Merging duplicate guests

The same person books online in March with one email, rings up in June and gives a mobile, and you have two guests where you had one. Neither record shows the full picture, and the regular you have had for a year looks like two first-timers.

Finding duplicates

Open a guest and press Merge duplicate. It offers the records that look like the same person, so you are picking from a short list rather than hunting.

You will also spot them by eye in the Guests list — two rows, one name, both with a single visit. The search box takes a phone number, which is usually the fastest way to confirm it is really them.

Merging two records

1. Open the record you want to keep.

2. Press Merge duplicate and choose the other record.

3. Confirm. The two become one, and their history is in one place.

Bookings from both records end up on the survivor, so the visit and cover counts add up rather than being split. Managers and owners can do this; hosts cannot.

Choosing which one survives

The record you start from is the one that stays. Start from whichever has the contact details you would actually use to reach them — usually the newer one, since a current mobile beats an email address from two years ago.