Reception App
Room status, guest profiles, bookings, billing, and live updates from every department — everything your receptionist needs, the moment they need it.
The Problem
Your receptionist is on the phone to housekeeping. "Is Room 7 ready yet? I've got a guest in the lobby." The housekeeper doesn't pick up — they're between floors with a vacuum in one hand and a stack of towels in the other. The receptionist tries again. No answer. They put the guest on hold and walk upstairs to check. Room 7 is spotless. It's been ready for twenty minutes. Nobody told them.
This is the rhythm of most hotel receptions. The desk is supposed to be the central hub — the place where guests get answers, bookings get made, and problems get solved. Instead, it's a bottleneck. The receptionist spends half their time chasing information that should already be in front of them.
Then there's the returning guest who stayed six months ago. They had a dairy allergy and asked for extra pillows. The receptionist doesn't know any of this — the previous stay was handled by a colleague, and whatever notes existed are buried in an old booking confirmation email. So the guest has to repeat themselves. It's not a disaster. But it's the difference between "fine" and "they remembered me."
And then there are the bookings. A phone enquiry comes in. The caller wants a double room for next Friday. The receptionist opens the booking system, checks availability, finds a room, takes the guest's details, and enters it all manually. Fifteen minutes for a single booking. Multiply that by a busy afternoon and the phone is ringing while the lobby has a queue.
Reception doesn't need more tools. It needs one screen that brings everything together — room status, guest information, bookings, and live updates from every other department. Without the phone calls.
How It Works
Not a stripped-down Manager Dashboard. A dedicated front desk application for check-ins, room status, guest profiles, bookings, and billing.
The room status board is the first thing your receptionist sees. Every room in the property, displayed with a clear status that updates in real time. When a housekeeper marks Room 7 as clean, the Reception App shows it in the same second. No phone call. No refresh button.
Colour-coded statuses — Available (green), Occupied (blue), Dirty (amber), Cleaning (teal), Inspection (gold), Maintenance (red). See the state of every room at a glance.
Room type visible — Double, Twin, Suite — so your receptionist knows what's available without clicking into each room.
Real-time updates — powered by WebSocket. Housekeeping marks a room clean; reception sees it instantly. No waiting, no chasing.
Check-in starts with the booking. The receptionist pulls up the reservation and the form auto-populates with guest details, room assignment, dates, and any special requests. Confirm, hand over the key, done. Check-out works in reverse — the room status changes to "Dirty" and housekeeping gets a cleaning task automatically.
Auto-populated forms — guest name, contact details, room number, dates, and rate pre-filled from the booking. No retyping.
Dietary and preference flags — allergies and special requests surface during check-in so nothing is missed.
Automatic handoff — check-out changes room to "Dirty" and creates a housekeeping task. No phone call needed.
Every guest who books with your hotel gets a profile. Contact details, booking history, preferences, dietary information, and VIP status — all searchable. When a returning guest calls, the receptionist types their name and their full history appears. No more asking guests to repeat themselves.
Searchable profiles — find any guest by name, email, or phone number. Full history at your fingertips.
VIP and allergy flags — returning guests are flagged. Dietary requirements are bold and unmissable — shared with the kitchen automatically.
Builds over time — every visit adds more detail. Preferences, notes, and history compound into a guest profile that earns loyalty.
New bookings are created directly in the Reception App. Select dates, choose an available room, enter guest details, add notes, confirm. Phone bookings, walk-ins, and pre-arranged reservations all follow the same process. Available rooms are filtered automatically based on selected dates.
Date-filtered availability — only rooms available for the selected dates are shown. No double-booking risk.
Room type and rate visible — see the room type and nightly rate alongside each available room.
Guest profile creation — for new guests, the profile is built during their first booking. Ready for their next visit.
Checkout shouldn't involve surprises. The Reception App includes a full billing view — room charges, restaurant bills, room service orders, and any extras — with a running total and balance due. The receptionist can add a payment, process a Stripe refund, or print the bill, all from one screen.
Itemised folio — every charge broken down: room nights, restaurant, room service, extras. No hidden costs.
Stripe integration — process payments and refunds directly from the folio. No separate finance system required.
Print or email — hand the guest a clean, itemised bill at checkout. Under a minute from search to receipt.
In Practice
A typical morning shift on the Reception App.
A receptionist opens the Reception App at the start of their shift. The room status board fills the screen — a grid of every room in the property, colour-coded by status. At a glance, they can see: fourteen rooms occupied, three available, two being cleaned, one under maintenance.
A guest approaches the desk for check-in. The receptionist searches the guest's name. The booking appears with all details pre-filled — room number, dates, rate, and a note that the guest requested a late check-out on their last visit. The receptionist confirms the details, marks the guest as checked in, and the room status changes to "Occupied." The whole process takes under a minute.
A departing guest asks to settle their bill. The receptionist opens the billing page, searches the guest's name, and the folio appears: three nights, two room service orders, one restaurant dinner. Total: £487.50 with £200 deposit already paid. Balance: £287.50. The receptionist takes payment, prints the bill, and hands it over. The guest walks out with a clean receipt.
Meanwhile, the room board updates. Room 11 just changed from "Dirty" to "Cleaning." Room 4 changed from "Cleaning" to "Available." The receptionist didn't pick up the phone. The housekeeping team updated the room status from their app, and the reception board reflected it instantly.
A guest mentions that the hot water in Room 6 is running lukewarm. The receptionist creates an issue report — Room 6, hot water, priority Medium. It's a maintenance ticket now. Assigned, timestamped, trackable. The receptionist tells the guest it's been logged and they'll follow up.
Connected to Everything
When a housekeeper marks a room as clean, the room status board updates instantly. When reception checks a guest out, the room changes to "Dirty" and a cleaning task appears in the Housekeeping App automatically.
Issues reported by reception become maintenance tickets immediately. Room number, description, and priority — logged, assigned, and trackable. The receptionist can see ticket status without phoning the maintenance team.
Every booking, check-in, and room status change feeds into the manager's overview. Occupancy rates, revenue figures, and guest counts update as reception processes arrivals and departures.
When a guest checks in, their access to the Guest Portal activates. Room service, amenity requests, issue reporting, and restaurant bookings — all through the portal. Reception stays informed without being the middleman.
Guest dietary requirements stored in the guest profile are visible to the kitchen when orders come in. The information enters the system once, at check-in, and follows the guest through every department.
The billing folio connects directly to Stripe for payment processing and refunds. Every payment has a timestamp, method, and status. The transaction happens at the desk, in front of the guest, in under a minute.
Reception isn't just a desk — it's the point where guest information enters the system. In Prisma, that information flows to every department that needs it, the moment it's entered.
FAQ
Get Started
The Reception App is included in every Prisma plan — from the £49/month B&B tier to Enterprise. Every feature described on this page is available at every price. No add-ons. No upgrades required.
No credit card. No contract. No setup fees. Full access to every feature — including the Reception App — at every tier.
Want to see it in action first? Explore the live demo or book a walkthrough.
Prisma is a UK hotel management platform with 10 purpose-built department apps. The Reception App is one of ten dedicated applications included in every plan. Pricing starts at £49/month for properties with up to 10 rooms.
