Four o'clock, a coach of arrivals and a pile of cards
Check-in opens at three. By four there are eight people at the desk, each filling in a registration card with a biro on a clipboard. The receptionist reads each card, checks the booking, asks overseas guests for their passports, types the car registration into the PMS for the car park list, takes a card for incidentals, and explains breakfast times. Each guest takes several minutes. The queue gets longer while the family at the front hunts for their postcode.
The cards go in a box under the desk. Some are hard to read. Some are missing the car registration. When a guest phones a month later about a parking fine from the hotel car park, nobody can find their card.
Why the paper card survives
Registration cards exist for good reasons. Hotels keep records of who stayed, and many have rules about recording certain details for overseas guests, alongside their own needs such as car registrations and signed acceptance of terms. The paper card was the simplest way to do all that in one go, and it stuck.
- The details are needed, but most of them could be collected before the guest arrives.
- The PMS may have fields for them, but somebody has to type them in.
- OTA bookings arrive with limited guest details, often a masked email address.
- Some guests are happy to register online and some are not, so the desk must handle both.
- Paper cards are hard to search and store safely.
What the queue costs
The first minutes of a stay set the tone, and a queue at the desk is a poor start. Receptionists spend check-in reading handwriting and typing details instead of talking to guests, upselling a room upgrade or dinner, or explaining the hotel. Data typed from paper is less accurate, and a box of cards is hard to search when you need something from it.
There is also the question of keeping personal details properly: paper cards are easy to leave on the desk and hard to dispose of on time.
How we build online pre-arrival registration
- A few days before arrival, each guest receives a message with a link to a short registration form for their booking. For OTA bookings, the message is sent through the OTA's messaging where direct email is not available.
- The form asks only for what your hotel's own rules require: names, address, car registration, arrival time, and passport details for overseas guests where your rules ask for them.
- Guests can add requests (dietary needs, cots, dinner times) and accept your terms. A card for incidentals can be taken securely through your payment provider if you want that.
- Details are written straight to the reservation in your PMS through its API, so nothing is typed twice.
- At the desk, reception sees who has registered. Registered guests get a quick welcome and a key. Guests who have not registered use the same form on a tablet at the desk.
- Records are kept and deleted in line with the retention periods you set.
| Detail | Paper card | Online registration |
|---|---|---|
| Name and address | Handwritten, retyped | Typed by the guest, written to PMS |
| Car registration | Often missing | Required field, feeds the car park list |
| Overseas guest details | Passport checked at the desk | Collected in advance where your rules require |
| Terms accepted | Signature on card | Recorded with a timestamp |
Which details you collect and how long you keep them is your decision and your adviser's. We build the form to match your rules.
Four o'clock, with most guests pre-registered
Most of the coach's passengers registered on the way. The receptionist checks names, hands out keys and explains breakfast. The two who did not register fill in the form on a tablet while the next guest is checked in. The car park list is already up to date.
When someone asks about a car registration or a stay last month, the details are on the reservation, searchable. The box under the desk goes.
Is paper registration slowing you down?
- Every guest fills in a paper card at check-in.
- Queues build at the desk during peak arrival times.
- Registration details are retyped into the PMS.
- Car registrations and other details are often missing.
- Finding an old registration card means searching boxes.