Front Desk on the Register
Use this page to run the front desk from the register: walk-ins, check-in, a guest's bill, check-out and payment.
Quick steps
To check in a walk-in:
- On the register, tap the Guests tab (next to Products; on a phone, Guests on the bottom bar).
- Tap Walk-In. Set the dates and pick the site type, then tap the site.
- Enter the Guest Name and number of Guests, then tap Check In — [site] — $[total].
- Ring up anything they're buying now (firewood, ice) onto their bill, then tap Done. Take payment for the stay with Room (see below).
When a booked guest arrives: on the Today tab, find them under Arriving Today, tap Check In, then Confirm Check-In.
When they leave:
- Tap Check Out on their booking, then Check Out & Settle Folio (or Confirm Check-Out). Anything on their bill loads into the cart — take payment.
- If the stay itself still owes money, tap Room on the cart, tap the booking, and take payment.
A guest's bill (folio) is only opened when a cash drawer is open. Check a guest in with no drawer open and nothing can be put on their bill.
Common questions
How do I put firewood or ice on a guest's bill? Tap View Folio on their booking, then Add Item. Ring the items up as normal and tap Done on the banner.
There's no View Folio button on a checked-in guest. No cash drawer was open when they checked in. Open the drawer before checking guests in.
The guest is staying longer. Tap Extend on their booking, pick the new check-out date, and tap Extend by N Night(s).
The booking still says owing after the guest paid. Only payments taken through Room are recorded on the booking. If they paid another way, use Mark paid in full on the site.
The internet is down. Walk-In and Reserve still work from the register's saved copy of your sites. Check-in, check-out and extending need a connection.
More detail: the Guests view
The front desk's day-to-day lodging work happens on the register, not in the admin: taking walk-ins, checking guests in and out, ringing up firewood and ice onto a guest's bill, and taking payment. Clerks can do all of it.
This page uses campground wording — Site. A hotel's register says Room, a vacation rental's says Unit.
Opening the Guests View
When lodging is switched on for your store, the register gets a Guests view:
- On a computer or tablet, click the Guests tab above the product grid (next to Products). Click Products to go back to selling.
- On a phone, tap Guests on the bar along the bottom. The X closes it.
The view refreshes itself every minute.
Across the top
- Five tabs: Today, In-House, Upcoming, History and Sites. Today and In-House show a count while you are on them.
- A running tally of your sites: N free, N occupied, and N cleaning when any are being cleaned.
- Reserve — book a guest for later.
- Walk-In — book a guest and check them in now.
- A search box. On the booking tabs it matches the guest's name, the site, the site type or the confirmation number. On Sites, it matches the site's name, location, type or current guest.
The tabs
| Tab | What it lists |
|---|---|
| Today | Three groups: Departing Today (checked in and due out today), Arriving Today (due in today), and Current Guests (everyone checked in). A guest leaving today appears in both Departing Today and Current Guests. |
| In-House | Everyone checked in. |
| Upcoming | Bookings arriving after today. |
| History | The last 50 guests who checked out. |
| Sites | The Sites board. See The Sites board. |
A booking card
Each booking shows the guest, the confirmation number, a status badge, the site type and site, the nights and guests, the dates and total, and — when the booking has a deposit — either a green Deposit paid or an orange Deposit: $X. A checked-in guest with charges on their bill shows + $X charges.
The buttons on the card depend on where the booking stands:
| Button | Shown when |
|---|---|
| Check In | Pending or Confirmed. |
| View Folio | Checked in, with a folio. |
| Extend | Checked in. |
| Check Out | Checked in. |
| Cancel | Pending or Confirmed. |
More detail: walk-ins and bookings for later
Walk-Ins and New Bookings
Walk-In books a site and checks the guest in straight away. Reserve books a site for later without checking anyone in. Both go through the same three steps.
- Pick Site Type. Set the Check-in and Check-out dates (today and tomorrow to start with). Each type shows its nightly price, its amenities, how many guests it takes and how many sites are free — for example "3 of 10 available". Types with nothing free are greyed out. If you only have one site type and it has room, this step is skipped.
- Pick a Site. Tap the site the guest wants.
- Guest Details (or Booking Details for Reserve). Enter the Guest Name — required — the number of Guests, and check the Check-out date. If the site type charges a pet fee, set Pets; if it charges for extra vehicles, set Vehicles (it starts at 1 — the first vehicle comes with the site). Tap + Add notes for anything else, such as a vehicle licence plate.
The summary at the top shows the price for the stay, with a line for Pets, Extra vehicles or Extra guests when they add anything. The button at the bottom reads Check In — [site] — $[total] or Reserve [site] — $[total]. Tap it.
For example, a site type at $50 a night with a $5-per-night pet fee and a $10 extra-vehicle fee: two nights, one dog and two vehicles comes to $100 + $10 + $10 = $120.
