How do I check booking guests in with a QR code?

Switch on "Check guests in with a QR code" and every confirmed booking gets its own check-in code — a QR in the booking emails, on the Wallet pass and the manage page — that your team scans on the Scanner's Bookings mode to mark the guest arrived, with allergies shown first.

Your team can check a booking's guests in by scanning a QR code, the way tickets are scanned at an event. It's on every plan and off until you switch it on.

Switching it on

Go to Settings → Customer notifications → When a booking is made and turn on Check guests in with a QR code. From then on every confirmed table booking carries its own check-in code:

• a QR (with the code written under it) in the confirmation, the reminder and the "booking changed" emails
• on the booking's Apple Wallet or Google Wallet pass, when you also have Wallet passes for bookings on
• on the customer's manage-booking page

Walk-ins, waitlist places and event tickets don't get one (tickets have their own QR). A booking request waiting for your approval doesn't show its code to the customer yet — it arrives with your approval (its email, the Wallet pass and the manage page). Turning the switch off takes the code out of new emails; nothing about the booking changes.

The code only works for your team. A customer who opens it on their own phone just sees a reminder to show it when they arrive — never the booking — so a photographed or forwarded code is no use to anyone else.

Scanning a guest in

Open Scanner and choose Bookings (or tap Scan a guest in on the Bookings page). Point the camera at the customer's QR, or type the 14-letter code under it and tap Check in.

• Today's booking is marked arrived straight away. The card says Checked in, and Undo puts it back if it was the wrong party.
• Another day's booking changes nothing: the card says which day it's for, with Mark arrived anyway if you want to let them in early.
• A no-show asks first, with Mark arrived anyway.
• A cancelled booking says so — find them in Bookings if they need a table.
• Already checked in says when, and who scanned them.

Allergies and dietary needs always come first on the card, in a warning box, so the person on the door sees them before anything else. The card also shows the party size, the table, the customer's note, the occasion, whether they've paid a deposit or pre-ordered, and — for people who can see bookings — the staff note.

Scanning never seats anyone — the table may not be ready. When it is, Seat at T4 (with the booking's table) seats them in one tap, for people who can edit bookings. If your venue is on "Just take bookings" (you don't track arrivals), a scan opens the booking and Mark arrived is a button rather than automatic.

Who can scan bookings in

Owners, Admins, Managers and Hosts can, with the Check guests in at the door permission they have by default. On plans that include roles, you can switch it off for a role — or give it to a custom role — in Roles and permissions; a custom role made before this feature needs it ticked. Door (scanner only) logins always can while the venue's switch is on — they see the guest's allergies and notes but never the staff note, can't seat anyone, and can only undo a check-in they made themselves. The staff note only shows to people who can see bookings.

No connection? Find the guest in Bookings instead — scanning needs the internet.

Related: How do I check tickets at the door? · Which confirmations and reminders do customers get?