.
What changes once it is running
What hotels and motels get back, in the terms this trade measures it in.
A week in a hotel
What it is used for in a hotel
Specific things people in this trade do with it, rather than a list of modules.
- A reception desk covered from the first checkout to the last check in, with the handover visible
- Housekeeping crews sized to the occupancy, with the cost moving as you add one
- Rooms, reception and the restaurant as separate venues with staff who work across them
- Breakfast shifts that start at six rostered beside a desk that starts at seven
- A reminder before an early start, sent at whatever interval suits your team
- Casual housekeepers added for a busy month and deactivated when it ends
The morning twelve rooms had to be turned by two
A 40 room motel, two on reception, three housekeepers rostered.
| When | What happens | What you do here |
|---|---|---|
| 9:05am | Twelve checkouts and eleven arrivals, on a day rostered for eight. | Add a fourth housekeeper for five hours and watch what the day costs as you do it. |
| 9:20am | Two housekeepers are free today and one is on approved leave. | The leave is on the roster, so she is not rung at all. |
| 2:40pm | The rooms are done and the extra housekeeper leaves. | She clocks out at her actual finish, which is 20 minutes past the rostered one. |
| 3:00pm | The desk changes over and the afternoon shift starts. | The two shifts overlap by fifteen minutes on purpose, and the grid shows it. |
| Monday | The week is approved with one extra shift and one overrun in it. | Both are rows with reasons, and the approved hours go to payroll as they are. |
Twelve rooms turned, one extra housekeeper, and the desk never empty.
The jobs that stop being jobs
Where the hours in a week like this go. No stopwatch: the left column is what the work takes without it, and the right is what is left of the same task.
| The job | Usually | Here |
|---|---|---|
| Sizing housekeeping to the day | A guess at eight in the morning and a scramble at eleven | Add a shift and see the cost of the day move with it |
| Making sure the desk is never empty | Two shifts that look right on paper and leave a gap at three | Shifts stacked in the grid, where a gap is something you can see |
| Three teams under one roof | Three rosters, and staff who appear on two of them | Three venues, one person, one timesheet |
| Knowing housekeeping arrived | A sheet at the linen cupboard | A clock in on their phone, with the distance from the property |
What the record shows, and what stays yours
Roster Flow keeps the record. Meeting the obligation is still the workplace's job, and these are the parts of it nothing here decides for you.
- Desk shifts and their overlaps, hour by hour across the day
- Extra housekeeping shifts added on the day, and who added them
- Approved leave sitting on the roster before the week was built
- Clock ins with the distance from the property, and a photo where required
- The approved week, locked, with every correction carrying a reason
- Penalties for early starts, weekends and public holidays
- Minimum engagement for a housekeeper called in for a short day
- Any accommodation award condition that applies to a split or broken shift
- Whether the 20 minutes past the rostered finish is paid
What has to be kept, and for how long, is set out by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Nothing here interprets an award or certifies that a workplace complies with one.
Who is usually on the team
Ten to fifty across housekeeping, reception, maintenance and food and beverage, with casual housekeepers scaling to occupancy.
What drives the wage cost
Weekend housekeeping and the evening desk carry the loadings you set. The day totals on the estimate are the quickest check that a busy weekend is staffed at a cost you meant.
Questions people in hotels and motels ask
Does it assign rooms or track housekeeping jobs?
No. It rosters people and records their hours. Room assignment and job tracking stay in whatever you use to run the property.
Can housekeepers clock in from the floor?
Yes, on their own phone, with the distance from the property recorded and a photo if you require one.
Can we roster the restaurant separately?
Yes. Set it up as its own venue, with its own roster and clock in radius, and let staff belong to both.
Housekeeping scales with occupancy. Can I change the roster midweek?
Add or move the shifts and republish. Only the people affected are notified, so putting two extra housekeepers on Thursday does not send the whole building a message.
Can reception, housekeeping and the restaurant each have their own roster?
Yes, as three venues, and venues are unlimited on every plan. Each keeps its own roster, staff and clock in radius, and the wage totals still add up across the building.
Night audit finishes at seven in the morning. Does that count as one shift?
Yes. An 11pm to 7am shift is one shift of eight hours, not two days, and somebody clocking in at five past eleven reads as five minutes late rather than hours early.