Mark VIP guests, tag guests and keep staff notes

Included — no add-on neededBackofficeFor managers

Needs: Any backoffice user with access to the location

VIP status, tags and staff notes help your team recognise guests and treat them the way you want. They follow the guest from visit to visit and show up in the directory, in the Host app and in your daily report.

Where to find it

  • VIP: Backoffice › Guests › open a guest › Mark VIP (header).
  • Staff notes: Backoffice › Guests › open a guest › Profile activity › Add staff note, or Edit › Guest profile notes (staff only).
  • Tags: set when adding a guest (Add Guest › Tags); edit later in the Host app guest profile.

What it does

VIP

  • Mark VIP turns the guest into a VIP; click VIP again to remove it.
  • VIPs get a gold star in the directory and are counted in the VIP Guests card, which you can click to list only VIPs.
  • Marking a reservation as VIP in the Host app also marks the guest profile as VIP. Removing VIP from a single reservation does not remove it from the guest — do that on the profile.
  • VIP status can be used as a condition in custom email automations (VIP only / Non-VIP only) and appears in the daily report's Guest mix section.

Tags

  • Free-text labels such as "regular", "wine lover" or "press". They appear in the Tags section of the profile and are searchable with tag: in the directory (for example tag:press).
  • Custom email automations can be limited to guests with certain tags.

Staff notes

  • Guest profile notes (staff only) are private. They are the same notes shown on the guest's reservations in the Host app, so whatever you write here is visible at the table.
  • Add staff note › Append note adds a dated entry to Profile activity — useful for a history of incidents or compliments.
  • General notes in the contact section are a separate field.

How to mark a guest as VIP

  1. Open the guest profile.
  2. Click Mark VIP. The button changes to VIP with a filled star.

How to add a staff note

  1. Open the guest profile and scroll to Profile activity.
  2. Type in Add staff note ("Add a staff-only note (timestamped)…").
  3. Click Append note. The note appears in the list with its date and time.

Good to know

  • Notes and tags are searchable in the directory (note: and tag:).
  • When you merge two profiles, their tags and notes are combined and VIP is kept if either was a VIP.
  • Imported guests from another system usually arrive with their old notes in Guest profile notes, starting with a line like "Imported from Zenchef guest list".

Troubleshooting

I can't add or remove tags on an existing guest in the backoffice The backoffice profile shows tags but does not edit them. Use the guest profile in the Host app, where you can Add a tag or remove one.

The VIP star disappeared after I removed VIP from a reservation It shouldn't: removing VIP from a reservation leaves the guest's VIP status alone. If the guest is no longer VIP, someone removed it on the profile.

A note I wrote in the Host app isn't on the backoffice profile Only notes saved to the guest profile appear here. Notes typed on a single reservation stay with that reservation. Check that the reservation is linked to this guest.