It includes your weekend, seasonal and long-stay rates and the pet, extra-vehicle and extra-guest fees. The booking's total is worked out again when it is saved, and that is what the booking card shows — the two only differ in unusual cases, such as a booking made offline. See Rates & Seasonal Pricing.
The two counters show only for a site type that charges a pet fee or an extra-vehicle fee. The fees go on the booking and on the guest's bill, the same as a booking made in the admin. See Reservations.
A site type that sells rental packages can still be booked here — the register charges it at the nightly rate, not a package price.
No payment is taken in this step. Take payment afterwards — see Taking payment for a stay.
After a walk-in (with a cash drawer open), the register goes straight into adding to the guest's bill — the banner reads Adding to: the site and guest. Ring up anything they are buying now (firewood, a bag of ice) and tap Done when finished. See Putting purchases on a guest's bill.
The same booking rules apply as in the admin: a booking can be refused for a full site type, a blackout period, a minimum stay or too many guests. See Reservations.
More detail: checking in, and the guest's bill
Checking a Guest In
Tap Check In on the booking. The Check In Guest window shows the guest, the site, the dates, the number of guests and the Total stay, plus any deposit still owing. If no site has been given yet, it says "A unit will be auto-assigned from available inventory."
Tap Confirm Check-In. The site becomes Occupied, and a folio — the guest's running bill — is opened.
A folio is only opened when a cash drawer is open. A guest checked in with no drawer open has no folio, so nothing can be put on their bill. See Opening & Closing the Drawer.
Early arrivals
If the stay starts more than a day from now, the register stops and warns: "This stay starts [date]. Only check in early if they have actually arrived — it takes the site out of the pool." Tap Check in anyway if they really are here, or Cancel.
Waivers
If your store requires a signed waiver before check-in and this booking has none, check-in is refused with "Liability waiver must be signed before check-in...". See Liability Waivers.
Putting Purchases on a Guest's Bill
While a guest is checked in, anything they buy can go on their folio and be paid at check-out.
- Tap View Folio on the guest's booking.
- Tap Add Item. The banner Adding to: with the site and guest name appears over the product grid.
- Ring up items as normal — tap, search or scan. They go on the folio, not into the cart.
- Tap Done on the banner to go back to normal selling.
The booking card then shows + $X charges.
More detail: checking out and taking payment for a stay
Checking a Guest Out
Tap Check Out on the booking. The Check Out Guest window shows the stay total, any Folio charges, and the Balance due on the booking itself.
Tap Check Out & Settle Folio (when there are folio charges) or Confirm Check-Out. Then:
- The booking becomes Checked Out.
- The site goes to Cleaning, and a cleaning task is created for housekeeping.
- Folio charges are loaded into the cart — "[Guest] checked out — folio loaded into cart". Take payment as you would for any sale. See Completing Payment.
The folio holds what the guest bought during their stay. The stay itself — the nights, fees and any add-ons — is not part of it, and is paid with the Room button. See the next section.
If a guest is checked out from the admin instead, their unpaid folio charges are moved onto the booking's balance, and you collect them with the Room button. See Reservations.
The register does not ask for a closing meter reading. It uses the reading already stored on the site. To enter today's reading, check the guest out from the reservation page in the admin instead. See Reservations.
Taking Payment for a Stay
The cost of the stay itself is paid through the Room button on the cart.
- Tap Room (purple) on the cart. A window titled Charge to Site opens with the bookings that have a balance to collect — each showing the site, the guest, their check-out date and the Balance. Bookings that are fully paid are not listed.
- Find the booking — search by the guest's name, the site or the confirmation number.
- Tap it. What the booking owes loads into the cart as fixed lines.
- Take payment as normal.
What loads into the cart depends on whether anything has been paid yet:
| The booking… | The cart shows |
|---|---|
| Has had nothing paid | The stay itemised: the nights (or the rental package — one or the other, never both), then any pet fee, extra guest fee, extra vehicle fee, electric charge and add-ons, each on its own line. |
| Has had something paid — an online deposit, an earlier payment | One line, Balance for [number] (after $X paid), for what is still owed. |
Things to know:
- The payment is recorded on the booking. Once the sale is paid, the booking's balance drops by what was collected, and the admin shows it paid — no need to mark it paid as well.
- A later charge is a new balance. If something is added after the guest has paid — more add-ons, extra nights, folio charges moved over at an admin check-out — the booking shows up in the Room list again with just the new amount owing.
- A booking marked No sale has nothing to load yet — "Reservation [number] has no linked sale yet — try again in a moment."
More detail: extending or cancelling a stay
Extending a Stay
Tap Extend on a checked-in guest's booking (or Extend stay on their site). Pick the New check-out date — it cannot be earlier than the current one — and tap Extend by N Night(s).
