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Configure the Purpose of Stay Step in Pre-Check-In

The Purpose of Stay step lets guests tell you why they are travelling, for example business or leisure, directly in the Pre-Check-In Flow. You define the options guests can choose from per Property, map each option to your PMS where supported, and use the captured value for room allocation, reporting, or city-tax handling.

1. Who Can Use This Feature?​

👤 The configuration page is available in the Operations Platform under Settings → Pre-Check-In for a selected Property. Property Admin (property-admin) and admin can view and edit the configuration. Property Viewer (property-viewer) has view-only access.

ℹ️ The setting is managed per Property. If you work at Account level, switch to a specific Property to see the Pre-Check-In entry in the Settings navigation.

2. How It Works​

a) What guests see​

🛎️ When the feature is configured, guests see a Purpose of Stay dropdown on the personal data step of the Pre-Check-In Flow: on the Digital Guest Portal and on the Self-Service Kiosk.

  • If the selection is optional (default), the dropdown offers a Not specified entry alongside your configured options.
  • If the selection is mandatory, the guest must pick one of your options before continuing.

The step only appears when there is something meaningful to choose:

  • Optional selection, at least one option is shown to guests.
  • Mandatory selection, at least two options are shown to guests.

b) What staff see​

👤 The selected value appears on the reservation in the Operations Platform, in the Guest Insights tab, and staff can also set it during the assisted check-in in the Check-in Wizard.

ℹ️ The value is also one of the criteria a guest segment rule can match on, so the option IDs you configure here can drive notification texts, timings and service targeting. Renaming an option ID breaks the rules that name it.

c) Option labels​

The option ID you configure (for example business) is a stable technical value. The label guests see is maintained as a translation in the Content Management System: one text per option ID and language. If no translation exists yet, guests see the raw ID, so make sure every option has a label before you enable the step.

3. Configure the Purpose of Stay Options​

⚙️ Open Settings → Pre-Check-In for the Property you want to configure. The Purpose of Stay section lists your options in a table.

a) Add options​

Select Add Option and enter the ID of the new option. IDs must be unique. You can add options your PMS does not know (for example student). See PMS Sync Notes (section 4) for how they behave.

Options whose ID is the PMS value itself (for example Apaleo Business and Leisure) are the PMS-native ones. They are the only mapping targets your own options can point at.

b) Manage each option​

Each row in the table offers:

  • Show: toggle whether guests see this option in the dropdown. Hidden options keep their data but are not selectable.
  • Order: use Move Up / Move Down to control the order in the guest-facing dropdown.
  • Map to PMS ID: pick the PMS value this option is written to (for example Apaleo Business / Leisure; Mews Leisure / Business / Student). Leave it unmapped if the PMS has no matching value.
  • Delete: remove the option.

c) Mandatory selection​

Enable Make selection of purpose of stay mandatory to force guests to choose. ⚠️ When the selection is mandatory, at least two options must be shown. Otherwise the configuration cannot be published.

d) Publish your changes​

Changes are held as a draft until you publish. The page reminds you: "Your changes are ready. Publish to apply them, otherwise they might get lost." ✅ Publish to make the configuration live for new guest sessions. If the page reports inconsistencies in the configuration, resolve them first. The banner tells you how many there are.

4. PMS Sync Notes​

🧩 When a guest (or staff member) sets the Purpose of Stay, LIKE MAGIC writes the mapped PMS value to your connected PMS as part of the reservation update:

PMSWhat is writtenSupported values
ApaleotravelPurpose on the reservationBusiness, Leisure
MewsBooking purposeLeisure, Business, Student
Opera CloudPurpose of stay on the reservationThe values configured in your Opera Cloud PMS
  • Options without a PMS mapping are stored in LIKE MAGIC only (visible in the Operations Platform and reports). Nothing is written to the PMS for them.
  • The value is also exposed on the public reservation API, so downstream systems can consume it.

💡 You can offer more options than your PMS supports (for example separate business, leisure, and student options for city-tax reporting) and map only the ones the PMS understands.

5. Wake-Up Time and Estimated Arrival Time​

The Pre-Check-In settings page also lets you add two optional time fields to the same step of the Pre-Check-In Flow:

  • Wake-up Time: ask guests when they would like to be woken.
  • Estimated Arrival Time: ask guests when they expect to arrive.

For each field you can configure:

  • Show During Pre-Check-In: enable or disable the field.
  • Make Selection Mandatory: require a value.
  • Earliest Time / Latest Time: restrict the selectable time range. Neither preselects a value, so a guest who skips the field leaves it empty. ⚠️ The earliest time must be before the latest time.

ℹ️ Both values are shown to staff on the reservation, in the Guest Insights tab, as soon as the field is enabled. Wake-up Time is kept in LIKE MAGIC and is never written to your PMS. The Estimated Arrival Time is written only where the PMS connector carries the field: Apaleo and Mews both drop it, so there it stays in LIKE MAGIC as well.

⚠️ Estimated Arrival Time is not the reservation's check-in time. The arrival time at the top of the reservation shows the actual check-in time once the reservation has checked in, and stands in with the guest's Estimated Arrival Time until then. Changing the check-in time in your PMS, for example granting an Early Check-in, does not change the value the guest entered. Estimated Arrival Time has no effect on whether check-in is allowed, when keys are issued, or which unit gets assigned; it is informational only.

6. ID Document Scan​

The Pre-Check-In settings page also carries the ID Document Scan section. The toggle Enable document scan decides whether guests may scan the machine-readable zone of their passport or ID card on the Legal step to pre-fill their legal data. It is on by default for every Property.

📝 The scan itself, what it captures and where it is offered, is described in ID Scan & Verification.

7. Troubleshooting​

a) Guests do not see the Purpose of Stay step​

  • Check that at least one option has Show enabled (two if the selection is mandatory).
  • Check that you published the configuration. Draft changes are not live.
  • Make sure you configured the correct Property.

b) An option shows its technical ID instead of a label​

The translation for that option ID is missing in the Content Management System. Add the label text for each language. If you need access to the Content Management System, request it via a Support Ticket.

c) The configuration cannot be published​

  • "There are X inconsistencies in the purpose of stay configuration": one or more rows are invalid; review the highlighted options.
  • Mandatory selection with fewer than two shown options: either show more options or make the selection optional.

d) The value does not arrive in the PMS​

  • Check the option's Map to PMS ID: unmapped options are never written to the PMS.

8. Conclusion​

With the Purpose of Stay step you capture structured travel-purpose data during pre-check-in, keep it in sync with your PMS where supported, and stay free to offer options beyond what the PMS allows. Configure the options once per Property, publish, and the step goes live for your guests.

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