Front office
What is a walk-in guest?
A walk-in is a guest who arrives at the hotel without a reservation and asks for a room. The front desk checks availability, quotes a rate, registers the guest and takes payment or a deposit on the spot, so the booking and the check-in happen in one step.
Handling walk-ins
Decide in advance what rate the desk may quote, usually the best available rate for the day, and who can approve a discount. Collect ID and fill in the guest registration card as for any guest. Because there is no card guarantee or prepayment, most hotels take the first night or a deposit at check-in.
Walk-ins and availability
A walk-in takes a room out of inventory immediately. If the sale isn't recorded straight away, the same room can still be sold online, which is how last-room overbookings happen.
In StaySynq
StaySynq has a walk-in workflow that creates the booking, captures ID and opens the folio in one screen, and takes the room off sale at once.
Common questions
Do walk-in guests pay more?
Not necessarily. Many hotels quote walk-ins the same best available rate shown on their website, while some allow the desk to discount late in the evening to fill empty rooms.
Related terms
- BAR (best available rate)BAR, or best available rate, is the lowest rate a hotel offers to the general public for a given date without restrictions such as prepayment or a minimum stay. It changes with demand, and most other rate plans are set as a discount or premium to it.
- GRC (guest registration card)A GRC, or guest registration card, is the form completed at check-in that records who is staying: name, address, ID details, nationality, arrival and departure dates, room and rate, and the guest's signature. It is the hotel's legal record of the stay.
- OverbookingOverbooking is when a hotel accepts more reservations than it has rooms for a given night. Some hotels do it deliberately to offset expected no-shows and cancellations. It also happens by accident when OTA availability is not updated quickly enough after a booking.
Ready to unify your operations?
Book a 30-minute demo. We'll walk through your specific property type, room count, and channel mix, then show you exactly what your data looks like on StaySynq.
Early access · founder-led onboarding · launch pricing locked through year one