The window shows an estimate: the extra nights at the booking's average nightly rate, plus the fees and add-ons already on it. The booking's rate and total are worked out again for the new dates when it saves. Add-ons stay on the booking — ones charged per night or per guest are re-priced for the new length. If another booking already has the site for the extra nights, the extension is refused with "Unit is not available for the extended dates".
Cancelling a Booking
Tap Cancel on a Pending or Confirmed booking and confirm "Cancel reservation for [guest] ([number])? This cannot be undone." with Cancel Reservation (or Keep to back out). The message that follows says whether the cancellation was inside the site type's free cancellation window — "Reservation cancelled. Full refund eligible." — or past it.
Cancelling does not refund any money. Refund a guest's online payment through your card processor.
More detail: the Sites board
The Sites Board
The Sites tab shows every site, grouped by site type, with a coloured dot for its status. Filter with the chips along the top — All, Available, Occupied, Reserved, Cleaning, Maintenance — each with a count.
Each tile shows the site's name and, depending on its state:
- Occupied — the guest and the day they leave, for example "out Sep 18".
- Booked — the guest, the dates, and Paid (nothing left to pay) or Unpaid.
- Maintenance — a wrench.
Tap a tile to open the site. It shows the site's Status, how many it Sleeps, the Nightly rate and any Note, then the current or next guest — their Stay, Party, Total, Balance (Paid only once nothing is owed), Booked via, Confirmation and Booking note — or "Nobody is booked into this one."
The buttons depend on the site:
| The site is… | Buttons |
|---|---|
| Occupied | Folio (the guest's bill), Extend stay, Check out. |
| Booked, guest not yet here | Check in; Mark paid in full (when money is owing); Cancel booking, which asks "Cancel [guest]'s booking and put [site] back in the pool?" |
| Free | Book this one (opens a booking for this site), plus whichever of Needs cleaning, Out of service and Mark available would change its status. |
Out of service puts the site into Maintenance, so it cannot be booked, and Mark available brings it back. You cannot change the status of a site that has a guest checked in ("Someone is checked in. Check them out first.") or a booking waiting ("This one is booked. Cancel the booking first.").
Mark paid in full records the whole balance as paid — the same as the button on the reservation in the admin. Use it when the guest paid some other way, such as an e-transfer. See Reservations.
More detail: working offline
Working Offline
While the register is online, it keeps its own copy of your sites, which nights each one is already booked, and your rates and fees. It refreshes that copy every couple of minutes while the Guests view is open.
If the internet drops, Walk-In and Reserve still work from that copy:
- A yellow banner says you are offline and when the copy was made.
- Only sites that were free in the copy are offered. A site you booked offline is not offered again for the same nights.
- When you tap the button, the booking is saved on the register — the message reads "Saved offline — [site] for [guest] will be confirmed when the register is back online." No payment is taken and the register does not open the guest's bill yet.
- The booking shows at the top of the Guests view as waiting to be confirmed until the register reconnects. It is then booked (and, for a walk-in, checked in) on its own.
If somebody booked the same site from another register or online while yours was offline, the booking is not made on top of theirs. It stays at the top of the Guests view in red, saying the site was booked by someone else. Tap Move to [site] to put the guest in one of the sites still free for those nights, or Dismiss once you have sorted it out with the guest another way. A booking refused for any other reason (for example, too many pets for that site type) also shows here in red with the reason.
If the register has never opened the Guests view while online, it has no copy yet, and Walk-In says "This register has no saved copy of the sites yet." Write the guest down and book them once you are back online.
Check In, Check Out, extending a stay and the Sites board still need a connection. Ordinary sales work offline; see Offline Mode.
More detail: troubleshooting and best practices
Troubleshooting
There is no View Folio button on a checked-in guest. No cash drawer was open when they were checked in. Open the drawer before checking guests in.
The walk-in total changed after I saved it. The booking's total is worked out again when it is saved. Offline, the estimate uses only your base and weekend nightly rates, so a seasonal or long-stay rate can change it once the booking is confirmed. The booking card shows the real total.
A walk-in I took offline is red at the top of the Guests view. The site was booked by someone else while this register was offline. Move the guest to one of the free sites listed, or dismiss it once you have dealt with it.
A booking still shows as owing after the guest paid at the register. Only a payment taken through Room is recorded on the booking. If it was rung up another way, use Mark paid in full. If a charge was added after the payment, that new amount is still owing — collect it through Room.
I can't find the guest in the Room list. The list only shows bookings with a balance to collect, so a fully paid booking is not there. Otherwise, search by the guest's name, the site or the confirmation number.
Best Practices
- Open the drawer before the first check-in of the day, so every guest gets a folio.
- Put everything a guest buys on their folio while they stay, and settle it all at check-out.
- Take stay payments through Room. It records the payment on the booking, so the admin list stays right. Use Mark paid in full only for money taken some other way.
What's Next?
- Reservations — the admin side of every booking.
- Housekeeping — what happens to a site after check-out.
- Completing Payment — taking payment on the register.