VIPs, tags and notes
What this covers
The three ways to record what you know about a guest, and where each one shows up. Editing needs permission to update guests (Owner, Manager or Host).
VIP
A single flag, on or off. Once set, a gold star appears next to that guest everywhere they turn up:
- On their booking block on the Timeline.
- In search results while you are taking a booking.
- On the caller screen-pop, if you use phone integration.
- On their profile and in the guest list.
Its value is entirely in being rare. If a third of your guests are VIPs, the star stops meaning anything and staff stop looking at it. Agree as a team what earns it — a genuine regular, a critic, an owner's guest — and keep it to that.
Tags
Free-text labels, as many as you like per guest: wine club, corporate, hotel guest, birthday club, reviewer.
Tags are for groups — a VIP flag says "treat this person well", a tag says "this person belongs to a set". You can filter the guest list by tag, and the guest report can segment by them, so tags are what turn your guest list into something you can act on: everyone tagged "wine club", exported and invited to a tasting.
Keeping tags usable
- Agree the list. Tags are free text, so Wine Club, wine club and wineclub become three different tags nobody can filter reliably.
- Keep them few. Five useful tags beat forty that nobody maintains.
- Tag groups, not moods. "corporate" is a tag; "was rude last time" is a note.
Notes
Free text about the guest, which your team sees on the booking when they open it — so a note written in January reaches the server in June without anyone having to look the guest up.
Good notes are specific and useful: "Always asks for table 6", "Severe nut allergy", "Celebrates anniversary in May", "Prefers no music near their table".
Guest notes versus booking notes
Three boxes exist and it is worth knowing which is which:
| Box | Lives on | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Guest Notes | The guest, forever | Things true on every visit — allergies, preferences, who they are. |
| Special Requests | One booking | What they asked for this time — a highchair, a birthday cake. |
| Internal Notes | One booking, staff only | Anything about this visit your team should know. |
Write as if the guest might read it
They cannot — none of these are guest-facing. But staff turnover, screens get left open, and data can be exported. Keep notes factual and professional: "Left without paying, 14 March" is a record; an insult is a liability.