Definition

A handover is the moment when one person or one shift passes responsibility for work, guests and open issues to the next. It happens at every shift change, when a crew member goes on leave, when a manager rotates off a ship, or when a task moves from one department to another. A good handover means the next person can continue without asking questions and without the guest ever noticing that the team changed.

The crew view

For a crew member, the handover is the last task of the shift and the first task of the next one. The outgoing person prepares it before the shift ends, not in the final minute. The incoming person arrives a little early to receive it properly.

The practical steps: write down every open item, such as a guest waiting for a callback, a room with a fault reported, a table that asked for a birthday cake, an order that has not arrived. Say each item out loud to the colleague taking over, and point to where the information is written. Mention anything unusual: a guest who is unhappy, a piece of equipment that is not working, a supply that is running low. Finish by asking, “Is anything unclear?” The incoming colleague repeats the most important points back, so both know they understood the same thing.

The common mistakes: giving the handover while walking out of the door, relying on memory instead of a written note, saying “everything is fine” when there are open items, leaving out a difficult guest because the problem feels uncomfortable, and handing over to a colleague who is not really listening. Another mistake is handing over the task without the tools, for example passing a guest request without the room number, the name or the time it was promised.

The manager view

For a manager, the handover is one of the main tools of continuity. A department that hands over well runs smoothly day and night; a department that hands over badly repeats the same problems every shift. The manager sets one format for every handover, usually in the log book or the department system, with the same headings each time: guests, open requests, faults, stock, staffing.

The manager also models the handover. A duty manager going off shift briefs the next duty manager in person, walks through the log and names the priorities. When a manager leaves a ship or a property for a longer period, the handover becomes a written document: ongoing projects, team issues, pending orders, upcoming inspections and contacts. The person leaving stays responsible until the person arriving confirms they have received it.

A real situation: an evening receptionist promises a guest a late check-out and tells a colleague in passing, but nothing is written. The morning team does not know, housekeeping knocks at the usual time, and the guest is woken and upset. The fix is a written handover entry for every promise made to a guest, read out at the start of the morning shift and passed to housekeeping during the briefing.

The guest view

The guest does not see the handover. The guest sees whether the hotel, restaurant or ship remembers. If a guest explains a problem to one person in the evening and has to explain it again in the morning, the guest feels that nobody is listening. If the morning team greets the guest with “We know about the issue with the shower, it has been fixed”, the guest feels the whole team is working together.

For guests, the change of shift should be invisible. The same promises, the same tone and the same knowledge must continue, no matter who is on duty.

Recap

A handover passes work, guests and open issues from one person or shift to the next. The crew prepares it early, writes it down, says it out loud and checks that it was understood. The manager sets one format and leads by example at every change of duty. The guest never sees the handover, but feels immediately when it was done badly.

Related lessons

Duty Manager · Teamwork