Working hours in hotels: planning night duty, split shifts and rest periods correctly

What is different for hotels

The Working Hours Act names accommodation businesses explicitly in two places: for the rest period (section 5(2)) and for Sunday work (section 10(1) no. 4). In addition, section 2a SchwarzArbG brings the strict record-keeping duty. Everything else applies as in any business: eight hours per working day, ten with averaging, breaks after six hours.

Night duty at reception

Night time is the period from 11 pm to 6 am, night work any shift with more than two hours of it (section 2(3) and (4) ArbZG). A night worker is anyone who normally works nights on rotating shifts or works at night on at least 48 days in the calendar year (section 2(5) ArbZG). A permanent night receptionist usually falls under this, a temp covering single nights often does not.

If the night receptionist has to stay on the premises and act when needed, that is stand-by duty. Under the case law of the European Court of Justice it counts as working time in full, even if nothing happens in between. More than ten hours a day are then only possible with a collective agreement that expressly allows it because of regular stand-by time (section 7(1) no. 4 ArbZG).

• Ten hours at night are allowed if the average over one calendar month or four weeks is eight hours, not only after six months (section 6(2) ArbZG).
• Night workers may have an occupational health check every three years, every year from age 50. The employer bears the cost unless it offers the check free of charge through an occupational physician (section 6(3) ArbZG).
• The person can ask for a day job if night work endangers their health according to an occupational medical finding, if a child under twelve lives in the household and nobody else can look after it, or if a relative in serious need of care has to be looked after, unless urgent operational reasons stand against it (section 6(4) ArbZG).
• For the night hours, paid days off or a reasonable premium are due if no collective agreement covers it (section 6(5) ArbZG).

Split shifts: the gap is not a rest period

Split shifts are common in hotels: breakfast in the morning, restaurant or banquet in the evening. If the person is free in between, that time does not count as working time. According to the prevailing interpretation, however, it is not a rest period either, because the eleven hours under section 5 ArbZG begin after the end of the daily working time, that is after the second part.

An example: breakfast from 6:30 to 10:30, evening service from 17:00 to 22:00. That is nine hours of work, which is permitted. The next morning, however, the same person may start at 9:00 at the earliest, or at 8:00 with the hotel shortening to ten hours. The 6:30 breakfast shift the following day is therefore not possible after an evening shift until 22:00, and this exact switch appears in many handwritten rosters.

Sundays and public holidays

Accommodation businesses may employ people on Sundays and public holidays where the work cannot be done on working days (section 10(1) no. 4 ArbZG). Each person, however, needs at least 15 free Sundays a year and, for every Sunday worked, a replacement rest day within two weeks, for a public holiday on a working day within eight weeks (section 11 ArbZG). In high season this is the rule that slips out of sight fastest: the replacement rest day has to actually be granted, a note in the contract is not enough.

Records for everyone, temps included

The accommodation trade is listed in section 2a SchwarzArbG. You therefore have to record the start, end and duration of daily working time for employees by the end of the seventh calendar day and keep it for two years (section 17 MiLoG). Under section 1 MiLoDokV, the only exemptions are employees with a regular monthly salary above 4,461 euros gross, or above 2,974 euros if demonstrably paid for twelve months, and spouses, registered partners, children and parents of the employer working in the business. Each person also has to carry their ID at work, and you have to inform them of this in writing.

For temps with a second job: working time with several employers is added together (section 2(1) ArbZG). Someone who has worked eight hours elsewhere in the morning may only be deployed at the evening banquet up to the daily limit. Ask about the second job when hiring.

Hotels in the customs inspection statistics

The Financial Monitoring Unit for Illicit Employment reports restaurants and accommodation together. In 2025 it checked 74,490 persons there, out of 298,255 nationwide. That is roughly one in four persons checked and more than in any other branch listed. Checks took place at 5,726 employers in the branch.

On 19 September 2025, customs checked the hotel and restaurant trade nationwide in a single day: 2,600 customs officers, more than 5,200 employees questioned, about 2,200 cases with first indications of possible violations. Since 1 January 2026 the minimum wage has been 13.90 euros per hour.

Roster and time clock in one system

In MetronHR, reception clocks in at the terminal with an NFC card, housekeeping via the app and administration in the browser. The times are in the system to the minute on the same day, without rounding, and a split shift is kept as two shifts on one day and added together for the daily limit.

In the roster of the Professional plan, MetronHR reports before publication when less than the configured rest period lies between two days, for example when switching from the evening to the breakfast shift. MetronHR can keep replacement rest days for Sunday and public holiday work as a claim with a deadline once the work is recorded. Night, Sunday and public holiday hours per person are in the monthly Excel overview and in the payroll file for DATEV at the end of the month.