VisitorsComing soon

The Visitors module answers three questions for the front desk: who am I expecting today, who has already arrived and was the host notified? The member registers the guest ahead of time (name, day and time), the front desk marks the arrival with one tap, and the guest can also announce themselves on the Attendance kiosk, which recognizes them.

Coming soon Coming to communities: the Visitors module is ready and will show up when creating spaces (Coworking tab) when the update goes live. The API reference and the assistant tools come with it.

#What it's for

#Relationship with Attendance

Visitors doesn't work alone: it is linked to an Attendance space, chosen at creation. The advance registration is only the expectation; when the guest arrives, the arrival becomes an Attendance visit, just like a guest registered by the front desk. So:

• the arrival counts in the occupancy, in Who's here and in the Attendance history, and the departure (by the team, by the kiosk or automatic) works as always;
• if the front desk had already registered the same name with the same host through Mark guest, the arrival links to the existing visit instead of duplicating it. Tapping Arrived twice doesn't duplicate either;
• the front desk can still register someone who arrives unannounced, through Attendance's Mark guest, with no advance registration;
• a community with two locations creates one Visitors space for each Attendance space.

The guest is not a member and doesn't count as one. Registering, checking in and checking out don't create an account, profile or invitation, and don't touch the plan's member cap. The guest is just a text record (name, company, email and phone). If their email belongs to a member, nothing is linked; the team sees the Already a member notice next to the name, the host doesn't.

You can't delete the Attendance space while a Visitors space is linked to it: the screen asks you to unlink or delete the Visitors space first.

#How it works

#A guest's lifecycle

The time window is informational: arriving outside it, on the same day, is allowed. Day and time are read in the community country's time zone. A registration is for one day; for another day, edit the date. You can't register a day that has already passed.

#The space settings

At space creation, and afterwards in Configure space (the Manage visitors bar, admin and owner only):

Access to the space follows the rule of any space: visibility, plan and group. The host must be able to open both the Visitors space and the linked Attendance space.

#Who does what

The team, in this module, is the owner, the admin, the moderator and finance.

No member sees another member's guest. Whoever generates the kiosk link is Attendance (moderator, admin and owner).

#The member: My guests

The space opens on the My guests tab, with the list of the member's guests (Upcoming or Last 30 days), each with the state, the host and, once they arrive, the time ("arrived at 2:05 PM").

Registering a guest

1. Tap Register guest (if the space only lets the team register, the screen says so and the button doesn't show).
2. Fill in the guest name, the day, the From time and, if you like, Until. Company, email and phone show up according to the settings. Times are on the community's clock.
3. If the space leaves the choice to you, check Notify the guest (only works with the email filled in).
4. Tap Register.

The screen reminds you: "These are a third party's details. Only fill in what the front desk needs and only with the guest's knowledge." Whoever registers is providing another person's data; tell the guest and ask only for what's needed. See Data and privacy.

Editing and canceling. While the guest hasn't arrived, the member taps Edit (name, day, time, contacts) or Cancel registration. Canceling asks for confirmation ("Cancel this registration?"), and the guest stays in the list as Canceled. Changing the day or time resends the confirmation to the host, once per change. After the arrival, the registration no longer changes.

The team registers on behalf of someone else: the window shows the Host field (Me by default), with Change and a member search by name (3 letters or more).

#The front desk: Today tab

The team sees the Today tab, and the Manage visitors bar shows how many are expected today and how many have arrived. The list shows, from all hosts, name, window, host and state, with search by name or company; those who have arrived stay in the list, with the time.

• Arrived: one tap marks the arrival. The screen says right away whether the host was notified: "Maria Souza arrived. The host was notified." or "…The host was not notified." (this depends on Attendance's Notify the person visited setting; see Email to the host).
• Undo arrival: for a mistaken mark. It only works on the same day and before the departure; the visit disappears from the lists and the occupancy and the registration goes back to Expected.
• Did not show up: a guest who didn't appear by the end of the day moves to this state on its own and leaves the Today tab; it stays in the registration's history (All tab, for admin and owner).

