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Zotaki Platform · Guest Self Check-InGuest Self Check-In
Guests complete registration on their own phone — before arrival through a WhatsApp, SMS or email link, or at your counter by scanning a QR. Mobile verified by OTP, booking fetched automatically, details captured for every pax, ID uploaded. Your receptionist reviews it and hands over the key.
Upload ID document
Aadhaar, DL, Voter ID or Passport
Two ways in. The same twelve fields.
Whether the guest fills it in an Uber from the airport or standing at your counter, the same record lands against the same reservation — typed by the guest, not by your receptionist at the end of a long shift.
WhatsApp, SMS or email link
QR at the counter
OTP verification
All pax, one form
Digital signature
Form C data for foreign guests
Why this exists
The queue at 2pm is a data-entry queue
Almost nothing that happens at check-in requires a receptionist. Copying a name off an Aadhaar card, writing an address into a register, photocopying an ID, asking for the second guest's details — that is transcription, and the guest is standing there watching it happen.
Meanwhile the register itself is a liability. Handwriting nobody can read, a book that cannot be searched, ID photocopies in a drawer, and no reliable way to answer a police enquiry about who stayed in room 204 last March.
- Six to ten minutes at the desk per arrival
- Accompanying guests often never recorded properly
- Photocopies stored loose, with no retention policy
- Form C details chased after the guest has settled in
Two workflows
Before arrival, or at the counter
Both routes end in the same place — a completed registration sitting against the reservation, waiting for your receptionist to approve.
1 · The pre-arrival link
Zotaki sends a check-in link by WhatsApp, SMS or email — on confirmation, or timed a day before arrival. The guest verifies the mobile number on the booking with an OTP, their reservation is fetched automatically, and they fill the rest at their own pace. Most guests do it the evening before or in the car from the airport.
2 · The QR at the counter
A standee or card at reception. The guest scans, verifies their mobile, and fills the same form standing in the lobby while your receptionist confirms room and rate. Walk-ins get covered too — and the two jobs happen in parallel instead of the guest waiting for the desk to finish typing.
What the guest actually does
Five steps, about two minutes
Verify the mobile
Enter the number on the booking, receive an OTP. This is what proves it is really them.
Booking appears
Dates, room type, rate and pax count fetched. Nothing to type twice.
Fill for every pax
A section per guest — name, age, address, relationship. Children without an ID.
Upload the ID
Photograph it with the phone. Aadhaar, DL, voter ID, PAN or passport.
Sign and submit
Accept house rules, sign on the screen, done. Front desk is notified.
Identity and records
Captured properly, stored properly
The point is not just to collect an ID image. It is to end up with a guest register you could actually produce if somebody asked for it.
All Indian ID types
Aadhaar, PAN, driving licence, voter ID or passport — photographed on the phone, no scanner needed.
Aadhaar masked
The first eight digits are masked in line with UIDAI guidance, so your records never hold the full number.
Form C data collected
Passport, visa type and number, date of arrival in India and nationality — captured for foreign nationals at check-in, not chased later.
Signature on record
The guest signs on their own screen. It is stored against the registration card, timestamped.
A register you can search
Find any guest by name, mobile, ID number, room or date range in seconds. No flipping through a book.
Who can open a document
ID images sit behind role-based access, so a housekeeping login cannot pull up a guest's passport.
The front desk view
Your receptionist still runs the check-in
Self check-in prepares the arrival. It does not open a room on its own. The arrivals list shows who has completed registration, who has been sent a link and not opened it, and who has not been contacted at all — so your team knows exactly where to spend a phone call.
- Review the submitted ID before approving
- Assign the room and hand over the key as usual
- Nudge guests who have not completed, in one tap
- Everything writes into the folio and guest profile
Run your own numbers
How much desk time does this give you back?
Not every guest will use it — some will not open the link, some prefer the counter. Set a realistic completion rate and see what the rest is worth.
Front desk time freed, per month
46 hours
time your receptionist spends on guests instead of on transcription.
