In short
What this page covers
- Round the clock with no gap at the joins
- Housekeeping sized to the rooms going out
- Every department on one rota, and never mixed up
- Templates you set once
For hotels
Rota software for hotels, every department on one rota
Keep the desk covered around the clock, size housekeeping to the rooms actually going out, and let the night hours count themselves. Free, for every department and every property.
Where the time goes
What actually goes wrong on a hotel rota
These are the everyday situations that turn a rota into a source of mistakes, phone calls and needless cost.
01
The desk that is never empty
A hotel does not close. Somebody is standing at reception at three in the morning on a wet Tuesday, and when the night porter rings in at nine in the evening to say he cannot make it, the person who becomes the night porter is you.
02
Housekeeping staffed to the clock instead of the rooms
Twelve checkouts and thirty stayovers is not the same day as thirty one checkouts and a wedding party leaving at eleven. The rota says four housekeepers either way, so one week they are stood around by one and the next week rooms are not ready at check in.
03
Breakfast is a rota of its own at half six
Service opens at seven, so the breakfast chef is in at six and the room is turned around by half ten. It is four hours that look like nothing on a weekly rota and ruin every review you get if you undercook them.
04
Four departments, four different rotas
Reception is on the back office wall, housekeeping is in a notebook the head housekeeper carries, the kitchen is a WhatsApp message and maintenance is in your head. The question of who is on tomorrow takes three conversations to answer.
05
A wedding on Saturday and thirty per cent on Tuesday
The same building needs a skeleton midweek and everything you have on the weekend, and the surge is known about months ahead. It still gets onto the rota late, because the rota was copied from last week and last week did not have a wedding in it.
06
Maintenance is on no rota at all
A lift sticks, a radiator goes, a shower in room twelve gives up on a Saturday morning. Whether the one person who can fix it is in today, or off, or on call, is a question you answer by ringing him to find out.
How InShift fixes it
A rota built for a building that runs 24 hours and staffs to occupancy, not for a calendar. Everything below is in the free account, with no cap on people or properties.
Solution 1
Round the clock with no gap at the joins
Build the day as shifts that meet: 07:00 to 15:00, 15:00 to 23:00, then nights through to seven. You can see the handovers line up before you publish, so nobody discovers a hole at eleven at night.
Solution 2
Housekeeping sized to the rooms going out
Build the housekeeping shift to the checkouts and the occupancy you actually have, not to a fixed four. When the number moves, change the rota and republish. It is on their phones before they set foot in the corridor.
Solution 3
Every department on one rota, and never mixed up
Reception, housekeeping, kitchen, maintenance and nights are roles. You see the whole property on one screen, the head housekeeper sees only housekeeping, and nobody ends up on a desk they have never worked.
Solution 4
Templates you set once
An early, a late, a night, a breakfast shift, a wedding Saturday. Set the hours once, say how many people it needs and which department can work it, then drop them onto the week. A month of rota takes minutes.
Solution 5
Open shifts when the night porter rings in
Post the uncovered night and everyone who could work it gets it on their phone at once. The first one free takes it, you approve with one tap, and the desk is covered without you driving in.
Solution 6
Hours ready for payroll, nights included
Hours add up as the rota is worked, at each person's own hourly rate, across every department at once. Export the lot to Excel for whoever does your payroll.
Twenty four hours on the rota in a hotel
A 60 room hotel with breakfast from 07:00, checkout at 11:00, and 22 rooms going out today. Note that the desk never has a gap in it and that housekeeping is sized to the checkouts rather than to the length of the day.
| Time | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 06:00-10:30 | Breakfast chef | In at six for service at seven, done when the last plate goes |
| 07:00-15:00 | Receptionist | Takes the handover from nights, works the checkout rush to eleven |
| 09:00-15:00 | Housekeeper | Twenty two rooms today: the team is sized to that number, not to the clock |
| 10:00-18:00 | Maintenance | Rooms and the fabric of the building, on the rota so everyone knows he is in |
| 15:00-23:00 | Receptionist | Evening arrivals and the bar handover, then hands the desk to nights |
| 23:00-07:00 | Night porter | The desk, the audit and the door until reception is back at seven |
Try it without an account
Three free tools that need no sign-up and no email. Build a rota or add up hours right now, and move to an account when the team has to see it.
Frequently asked questions
How many staff do I need to cover reception 24 hours a day?▾
Start from the hours, not the people. Round the clock is 168 hours a week, and the usual shape is three shifts a day: an early from seven, a late from three and a night from eleven. That is 21 shifts, which five receptionists cover on paper at an average of 34 hours each. Paper does not go away for a week or catch flu, so most 60 room hotels run five or six across the desk and treat the night porter as a role of its own rather than a rotation people take turns at. Put your own cover into the rota and you will see your number rather than mine.
Can I run more than one property on one account?▾
Yes, and there is no limit on how many. Each property is a location with its own departments, staff and templates. You see all of them, a general manager sees only their own hotel, and someone who covers two sites has one rota with both on it.
How does the team see the rota?▾
They install the InShift app on their phone from the App Store or Google Play and enter a six digit code you give them. That is the whole setup, no email address and no password to forget. When the rota changes they get a push notification, which matters most for the people who are asleep when you rewrite Saturday.
How do I staff housekeeping when occupancy changes every week?▾
Rota housekeeping to the rooms, not to a habit. Look at the checkouts and the stayovers for the day, put on the number of housekeepers that clears them, and publish. When the book moves, change the shift and republish: everyone affected has the new version on their phone within seconds, and the hours follow what you actually put on rather than what you planned in the abstract.
Does it count night hours and work out pay?▾
It adds the hours up as the rota is worked, nights included, multiplies them by each person's hourly rate, and exports a timesheet to Excel for any period you like. Rates are per person, so someone who covers two properties is counted once, at their own. Counting the hours is the job that eats an evening, and it is the job it does for you.
Is it actually free, or free until it is not?▾
Free. Every feature, as many staff, departments and properties as you like, no card and no trial clock running down. There is no billing in the product at all, which is worth saying plainly given the rota is the one thing in the building that runs all night.