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Guest registry

Moving Your Guest Registry from Paper to Phones: Five Things That Trip People Up

A practical guide to moving check-in paperwork onto the guest's own phone: what to collect, how guests from other countries fill it in, and how to decide retention and deletion. We separate what needs your judgement from what only needs a decision.

Published: Aug 30, 2026Updated: Aug 30, 2026Reading time: 7 min
Guest registryCheck-inPersonal dataMultilingual
6 languages

Languages on the form

Guests can fill it in in Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, French or Spanish.

You choose

Fields collected

Beyond the name, every field is optional. What you do not need is never shown.

No extra cost

Cost of the registry

Entry and viewing are on every plan. CSV export starts from Starter.

What you'll learn
  • Retiring paper is mostly about deciding what you collect and when you delete it, not about redesigning a form.
  • Only ask for nationality and passport details if your property actually needs them. Asking everyone stalls the form.
  • You decide the retention period and run it. Rules exist, so confirm them for your own situation.
  • Plan for weak signal. That is where check-in usually breaks down on the day.
  • Whether you need a handwritten signature depends on your property type and local rules. Check before you configure.

What changes is not the form, but where the decisions live

In a paper registry, the operating rules dissolve into the form itself. "Leave this blank", "use the other sheet for overseas guests" — those judgements live in the head of whoever is at the desk. When that person changes, the judgements leave with them.

Moving to phone entry forces you to make those judgements once, up front, and store them as settings. It feels like more work, but you are only doing in one sitting what you used to do at every check-in.

So the migration is not about building a form. It is about deciding these five things.

The five decisions

  • 1. What you collect — beyond the name, address, occupation, phone, email and party size are each optional.
  • 2. What you additionally ask guests from other countries — whether to show nationality and passport number, and whether to show it to everyone or only to those who declare a foreign nationality.
  • 3. Whether you take a signature — accept a handwritten signature on screen, or not at all.
  • 4. How long you keep it — the retention period, and what happens to a record when that period is up.
  • 5. Who can see it — whether you restrict who can open the registry.

How it runs

Guests can fill it in before arrival or after

1

Scan the QR on the guest page

2

Pick a language

3

Fill in the fields shown

4

It appears in your dashboard

When it is done in advance, all that is left on arrival is handing over the key.

Do not show the nationality fields to everyone

If you show the passport field to everyone, domestic guests stop and wonder whether it applies to them. Guests who stop go looking for a person. That is the classic way a digital form ends up costing more time than paper.

Some properties do need to ask everyone. Which is right depends on your property type and local rules, so we do not hard-code either. It is a setting you switch.

If you are unsure, start by showing it only to guests who declare a foreign nationality, and widen it once you know you need to.

Decide retention and deletion before you need them

Registries accumulate. If you have not decided when records go, you end up with a pile you are not sure you may delete. Retention rules exist, so confirm them for your own property type and local authority. We cannot tell you that any particular setting is sufficient.

Once you have decided, having expired records removed automatically keeps the job small. ConcierBot lets you set a retention period in days and deletes expired records in a daily job. If you do not set one, nothing is deleted.

For guests who ask for their record to be removed, each entry can also be deleted individually. That cannot be undone, so check it does not conflict with your retention rules first.

On the day, the thing that breaks is the signal

In a detached house up a valley, or at a basement entrance, your guest's phone may have no signal. The form needs a connection, so that is where it stops.

This is why many properties keep one paper sheet in reserve rather than throwing the pad away. Assume paper survives for the spots without signal, and check-in day stays calm.

Inviting guests to fill it in before arrival also makes the problem far less likely to come up at all.

FAQ
Is the registry a paid feature?

No. Entry by the guest and viewing in your dashboard are available on every plan, including the free one. Only CSV export starts from Starter.

Does this mean my record-keeping requirements are met?

We cannot tell you that. What must be recorded varies by property type and local authority, and our system does not verify that fields are filled — address and occupation can both be submitted blank. What we provide is a way to collect and keep records; judging the requirements is yours to do.

What if the guest has no phone?

Open the same screen on a property tablet and enter it for them. Where there is no signal, keeping one paper sheet in reserve is the reliable answer.

Can I submit the exported CSV as-is?

We cannot judge whether it matches the format anyone asks you for. The CSV contains exactly what was entered, as plain text. Storing, sharing and disposing of the downloaded file is yours to manage.

Move the paper registry onto your guests' phones

The form is available in six languages, you choose which fields to ask for, and entry and viewing are available from the free plan.

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