Outside the time window, Arrived is still allowed on the day; on another day, it isn't: "Only guests expected today can be marked as arrived."

The All tab (admin and owner) lists any date, with filters by state, period and host.

#The kiosk recognizes the guest

The kiosk is the front desk iPad, with no login. With Visitors linked to Attendance, it gets one extra step:

1. The guest taps I'm a visitor: check in and types their name, first and last name, with at least 3 letters in each.
2. If there is a guest expected today, who hasn't arrived yet, the screen asks "Are you Maria S.?" (shortened name only; at most three options).
3. On tapping Yes, it's me, the arrival is recorded right away, on the registration: the state goes to Arrived, with no duplicate visit, and the host is notified. Answering that question is the confirmation: there is no other screen. Only then does the screen say who was notified.
4. Not me follows the kiosk's normal flow (choosing the host), with no harm done.

What the kiosk never shows: before the arrival it doesn't reveal host, company, phone, email, time or the day's list. Whoever doesn't know the guest's first name and the start of their last name sees nothing, and whoever does sees only the shortened name they already knew. With fewer than two words of 3 letters, the kiosk doesn't even look. The typed name has to match the registration ("The name doesn't match. Type the name as it appears on your invitation."), and an invitation for another day, already used or canceled is refused. If the mark was a mistake, the team uses Undo arrival.

#Email to the guest

By default, the guest receives nothing. The email is only sent when all conditions hold:

• the community's E-mail to the guest setting is Whoever registers chooses (and the member checked Notify the guest) or Always;
• the registration has the guest's email, the address the member entered.

Content: "Maria Souza is expecting you on Tuesday, October 13" (subject), the host, the day, the time window, the location and the community's arrival instructions, with a note that they got the message because a resident of the community registered them and that, if that's not right, they should reply to whoever invited them. No data about other guests goes along.

Language and time zone: the email goes out in the community's language, with day and time in the community country's time zone. The confirmation to the host goes out in the host's own language, with the same time zone, and carries day, window, location, who registered and the arrival instructions.

Changing the day or time resends the notice, once per change. Every email goes through the sending queue, without slowing the screen, with a protective cap: up to 10 per hour for each host and 200 per day for the community. Past the cap, the registration is valid but the email isn't sent.

#Data and privacy

Visitors keeps personal data of third parties without an account: the guest's name, company, email and phone. The community is the controller, and the member who registers provides the guest's data, which is why the registration screen shows the notice.

• The member sees only their own guests; the team sees today's; admin and owner see any date.
• The kiosk never returns email, phone, company, host or list.
• There is no photo, document, signature or location. The email to the guest is only sent if the community and the member turned it on, to the address the member entered.
• The activity logs keep who registered, checked in or undid.

Tell your members and post a notice at the front desk, as in Attendance.

#Through the assistant and the API

All of this can also be done by chatting with the assistant (MCP): registering, editing and canceling a guest, seeing today's expected guests and marking the arrival, with the same roles as the screen. The steps for each request are in Recipes. The routes are in the API reference, under Visitors, and the kiosk under the Attendance tag.

#Examples

Coworking with a front desk. The space uses Any member and Whoever registers chooses. Ana registers Maria Souza for 2 pm, with email and Notify the guest; Maria gets the address. At 2:05 pm the front desk taps Arrived, Ana is notified, and Maria shows up in Who's here.

Centralized house. The space uses Only the team: the resident asks the front desk, which registers on their behalf, choosing the host.

Guest who arrives alone. With no front desk around, Maria types "Maria Souza" on the iPad, confirms "Are you Maria S.?" and the arrival is recorded on the registration.

#Common errors and how to fix them

#Related

• Attendance
• Assistant tools: Visitors
• Roles and permissions
• Modules