Keep your guest book up to date

Look up a guest's profile, contact details or history.

1. 1Open Guests: on a computer click the three-line button at the far left of the header, then Guests; on a phone or tablet tap More › Guests.
2. 2Type at least two letters of their name or three digits of their phone number in Search name or phone....
3. 3Click their name.

The profile opens on the right (on a phone it replaces the list; tap Back to guests to return).

• Without a search, only the first 100 guests are listed.
• You can also use the header search from any screen and click the guest's name.

Jump from a reservation to the guest's full profile.

1. 1Open the booking.
2. 2Click the guest's name at the top of the drawer (Open … in Guest Book).

• Not available for walk-ins without a name.

Check when they last came in, what they had, and any no-shows.

1. 1Open the guest's profile: in Guests (main menu, or More › Guests on a phone), search their name or phone and click them. From a booking, click the guest's name at the top.
2. 2Read the count under their name, for example 12 visits · 1 no-shows.
3. 3Scroll down to Visit history. Click a visit to open it.

Start a booking with the guest's details already filled in. This is also the quickest way to rebook a regular.

1. 1Open the guest's profile: in Guests (main menu, or More › Guests on a phone), search their name or phone and click them. From a booking, click the guest's name at the top.
2. 2Click the calendar-plus icon at the top right (New reservation).
3. 3Fill in the date, time and covers and click Create.

Allergies and guest notes show on every future booking for this guest.

1. 1Open the guest's profile: in Guests (main menu, or More › Guests on a phone), search their name or phone and click them. From a booking, click the guest's name at the top.
2. 2To add an allergy, go to Dietary restrictions and type it, then press Enter.Or click + (Add allergy preset) to pick from your venue's list.
3. 3To add a note, type it in the Guest notes box (for example "prefers a booth, celebrates in May").
4. 4Click Save profile at the bottom.

• Remove an allergy with the × on its chip, then Save profile.
• A note for one visit only belongs on the reservation instead (Reservation notes).

Fix a typo or update their contact details.

1. 1Open the guest's profile: in Guests (main menu, or More › Guests on a phone), search their name or phone and click them. From a booking, click the guest's name at the top.
2. 2Change First, Last, Primary phone or Email.
3. 3Click Save profile.

• To add a second number, type it under the phone list and click Add number. Click Make primary to swap them. Only the primary number gets texts.
• If the email domain looks misspelled, Hostbook suggests a fix (Did you mean…?). Click it.

A red note under the email says Email bounced.

1. 1Open the guest's profile: in Guests (main menu, or More › Guests on a phone), search their name or phone and click them. From a booking, click the guest's name at the top.
2. 2Correct the email if it's wrong, then Save profile.
3. 3If the address is right, click Try this address again (a manager approves it).

Tags show on the guest's booking cards so the team knows who they are.

1. 1Open the guest's profile: in Guests (main menu, or More › Guests on a phone), search their name or phone and click them. From a booking, click the guest's name at the top.
2. 2In the Guest notes box, click + (Add tag preset).
3. 3Choose a tag such as Vip, Regular or First Time, or one of your venue's own tags.
4. 4Click Save profile.

VIP guests get a VIP badge on their profile and a purple sparkle tag on their bookings.

• You can only pick tags from the list. To create a new tag, a manager adds it in Application Settings › Tags & statuses › Guest tags.

A private note guests never see, such as "pays separately" or "ask before seating near the bar".

1. 1Open the guest's profile: in Guests (main menu, or More › Guests on a phone), search their name or phone and click them. From a booking, click the guest's name at the top.
2. 2Click the small lock-eye icon beside Guest notes (Add discrete note).
3. 3Type the note.
4. 4Close the box, then click Save profile.

• Your venue can require a PIN to view discrete notes (Application Settings › Printing › Require PIN to view).

Hostbook can fill in the occasion automatically when they book near the date.

1. 1Open the guest's profile: in Guests (main menu, or More › Guests on a phone), search their name or phone and click them. From a booking, click the guest's name at the top.
2. 2Under Birthday or Anniversary, pick the date (and add whose it is in Name if it's not the guest's).
3. 3Click + to add another person's.
4. 4Click Save profile.

Give a regular who lingers a longer table time automatically.

1. 1Open the guest's profile: in Guests (main menu, or More › Guests on a phone), search their name or phone and click them. From a booking, click the guest's name at the top.
2. 2Click the clock-plus icon at the top (Usual dining times).
3. 3Under Add override, set Party size and Duration (minutes).
4. 4Click Add.

Saved straight away. Their future bookings for that party size use this length.

Connect partners or family who share a phone, while keeping separate profiles.

1. 1Open one guest's profile.
2. 2Under Household & identity, type two letters of the other person's name in Find a profile to link….
3. 3Click Link beside them.

They're linked straight away. Each keeps their own preferences and history; this isn't a merge.

• Click Unlink current guest to remove someone from the household.

Combine two or more profiles for the same person (admins only).

1. 1Open Admin Settings (admin PIN) and go to Data › Duplicate guests.
2. 2Click Find duplicate guests, then Load guest profiles.
3. 3Choose a Match level: Strict (same name and phone, or same email) or Lenient (also close names like Barb and Barbara).
4. 4Click Scan for duplicates.
5. 5For each group, choose the profile to keep under Keep this profile, then click Merge group and confirm.

The other profiles are removed; their visits, notes and tags move onto the one you kept.

• Merging can't be undone. Click Keep separate for groups that aren't the same person.
• To merge all likely matches at once, click Merge … likely matches.

Clean out profiles with no last name, no phone or bad numbers (admins only).

1. 1Open Admin Settings › Data › Duplicate guests.
2. 2In Remove incomplete profiles, tick the kinds to remove (for example No last name, Invalid phone number).
3. 3Click Load guest list and review and check the count.
4. 4Click Remove matching profiles, then Remove profiles.

• Profiles with any visit, message or payment are always kept. This can't be undone.

An amber banner says some guest profiles need review, for example a possible shared phone.

1. 1Click Review profiles on the banner.
2. 2Read each flag under Identity review and click Resolve once handled.

Export guests (or reservations or members) to a spreadsheet or PDF (admins only).

1. 1Open Admin Settings › Data › Import, then Open data tools.
2. 2Click Download a backup.
3. 3Click Guests CSV or Guests PDF (or the Reservations or Members versions).

• The download is the whole list; it can't be filtered.

Bring in guests, reservations or members from a spreadsheet (admins only).

1. 1Open Admin Settings › Data › Import, then Open data tools › Import records.
2. 2Choose Guests (import guests before reservations). Download the template if you need it, then upload your file.
3. 3Match your columns to Hostbook's fields, and fix or leave out problem rows.
4. 4Choose how to handle existing guests: Fill in the blanks or Update with file values.
5. 5Confirm and import.

Members are guests who agreed to marketing email.

1. 1Open the guest's profile and look for the Member badge under their name.

• Staff can't tick a guest onto the list. Guests join from your members signup page or widget (link in Admin Settings › Venue profile › Members mailing list), by ticking the box when booking an event, or from an imported members file.
• Guests leave by clicking unsubscribe in an email. After a campaign, a manager can also use Remove selected in its Campaign report.