“Sold Out Means Sold Out!”: The Hilarious Perils of Night Audit in Hospitality
It’s 1AM, you’re the sole defender of the hotel’s front desk, and you’ve got a fresh cup of coffee cooling beside the night audit paperwork. Suddenly, in stumbles a guest—clearly several drinks into his evening—brandishing his phone and even more bravado. “You HAVE rooms. The app says so!” Cue the familiar eye twitch of hospitality veterans everywhere. Welcome to the wild world of graveyard shift, where “sold out” is apparently just a suggestion.
For anyone who’s never worked a front desk after midnight, you might imagine a peaceful lobby and soft jazz in the background. In reality? Think more along the lines of a customer service Thunderdome where sleep-deprived travelers, drunken guests, and booking app confusion collide at the least convenient hours.