How to Run Visitor Sign-In at a Front Desk

Decide who signs in

Offices, campuses, residences and back-of-house areas at hotels all have visitors: interview candidates, contractors, suppliers, guest speakers and friends of residents. Decide who must sign in, and write down any house rules or confidentiality terms they should agree to first.

In vFound Visitors, create a type for guests, interviews, contractors, deliveries or your own process. Each type can have its own questions, terms, badge colour, approval rule and 7 to 365 day retention. A visitor agrees to any terms before signing in, with a signature if you ask.

Invite visitors ahead

A visitor who is expected should not wait in a queue. Send them a pass before they arrive, so the desk only has to scan it. vFound Visitors emails invited visitors a QR pass with the time and who they are visiting, in their own language. A daily or weekday pass can cover a date range with the same QR code, and a type that needs approval waits for the desk before the pass is sent.

Let walk-ins sign themselves in

A sign at the entrance with a QR code lets walk-ins sign in on their own phone while the desk is busy. You can also share a registration link or pair an iPad or Android tablet with a ten-minute code as a lobby kiosk. The kiosk never lists your people and can be revoked at any time. An invited visitor who uses the same email is matched to their invitation instead of being signed in twice. No visitor app or account is needed.

Tell the host at once

Nobody should have to phone around to find a host. When a visitor signs in, vFound Visitors emails the person they came to see, and your team’s Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Chat channel can hear too, with the host’s name only. The host can answer On my way, Please wait 5 minutes or Not my visitor from the email without an account, and the desk and visitor pass show the reply. If a self sign-in names someone the desk cannot match to exactly one person on the list, the visit is flagged so staff confirm the host before anyone is told.

Know who is in the building

In an emergency the most useful thing a desk can hold is an accurate list of visitors on site. vFound Visitors shows everyone signed in now and prints 4 by 3 inch, Brother QL 62 mm or DYMO 54 by 101 mm badges. For a drill, start a live roll call on any phone, let several marshals mark people safe or missing, and keep the final report. A paper list is still available. Visitors sign out from their pass or at the desk, and anyone left signed in is signed out automatically after the day ends.

Choose photo and ID rules by visitor type

A contractor or restricted-area visitor may need a different check from a delivery driver. In vFound Visitors, each type can optionally require a private visitor photo and put it on the printed badge. It can also require a staff member to visually check a physical photo ID before sign-in.

The staff record stores who performed that check and when. vFound does not keep an image or number from the ID, verify document authenticity, compare faces or run a watchlist. Self-service visitors cannot mark the check complete themselves.

Keep only what you need

A visitor log is personal data. Collect the name, host and time, and ask for an email, company or photo only when it helps your process. vFound keeps each finished visit, its optional visitor photo and the staff visual-check record for the venue’s chosen 7 to 365 days, then deletes them. Export the whole log as a spreadsheet when you need it.