Learn how to set up and manage the online check-in form for your listings and collect guest information before arrival.

What is the Online Check-in Form?

The Online Check-in Form allows you to collect:

Guest information. Names, phone numbers, emails, IDs, and selfies before check-in, for all of the staying guests or only the main guests
Estimated Arrival and Departure Times. Which will automatically adjust the reservation, cleanings, and all relevant automation
Custom questions. These are linked to customized fields to collect special requests and preferences from your guests. If you wish, you can also include the Rental Agreement in the form, as well as Upsells

Where can you find this feature?

Go to your Hostaway Dashboard > Listings > Edit > Guest Portal tab
To activate the Online Check-in Form for a listing, turn on the Online Check-in Form toggle
You can bulk-copied to other listings. When doing so, all of the form’s settings are copied as-is; there is no option to select which settings to copy

How do you download all the guest information from the Online Check-in Form?

Hostaway Dashboard allows you to download all guest data from the online check-in form in one place.

You can easily download guest information by following the next steps:

Go to your Hostaway Dashboard > Reservations
Click on Download Guest data > CSV
Use filters to customize your download
To download guest data for all reservations, clear filters
You will download all data from the check-in form for filtered reservations

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Recommendations & Limitations

The Online Check-in Form will be available in the Guest Portal for a certain number of days (i.e. 3 days before check-in) and until the form is submitted by the guest
Guests can save the form as a draft and get back to filling it out later in case they need more time to collect the information
The link will be active until the form is submitted
Guest information for all staying guests will be added to the Guest Book and can be used for marketing purposes. The primary guest is saved in the Guest Book at the moment of reservation creation, so it will always be in the Guest Book. However, the rest of the guest's information will be stored when the check-in form is submitted
We collect guest information only for adult guests (18+)
Hostaway does not check the ID of the Guest to make sure that it is not a fake
Once check-in time has passed, the Online Check-in Form will no longer be accessible via the Guest Portal. It will still be accessible via its unique URL so that guests can fill it out even after check-in

To learn more, watch the Walkthrough Video on:

Online Check-in Form Settings

Channels. The form can be active for all channels or only for some channels. For example, you may feel that Airbnb guests' identity is validated well enough, so they do not need an extra layer of validation, and turn off the form for Airbnb guests
Form activation time. This determines when the form will be accessible via the Guest Portal. The form is only accessible via the Guest Portal if the Reservation status is Confirmed as Modified. The form is available via its unique URL until it is submitted
Text Displayed. You can write a custom text to appear at the beginning and the end of the form
Checkboxes. Determine which information should be collected:
- Estimated arrival time
  - Guests cannot enter an arrival time that is earlier than the default check-in time in the reservation
  - This also activates the non-mandatory "arrival method" field, and if "Plane" is selected as the arrival method, then flight numbers can also be collected. It will display in the guest reservation page
  - Changing those in the form will affect all relevant automation, cleanings, etc
- Estimated departure time
  - Guests cannot enter a departure time that is later than the default check-out time in the reservation
- Rental agreement
  - Will be included only if it has not been signed yet
  - It can be found on the guest reservation page
- Guest information
  - These fields can be mandatory or not
  - Name, Sex, Email, Phone Number, Birth Date, Nationality, Place of birth, Place of issue, ID Number, ID photo, and Selfie
  - These fields can be collected for the main guest only (the one that made the reservation) or all staying adult guests
  - Changing the main guest’s name in the form will change it in the reservation as well
  - All guest information can be found on the reservation page and the Guest Book
- Additional Questions
  - These are linked to custom reservation fields and can be used to collect further information
  - For example, if a parking space is required or if the guest is traveling with a pet
  - Answers appear in the reservation under Custom Fields and can be used to create custom automation flows or display specific information in Tasks
  - Additional questions can be mandatory or not
  - You can set additional questions in two different ways:
    - Guest-specific questions. This is a question for every guest, where you can add any question that every guest on the reservation needs to answer
    - General reservation questions (Additional info). This is a single question for the entire reservation. An answer is required for the reservation using a custom field
  - For the moment, these answers will not be included in the CSV file

Add Upsells to your Online Check-in Form

To set up which Upsells will be displayed in the Online Check-in Form, follow these steps:

Go to Listings > Edit > Price & Fees
Select the fee you would like to edit
Go right and click on the grey engine icon > Edit fee
Select "Online Check-in Form" in the "Appears in" dropdown
Save

Sending the Online Check-in Form to guests

The form has a unique URL that exists as a dynamic field and can be used in Message Automation
Use the dynamic field {{online_checkin_link}}
The form is accessible via the Guest Portal starting from the form activation time (as set in the settings) until check-in time

Filling out the Online Check-in Form

When the guest accesses the form, they should fill out all the mandatory fields to submit it. Keep in mind that even if the field is only applicable to the main guest, it must still be specified as mandatory or not.
Guests can save the form as a draft
Once submitted, the guest is prompted whether they want to purchase upsells. They can skip this stage
If there is a credit card in the reservation, the upsells will be immediately and automatically charged to that credit card. If not, the guest will be prompted to enter a credit card
Submitting the form is irreversible, and guests cannot edit their responses. The information can be edited from the Hostaway Dashboard

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