Visitors are individuals who are not staying at the accommodation premises of the Business and, as such, cannot be identified by the system.
Enabling visitor bookings can enhance user experience and streamline operations. This process involves configuring settings in both the company and product levels, enabling appropriate payment methods, managing pricing policies and tracking reservations effectively.
Follow the steps outlined below to ensure a smooth and comprehensive setup.
1. Enabling the "Allow Visitor Bookings" functionality
This functionality is only available if a PMS integration is activated (or the Itineraries feature is used) and the Enable guest validation on widget feature is enabled.
Within Company Settings:
Navigate to the Company Settings > Bookings settings section.
Locate the "Enable visitor bookings" toggle and activate it.
Save the changes to apply the settings.
Note:
This will enable visitor bookings to all products cumulatively and display the respective functionality as enabled within all products.
Alternatively, if visitor bookings should only be enabled for specific products, skip the step above and instead activate this functionality from the Settings and Policies section of each individual product as described below.
In the product "Settings & Policies" section:
Navigate to Settings & Policies > Bookings for each product where visitor bookings will be allowed.
Locate the Allow visitor bookings toggle and activate it.
Save the changes to apply the settings.
Display on widget
After enabling this functionality, the "PROCEED AS VISITOR" button will appear on the widget. This allows visitors to skip the guest validation step and proceed with booking.
Important:
Keep in mind that guests can click "PROCEED AS VISITOR" to bypass the guest validation step. In this case, the system will not identify the customer and they will be treated as a "visitor".
2. Configuring payment methods for visitors vs. guests
If different payment options need to be provided for guests and visitors, this can be done by following these steps:
Navigate to the Settings & Policies > Payments & Deposit of each product.
Locate the Accept Payments toggle and activate it.
Enable the Different payment methods for Successful & Skipped Validation toggle that will become available.
Select one or more of the payment methods for customers that successfully pass “Guest validation” on the widget.
Select one or more of the payment methods available for customers who skip the “Guest validation” on the widget and choose “Proceed as Visitor”.
Note:
The payment methods displayed in the selection menus are those enabled in the Payment Methods section under My Company > Settings > Payment settings.
3. Setting up different pricing for visitors
To implement visitor-specific pricing, any of the following options could be used if required:
Create a different product:
Create a new product with custom rates that apply to visitors. More information on creating a product can be found here.
Create Groups within the product:
Create one group for "Guests" and a different one for "Visitors". Ensure appropriate pricing is assigned to each group. More information on managing Groups can be found here.
Manually adjust the price:
If neither of the above options is prefered, consider displaying a note on the widget informing customers that different pricing policies apply to guests and visitors. Once a booking is made, the back-office user can manually adjust the price and communicate it to the customer. More information on this can be found here.
4. Tracking visitor bookings
Visitor bookings can be identified through the PMS reservation ID field in the Bookings table:
A blank PMS Reservation ID indicates a visitor’s booking, meaning the validation process on the widget or through the back office was skipped.
A populated PMS Reservation ID indicates a guest's booking, meaning the validation process was successfully completed and the customer was identified.
Note:
If the PMS reservation ID column is not visible in the Bookings table, it can be added using the cog icon on the right side of the table. Click here to find out how to add it as a column option.