Importing guests
Bring your guest list from a previous system or till using a CSV file, including past visits and marketing permission.
Use Import guests to bring in a guest list from your previous reservation system, till, website or newsletter.
Before you start
- Only owners and managers see Import guests.
- Your file must be a CSV. Download the template from the import window to see the columns.
- Choose whether dates are Day first (05/03/2024 is 5 March) or Month first (05/03/2024 is 3 May).
Import
- Open Guests and choose Import guests.
- Choose your location and where the list came from (for example Our previous reservation system or Our till / POS customer database).
- Drag your CSV in or choose the file. Check the column matching.
- Decide on marketing permission (see below).
- Start the import and wait for Import complete.
The summary shows guests imported, Matched existing, Already known and Not imported. You can download the rows that weren't imported, fix them and import them again.
Existing guests
Guests are matched by email address or phone number only. Never by name. A match adds the new details to the existing guest without overwriting what you already have.
Past visits from the file appear separately as Before ResRes on the guest's profile.
Marketing permission
Importing never signs anyone up to marketing by default.
- To use marketing columns in the file, choose Use the marketing columns in this file and say how permission was collected.
- You must confirm that the venue holds a lawful basis to email every address marked as opted in. The confirmation is recorded against your account.
- People who already unsubscribed stay unsubscribed. Opt-outs recorded shows how many.
If an import stops
Choose Resume import. It picks up only the guests not yet saved, so nobody is imported twice.
Troubleshooting
- "Could not read that file": save it as CSV (UTF-8) and try again.
- Dates look wrong: re-import with the other date order.
- Many rows not imported: download them to see the reason for each row.