Skip to main content
Adding attendees manually

How to manually book attendees onto your events

Anni avatar
Written by Anni
Updated over a week ago

If you take bookings in person, over the phone, or through other channels, you can add these bookings to your events on Bookwhen. This ensures that customer details are accurately recorded and that your event capacity is updated accordingly.

This article covers:


How to manually book on behalf of a customer

To make a booking on behalf of a customer, you'll need to follow the same booking process as they would.

To do this:

  1. Open your public page by selecting View public page within your Scheduling page:

    Scheduling page with arrow pointing at the 'View public page' button

  2. Ensure you're logged into your Bookwhen account as either an Account Owner or Schedule Manager. (This way, we can recognise the booking as an 'admin booking').

  3. Find the event on your schedule and add the relevant tickets to the basket using the Select button:

    Ticket list with arrow pointing at the 'Select' button

  4. Open your basket by selecting the trolley icon 🛒, or the View selections box:

    Ticket list with arrow pointing at the 'View selections' box

  5. Select the Book now button to proceed with adding the Main booking contact:

    Basket screen with arrow pointing at the 'Book now' button

💡 As an admin, you can skip booking fields, including mandatory booking fields, when completing a booking.

Main booking contact

We recommend that you enter the Main booking contact as the customer for better identification. This means they will also receive the booking confirmation email.

To do this:

  1. Select the drop-down menu:

    Main booking contact section with arrow pointing at the 'Booking contact' drop-down menu

  2. Search for the email address by typing in the correct email address into the box and selecting it:

    Booking contact field

  3. Once found, select the Use selected box.

  4. Alternatively (if the customer hasn't made a booking), you can select the Someone new box to add the email address into the Booking contact field.

  5. Select Continue to continue to Payment.

💡 Please note: The dropdown list only shows customers who have made a booking in the last 24 months.


Payment

Payment for admin bookings is always optional. You have the following options:

  • Record an online payment for your customer.

  • Record payment by another method (e.g., cash or bank transfer).

  • Leave the booking cost unpaid if no payment is required at the time.

Online payment

If you have the customer's card details and need to process the payment, select Pay by card:

Payment screen with arrow pointing at the 'Pay by card' button

Payment by another method

If you have already received payment by another method, select Yes under Record payment now?. You can choose the payment type and the amount received and record an admin note if required:

Payment screen with arrow pointing at the 'Record payment now?' setting

Leave unpaid

To complete the booking, leaving the payment to be completed later, select No under Record Payment Now?.

Completing the booking

Select the Complete booking when you are ready to finalise the booking.

💡 Useful notes:

  • Once a booking is completed, you won’t be able to update details such as form fields or email addresses. If you need to correct any information, we recommend cancelling the booking and then re-booking it as an admin, ensuring the correct email address is entered.


Booking multiple attendees in the same booking

If you need to book multiple attendees in a single booking (e.g. for a group of friends or a family), follow these steps:

  1. Add all relevant tickets to your basket from the public page.

  2. During checkout, select the 1st Attendee from the drop-down list (for existing customers).

  3. If the attendee is new/different from the Main booking contact, select the Someone new button:

    Attendee details section with arrow pointing at the 2nd attendee

  4. Once selected, add the 2nd Attendee:

    • To change the attendee, select Change attendee.

  5. Then, review the attendees you have selected. If you have made a mistake, select Remove attendee to start again:

    Attendee details screen with the 'Remove attendee' buttons highlighted.

  6. Select Continue to continue to the payment screen and complete your booking.


Booking on behalf of a Pass or Membership holder

To book an event on behalf of a Pass or Membership holder:

  • Ensure the customer has an active pass or membership.

  • Ensure you add their email address as the Main booking contact during checkout.

To select their email during checkout:

  1. Find the relevant email using the drop-down list in both the Main booking contact section:

  2. Select Continue.

  3. Add the relevant attendee Attendee details section:

    Checkout screen highlighting the attendee details. There are two arrows pointing, one at the 'Add attendee' drop down menu, where users can select the attendee to add to the booking. The second is pointing at the 'Use selected' button - users click this box to confirm their selected attendee.

  4. Select Continue to continue with the normal checkout process, navigating through any relevant booking fields and additional requirements.

As an admin:

  • ✅ You can exceed the exclusive ticket allowance set for Memberships.

  • ❌ You cannot exceed the available uses on passes. The limit must be manually adjusted on the pass first.


How to book customers onto past dates

If you need to book a customer onto an event that has already passed, you'll need to push back the date on your public page. This option is only available to admin users.

To do this:

  1. Open your public page.

  2. Select the date in the top left-hand corner of your schedule list:

    Public page with arrow pointing at the date in the top-left of the schedule list

  3. Select a past date from the calendar pop-up, using the arrow next to the month/year to push back the date:

    Public page with arrow pointing at the arrow in the calendar pop-up

  4. Once selected, your entry appears in the schedule list. You can then add the event and its corresponding ticket to your basket and proceed with your booking.


Double-bookings

Double bookings are verified based on the 'attendee email', so lead bookers can make multiple purchases as long as each booking has a different attendee email.

For example, the same Booking details email can be used at checkout for multiple bookings of the same date, time, or event:

'Booker' screen of the checkout process

💡 However, each booking must have a unique attendee email. If the same email is used, the system will flag it as a double booking, assuming the same attendee is booked multiple times.

To update the attendee email, select the Change attendee button on the right-hand side:

Details screen of the checkout stages


How an admin booking appears

When you book on behalf of a customer, the booking displays slightly differently from a customer-made booking.

For example, there are two titles:

  • Booked by: Shows the admin who made the booking on behalf of the customer.

  • Contact: Displays the customer’s details:

Booking screen with the 'Booked by' and 'Contact' section highlighted

As an admin, you can take certain actions that customers cannot, including:

  • Booking attendees onto past events.

  • Skipping booking form fields, such as attendee information.

  • Skipping payment (with the option to record it later).

  • Overriding booking restrictions, such as timeframe limits (e.g., booking a ticket after its set closing time).


💬 Any questions or feedback? There are two ways to get in touch:

Thank you! 🕺


Tags: Adding, bookers, manually, book, manual, add, booking, bookings, booker, admin, booking on behalf of bookers

Did this answer your question?