Visitor log and guest nights
The desk or the warden logs each visitor of a resident with the ID shown, the time in and the time out. A visitor who stays over is charged to the resident as guest nights, once, at the hostel's rate.
PLANSFrom Growth
The problem it solves
- The visitor register at the gate is hard to read, and nobody can find who visited a resident last month.
- Friends stay the night in a PG room and the owner never charges for it.
- When a guest night is charged, it is typed by hand into the bill, and sometimes twice.
- Parents ask who visited their child, and the answer is a page of handwriting.
How it works
- Open Hostel > Daily Life > Visitor Log and press New, or add a visitor from the Desk of the staff app.
- Fill in the Visitor, the phone and the Relation, choose who they are Visiting and type the ID Number of the ID shown.
- If the visitor stays over, fill in Guest Nights. Save: the time In is now.
- Guest nights are charged to the resident's dues at the hostel's Guest Night Rate, and the line shows Charged.
- When the visitor leaves, press Out on the line in the web list.
Everything it does
A visitor line
- Visitor, phone, Relation, Visiting (a resident in house), ID Number
- In: the time of saving, which you can change; Out: set with the Out button
- Guest Nights: nights the visitor stays over
- Recorded By: the staff user who saved it
Guest nights
- Guest Night Rate on the hostel's Rules tab; no rate means nothing is charged
- The charge is the rate times the nights, with the visitor's name, on the resident's dues
- A line is charged once; changing the nights after it is Charged does not charge again
Lists
- The Visitor Log lists visitors by time in, newest first, with the resident and hostel
- Wardens and the front desk see the hostels they are named on
Who uses it
Front deskLogs visitors and guest nights, on the web or in the staff app.
Warden / CaretakerLogs visitors and marks them out.
Hostel managerSets the Guest Night Rate and can correct or delete lines.
ResidentPays the guest nights with their dues.
Where you use it
- Web: Hostel > Daily Life > Visitor Log; Guest Night Rate on the hostel's Rules tab
- The SmartMy Hostel Staff app: add a visitor from the Desk; built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- Not on the resident portal or app: residents do not register their visitors in advance and are not told when one arrives
- Not a photo, a visitor pass or an OTP at the gate: for that, use SmartMy VMS
What you control
Settings
- Guest Night Rate: no rate to start with (nothing is charged until you set one)
Notifications
- No message is sent for a visitor: the log is a record for the staff
Works with
SmartMy VMSOrganisations with SmartMy VMS register visitors at the gate there. Guest nights are still charged only from the hostel's Visitor Log, so use one of the two for each visitor.
Questions
Can a resident pre-register a visitor?
Not in the hostel. The Visitor Log is filled in by the staff. SmartMy VMS, if your organisation has it, handles visitors invited in advance at the gate.How are guest nights charged?
Set the Guest Night Rate on the hostel. When a visitor line has guest nights, the rate times the nights goes on the resident's dues once, and the line shows Charged.Is a photo of the visitor kept?
No. The log keeps the name, phone, relation, the ID number typed in and the times. There is no photo or scan of the ID.We use SmartMy VMS at the gate. Do we need this too?
Only for guest nights. A visitor registered in VMS does not appear in the hostel's Visitor Log, and guest nights are charged only from the Visitor Log.Related features
BILLINGResident statement and yearly rent receiptPrint a resident's statement of every charge, invoice and payment, with what is due and the deposit held, in one click. Residents who claim rent in their tax return get a yearly rent receipt as a PDF. Both download from the portal and the app.BILLINGRent collection online and at the deskEvery invoice goes out with a link to pay, and residents and guardians also find Pay on the portal and in the app. Money paid at the desk, in cash, UPI or by card, gets a numbered receipt and goes against the oldest dues first.ATTENDANCE DEVICESWho Is In board and in / out by handOne list shows every resident in house as In or Out, with the time of their last punch. Without a device, wardens record in and out by hand on the web or the phone. Each punch drives late entries, leave and roll calls.PORTAL AND APPSThe staff app for wardens and the deskSmartMy Hostel Staff puts the warden's and the front desk's day on a phone. Wardens approve leave, mark residents out and back, and take the night roll call, even without signal. The desk searches residents, checks them in and out, takes payments and records inspections, incidents, late entries, visitors and meter readings. Any of them can press SOS to call the other staff for help.DAILY LIFENotice board and pollsPost notices to whole hostels, some blocks or some floors, pin the important ones and let them expire by themselves. Add a poll to a notice and residents answer on the portal or in the app.
See it with your own blocks and classes.
Tell us how many hostels and students you have. We will show you an allotment, a leave request approved by a parent and a night roll call, set up the way your hostel works.