Managing customer and participant data effectively is key to ensuring seamless operations and a personalized experience. Within the platform, three primary features are available for collecting customer and participant information:
Participant fields
Custom fields
Checkout input fields
To better understand when to use each, let’s explore their key differences, use cases and where the data resides within the system.
What they are
Participant fields are predefined, system-level fields that are applied to a product and are linked directly to individual participant profile.
Examples
Date of Birth
Passport Number
Height
Shoe Size
Purpose
Participant fields allow the Business to collect and store participant-specific data within the Triparound platform, and can be reused across multiple bookings, helping build richer and more accurate participant profiles.
Where the data is stored
In the customer's guest profile, under the co-traveller's section.
Also visible within the booking
Use Cases
Participant fields are appropriate when:
Information must be collected and managed for each participant on a trip
The information is core to the participant
The data should be reused across future bookings
Important:
Participant fields cannot be used if any Custom Field in the product has the feature "Available for each participant" activated.
Customer validating or identification is required during the booking process (for example, via PMS integration or the Itineraries feature) for the participant fields to be used most effectively.
What they are
Custom fields are fully configurable fields created by the Business. Both the content of the field and the input type (free text, dropdown, checkbox, etc.) can be defined.
Examples
T-shirt size for a workshop
Session preferences in a multi-day program
Purpose
Custom fields provide flexibility to collect booking-specific or product-specific data that does not belong in a participant or customer profile.
Where the data is stored
Stored only within the booking
Not saved to the guest profile
Use cases:
Custom Fields are appropriate when:
The required information is not covered by predefined, systemic fields
The data applies only to a specific product/activity
The information does not need to be reused
What they are
Checkout input fields are predefined system fields that can be displayed during the checkout stage of the booking process to collect additional customer information.
Examples
Date of Birth
Passport Number
Dietary restrictions
Health issues
Purpose
Checkout Input Fields enable the collection of core customer data during checkout. This information is stored in the customer’s profile and contributes to more complete customer records.
Where the data is stored
Stored in the customer’s guest profile
Also available within the booking
Use cases
Checkout Input Fields are appropriate when:
The information is core to the customer
The data should be stored for future use
The information is not part of the default checkout fields (First name, Last name, Email, Phone, Nationality)
Key Differences at a glance
Aspect | Participant Fields | Custom Fields | Checkout input fields |
Scope | Systemic and predefined | Flexible and customizable | Systemic and predefined |
Applies to | Individual participant and booking | Booking only | Customer and booking |
Main purpose | Build participant profiles | Collect booking specific data | Build customer profiles |
Customer identification required | Yes (strongly recommended) | No | No |
Data Location | Customer's guest profile and booking | Booking only | Customer's guest profile and booking |
Reusable across bookings | Yes | No | Yes |
When to use | Core participant data reused | One-off or product-specific data | Core customer data collected |