Online check-in lets guests give you their details before they arrive. When they finish, they go straight to their guest app with the door code, Wi-Fi and directions. Online check-in is on every plan.

What guests go through

Every check-in has two fixed steps and up to three you choose:

Step Always on? What the guest does
Your details Yes Confirms name, email and phone. The guest app link is emailed to this address.
Estimated Arrival Time You choose Picks roughly when they will arrive.
Vehicle & Parking You choose Says if they come by car and types the registration number.
ID Verification You choose (Growth plan or higher) Uploads a photo of their ID.
Confirmation Yes Checks the details, reads your house rules and ticks a box to accept them.

At the top of the settings page, What guests go through shows the steps as they are now, and follows your switches as you change them.

Choose the steps

  1. Go to Settings and open Guest portal & online check-in. The Check-in tab opens.
  2. Under Check-in steps, switch Estimated Arrival Time on or off.
  3. Switch Vehicle & Parking on or off. When it is on you can also tick Ask vehicle type, and then Require guest to select one (mandatory) if you plan parking bays.
  4. If you want ID photos, switch ID Verification on and choose Whose ID do you need? (see Guest ID photos).
  5. Under House rules and agreement, keep Standard rules or pick Write my own rules.
  6. Click Save Check-in Settings.

The change applies to the next guest who opens check-in. A step that is off is completely hidden from guests.

Note: The first time you switch on ID Verification, TIOO asks you to confirm your responsibilities for guest ID photos on a one-time page (Enable ID Verification). The ID step only turns on after you click I accept these responsibilities.

House rules guests accept

Standard rules are made from your house rules settings (check-in and check-out times, quiet hours, smoking, pets, fees) and are shown in the guest's language. Change those in House rules.

Write my own rules shows your text exactly as you type it. It is not translated. You can also change the sentence next to the tick box; the standard sentence is translated for guests, your own is shown as typed. The preview on the page shows what guests will see.

When a guest finishes, a copy of exactly what they agreed to is kept on their reservation.

Different steps for each property

If you have more than one property, the page says Organisation defaults at the top: these settings apply to every property that has no settings of its own.

  1. Pick the property in the property picker at the top of the dashboard.
  2. On the Check-in tab, click Customise for (property name).
  3. Change the steps and click Save Check-in Settings.

To go back to the shared settings, click Reset to defaults.

Where guests find check-in

The Guest Check-in Link card at the top of the page has your check-in address with Copy and Open. It works on its own, even without a website. Guests open it, type their booking reference, and start.

TIOO also emails the check-in link the day before arrival to confirmed guests who have an email address. See Send a guest their check-in link.

  • Check-in opens 3 days before arrival and stays open until the stay ends.
  • If a guest tries too early, or types a reference TIOO can't find, they see one message: "We couldn't open check-in with that reference." TIOO doesn't say why, so nobody can guess other guests' bookings by trying references.
  • A guest who has already checked in is sent to their guest app.
  • One booking reference with several rooms is one check-in. The guest checks in once and every room is covered.

What happens when a guest finishes

  • The booking gets the email, phone, arrival time and car registration the guest gave. This is often the first time a booking from a booking site has an email and phone.
  • The guest gets an email with the link to their guest app, in their language.
  • The guest record appears in Guest Records.
  • On Growth or higher, Check-in Insights shows how many guests started and finished, where they stopped, and their ID photos.

Careful: Changing a step doesn't change check-ins that are already finished. Guests who checked in before won't be asked again.

Who can change this

People who can change settings (owners and admins in the ready-made roles).

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