Returning guests, VIP and duplicate cards

This article is about hotel guest cards: how to find a guest, how the front desk recognises a returning guest at check-in, where to record preferences and allergies, how to mark a VIP or warn colleagues "Do not rent", and what to do when one person has two cards.

Who: the owner and front desk staff. Housekeepers do not see guest cards. The location's business type must be "Hotel".

Where cards come from: a guest card appears at the first check-in. A repeat check-in with the same phone or e-mail goes to the same card and increases the stay counter.

Find a guest#

1. Open "Rooms" → the "🧳 Guests" tab ("Guest cards of this property").
2. Type in "Search by name, phone or e-mail".

The list shows "Guest", "Contact", "Stays" (how many times the guest stayed), "Last stay" and the average stay rating. Icons in a row hint at flags: 🚫 "Do not rent", ⭐ VIP, 🔁 returning guest, 🩺 allergy or diet information. "+N" means duplicates have been merged into the card.

Row buttons: "Profile" (flags and merges), "Registration card".

Why a guest is not found by part of the name#

If the hotel uses protected storage of personal data, names and phones in the list are masked ("Personal data is stored separately and shown masked. Opening it is logged."). Such cards are found only by an exact phone (at least 6 digits) or an exact e-mail — search by part of a name will not find them. Cards without protected storage are found by part of the name, phone or e-mail.

There is no search by document number. The list shows up to 200 cards, most recent guests first.

Recognise a returning guest at check-in#

In the check-in form, enter the guest's phone (at least 5 digits). When the field loses focus, the system checks the base by phone, then by e-mail. If the guest has stayed before, "Returning guest, {n} stays" appears with a "Fill in" button — it fills in contacts and the document from the card.

The booking and check-in forms also show "⭐ VIP guest", "🔁 Returning guest · N stays" and the "Do not rent" warning, if there is one.

Preferences and allergies#

Preferences and allergies are kept in the guest card of the "Clients" section (its "Guest profile" window):

Where they show: on the room chart next to the booking band — icons and a tooltip "Preferences: …" (first 80 characters), "Allergies: …" and "No alcohol"; in the "🧳 Guests" list — the same icons.

Allergies are special health data: with protected storage they are hidden, the room chart shows "Allergies or diet — see the guest card" instead of the list, and they can be opened with "Show". They are not included in the registration card or in exports for authorities.

Mark a VIP#

1. "🧳 Guests" → the guest's row → "Profile". The "Guest profile" window opens.
2. Turn on "⭐ VIP guest". It is saved immediately.

VIP is shown on the room chart and at check-in. It is the same as the "vip" tag in Clients: set the flag and the tag appears, and vice versa.

Warn "Do not rent"#

If there was an incident with a guest — non-payment, damage to property, behaviour — colleagues should know about it at the next booking.

1. "🧳 Guests" → "Profile".
2. Turn on "🚫 Do not rent".
3. Choose the "Reason": "non-payment", "damage to property", "behaviour", "fraud" or "other reason".
4. Optionally fill in "Details (optional)" — what happened, in your own words (up to 1000 characters).
5. Click "Save".

What the front desk sees. In the new booking form on the room chart, in an open booking and in the check-in form, a red warning appears: "🚫 Do not rent: " with the note "This is only a warning: booking and check-in are not blocked. Decide with the manager." The details open with "Show details"; opening is logged. On the room chart the booking gets a 🚫 icon with only the reason category, without the text.

This is not an automatic refusal. The system does not reject the booking or block check-in — the decision stays with a person.

Where the details are kept. The reason text is stored separately from the card, in the protected personal data storage: it never reaches the guest, the website, emails or documents. If the storage did not accept the text, the flag and the reason are still set, and you see "The flag is set, but the details were not saved: the protected storage did not accept them." There is no need to put the details into ordinary notes.

Remove the flag#

Turn off "🚫 Do not rent" in the profile. If details were recorded, the system asks "Remove the “Do not rent” flag? The recorded details will be deleted." → "Remove flag". The details are deleted together with the flag (if immediate deletion fails — automatically within 30 days).

Find duplicates#

One person sometimes has two cards: the first time a phone was recorded, the second time an e-mail, or there was a typo.

1. "🧳 Guests" → "Find duplicates". The "Possible duplicates" window opens.
2. Cards are grouped with a reason: "same phone" (last 9 digits), "same e-mail", "same name and date of birth" or "same person".
3. Click "Merge" on the group you need.

The guest profile can also show a "Possible duplicates of this card: N" strip with a "Merge" button.

Merge manually: find the guest by search, tick two or more rows and click "Merge selected (N)".

Merge cards#

1. In the "Merge guest cards" window, choose "Which card to keep" — the card with more stays is suggested by default.
2. Check the result: "After merging: N stays, N no-shows", VIP, "Do not rent" and tags.
3. Click "Merge". There is no separate "are you sure?" step — check your choice before clicking. Up to 5 duplicates can be merged at once.

What happens:

The duplicate card is not deleted: it becomes a link to the kept card. The next check-in with the duplicate's phone or e-mail goes to the kept card.

Undo a merge#

1. Open the "Profile" of the kept card.
2. In the "Merged cards" section, the duplicate shows "can be undone until ".
3. Click "Undo merge".

Limits of undo:

• 30 days. After that — "The undo period has ended".
• Chain. If the kept card was later merged into another card, first undo the later merge.
• Undo removes only what the merge added. Edits to the kept card made after the merge stay; an appended preferences tail is removed only if it is still at the end of the text.

The duplicate gets its tags, preferences, flags and counters back.

Who can do what#

More — Front desk, housekeeping and accountant permissions.

What is not available yet#

• Stay history and spending in the hotel card. You see the number of stays, the last stay and the average rating.
• Search by document, and for protected cards — search by part of the name.
• A preferences and allergies editor in the hotel "Guest profile" window — they are edited in Clients. The check-in form has no allergies field.
• Room selection by preferences.
• Automatic refusal for "Do not rent".
• Viewing the merge log — the profile shows only the merge date.
• Housekeepers do not see guest preferences or allergies.

Related sections#

• Check a guest in and out at the front desk
• Create, change and cancel a booking
• Pre-arrival form and front desk review
• Guest registration log and reporting by country
• Front desk, housekeeping and accountant permissions
• Hotel: Rooms, PMS and Guest Service

Frequently asked questions#

The guest has stayed with us, but "Returning guest" did not appear at check-in#

The lookup goes by phone (at least 5 digits), then by e-mail. If a different phone was recorded last time and no e-mail, the card will not be found — after check-in, find duplicates and merge the cards.

Did "Do not rent" stop the booking?#

No. "Do not rent" only warns. If a booking cannot be created, the reason is something else.

Where do I note that the guest likes a sea-view room?#

In "Preferences" of the guest card in Clients. The front desk sees a hint on the room chart next to the booking band.

I merged the wrong cards#

Open the kept card's profile and click "Undo merge" within 30 days.

Why are names in the guest list hidden with asterisks?#

Personal data is kept in protected storage and shown masked. Click "Show" — the reveal is logged.