- Desk time on arrivals — today
- 4h 12m a day
- Desk time on arrivals — with self check-in
- 2h 40m a day
- Guests completing it themselves
- 15 a day
- Freed up over a year
- 562 hours
The saving is real but it is not the whole story. The bigger gain is usually that every accompanying guest gets recorded properly and every ID ends up in one searchable place.
While you have their attention
A check-in form is also the best upsell you get
The guest is already thinking about the stay and already has their phone open. This is a better moment to offer an upgrade than the thirty seconds at the desk.
Room upgrades
Offer the next category at a fair difference, with a photograph. Accepted upgrades post to the folio.
Early check-in, late checkout
Priced and sold in the flow, so the request arrives before the guest does — not as an argument at 11am.
Breakfast and meal plans
Add a plan for the whole party in one tap and let the kitchen know the covers a day early.
Balance and deposit
Collect the balance tariff or security deposit by card or UPI in the same flow.
Preferences on record
Arrival time, floor preference, occasion, dietary needs — captured once and kept on the guest profile for next time.
Straight into the room
The same phone that checked in scans the in-room dining QR later. No second onboarding.
Where it earns its keep
Properties that feel this most
Business hotels
Corporate guests arrive in clusters off the same flight and want the desk to take thirty seconds, not ten minutes.
Resorts
Families of five or six, arriving tired after a long drive. Pre-arrival check-in turns a twenty-minute lobby scene into a welcome drink.
Hostels & guest houses
High arrival volume, thin front-desk staffing, and a lot of foreign passports that need Form C data.
Homestays
Often no permanent desk at all. The link does the registration that nobody was there to do.
Serviced apartments
Long stays with people joining and leaving mid-tenancy — each new occupant registers on their own phone.
Small groups
One check-in policy and one guest register format across every property in the group.
Worth saying plainly
Three things to be realistic about
Not every guest will use it
Expect somewhere between a third and two-thirds, depending on your guest mix and when you send the link. The counter QR catches most of the rest. Your desk does not go away.
This is capture, not police verification
Zotaki records and stores the document the guest submits and masks what should be masked. It does not check that ID against a government database — a human still reviews it.
Adoption depends on the message
A link sent the morning of arrival with a clear reason gets opened. One buried in a booking confirmation two months earlier does not. We will help you get the timing right.
Frequently asked questions
Does the guest need to download an app?
No. The link opens in whatever browser is already on the phone. Nothing to install, no account to create, no password to remember.
How does the booking get fetched automatically?
The guest enters the mobile number on the booking and receives an OTP. Once verified, Zotaki pulls that reservation — dates, room type, rate, name and pax count — so they only fill in what is genuinely missing.
Can details be filled for all guests, not just the person who booked?
Yes. The form opens one section per pax based on the reservation, and each accompanying adult gets their own name, age, address and ID. Children can be recorded without an ID.
Which ID documents can guests upload?
Aadhaar, PAN, driving licence, voter ID or passport for Indian guests; passport and visa for foreign nationals. The document is photographed with the phone camera.
Is the Aadhaar number masked?
Yes — the first eight digits are masked in line with UIDAI guidance, so neither your staff nor your records hold the full number.
Does this help with Form C for foreign guests?
It collects what Form C needs — passport number, visa type and number, date of arrival in India, nationality and address — at check-in rather than chasing the guest afterwards, and holds it against the stay for your filing.
What about walk-ins with no booking?
The counter QR covers them. The guest scans and fills the same form on their phone while your receptionist confirms room and rate, so the two happen in parallel.
Does the front desk still have control?
Yes. Self check-in prepares the arrival; it does not release a room. Your receptionist sees who is check-in ready, reviews the ID, and completes the check-in and key handover.
Can we collect payment during self check-in?
Yes, where a gateway is connected. Balance tariff, security deposit or an early check-in charge can be collected in the same flow and posted to the folio.
Where is guest data stored, and for how long?
Against the reservation in your Zotaki account, behind role-based access so only permitted staff can open a document. Retention periods are configurable to match your policy under the DPDP Act.
See a check-in run end to end
Thirty minutes. We send a check-in link to your own phone, you fill it in as a guest would, and then we show you what lands on the front desk screen — including the ID, the signature and the register entry.