Overview
Use the Guests / Profiles page in Cloudbeds PMS to manage guest information efficiently. This guide explains how to create and manage Guest Statuses, disallow (blacklist) guests for internal reference, and understand how duplicate guest profiles are deduplicated (merged) automatically.
- Guest Status setup: Create statuses (e.g., VIP, DNR/Disallowed) in Settings > Guests and use them to classify guests.
- Disallowing guests: Apply a Disallowed status for manual reservations; note this does not block OTA or Booking Engine reservations.
- Profile deduplication (merging): Manual/bulk merge is not available; duplicates are resolved by an automated nightly process that keeps a single, accurate profile.
- Filtering: On the Profiles page, filter by Guest Status to quickly find the records you need.
Some properties still display the Guests page name instead of Profiles. Both labels provide the same functionality. The label will standardize as Profiles across all properties.
Creating Guest Statuses and Disallowing Guests
How to set up guest status
Guest Status are used to create different categories of guests, which are then displayed in both the Guest section and any reservations involving the customer in your system. Some examples would be for VIP, AAA Member, or even if you've disallowed them.
Things to know:
- Guest status is designed to be an internal reference for your staff and does not change or affect any reservations or the booking engine.
- Applying a disallowed status to a guest does not prevent the guest from creating a reservation.
To set up Guest Status:
- In your Account menu
, go to Settings
- Click on the Guests page
- In Guest Status, click +Add
- Add the Status Name
- Add a Description (optional)
- Click Save
- Review your new Guest Status
The Guest Status will also be displayed next to the guest's email address, when adding the guest details while creating a new reservation
- Delete or disable/enable this status any time on Guest Status page, by clicking on the toggle/pencil icon next to the guest status.
Once you’ve created a guest status, you can:
- Assign a specific status to a customer inside the reservation
- Filter guests (by Guest Status) in the Profiles tab.
How to disallow a guest
Disallowing a guest in Cloudbeds PMS means applying an internal status that shows up when you add a reservation manually with a previous guest or view the reservation.
Things to note:
- This feature works only for manual reservations. If the guest books through other sources like the booking engine or connected channels like Booking.com, the system will not recognize their profile (even if the guest books with the same email, name, and surname as the guest you have disallowed before). This means that the guest status must be applied manually.
- At the moment, the system cannot prevent a guest with this status to make a booking. Check internally if you will accept the reservation or not, contact the guest and refund the deposit if needed.
- Booking.com is the only channel that allows properties to report guest misconduct from within Cloudbeds PMS to block the guest from making a reservation at your property on Booking.com in the future. Check the following article for further details: How to report Guest Misconduct to Booking.com from Cloudbeds PMS.
Step 1 - Create the new Guest Status
- Follow the steps described in the Set up guest status section and enter the corresponding guest status in the Status Name field (e.g., Disallowed).
- Add a description if needed, and save your changes.
Step 2 - Apply the new guest status to the guest via their reservation
- From the Main menu
, go to the Reservations page
- Look for the corresponding guest using the search bar and/or filters and click on their name to open the reservation drawer
- Open the reservation
- Click on the Disallowed status from the drop-down menu
Step 3 (Optional) - Apply the Guest Status automatically to Manual Reservations
When adding a new manual reservation within Cloudbeds PMS for the same guest, make sure to use the same First Name. The system will display a drop-down menu with all previous guests.
Once the correct profile is selected, the guest status will be applied automatically.
Learn more about How to create a new reservation in Cloudbeds PMS
FAQ
How can I filter guests by Guest Status?
You can filter the list of profiles by “Guest Status” from the Profiles page. This lets you quickly see profiles that were associated with a specific status (e.g., VIP, Disallowed). Note that Guest Status is an internal label; it doesn’t block reservations or change Booking Engine behavior.
Steps
- From the Main menu
- Open the Guest Status filter, select one or more statuses.
- Click Apply to update the results.
Can I add or change a Guest Status directly inside the Guest Profile?
This option is not available. Guest Status cannot be added or changed from within a Guest Profile.
Can I merge guest profiles myself?
Manual or bulk merge from the Guests tab is not available. Duplicate profiles are identified and merged by an automated nightly deduplication process (runs once per day at 02:00 UTC). The system uses a combination of fuzzy and exact matching across fields such as name, email, phone, address, and country to maintain a single, accurate profile per guest.
Learn more: Guest Profile Deduplication Overview
Why can’t I block a guest with “Disallowed” status?
“Disallowed” (or any Guest Status) is an internal tag for your team. It does not prevent bookings coming from channels or the Booking Engine. For third-party marketplaces, only Booking.com currently supports misconduct reporting that can lead to blocking at their channel level.
Comments
Some guests have inappropriate behaviors and have been found many times, causing losses to the hotel. We should improve the guest booking identification system as soon as possible and stop allowing those people to book.
This is a very important feature that needs to be part of the program. We have to protect our property from criminals or people who have vandalized, threatened with weapons, or verbally abused staff. This is a huge problem in many areas, especially hotels and motels. Please add this feature as soon as possible so we can protect our guests and staff easily.
Hello, Joysinninnisfail,
Thank you so much for your valuable feedback on the guest status/disallow guests features. We understand the significant impact and how critical this is for your daily operations.
Please note that this one is already in our Product Team's radar with high priority. We are committed to exploring solutions that address these vital needs, and we truly appreciate you bringing this to our attention.
Thank you!
We have problems with guests damaging property. We enforce security bonds which helps a little. No police want to help and staff afraid.
When will the profile page be updated with the guest status again? This is a major safety concern for our employees if we need to set guest status as "disallowed" and can't. Please make this a TOP priority to fix. Thank you.
Hello, Simon,
Thank you for reaching out. We can understand that this is such a difficult situation. Understandably, your staff feels very concerned.
We have received different requests about guest management tools, such as a blacklist, for example. Our team is actively working on new features to help properties manage these types of issues more effectively.
In the meantime, we appreciate your patience as we work to bring you more tools to deal with this challenge.
Our Support Team is more than happy to help if you need any special assistance.
Hello, Jeni Janis,
We can understand your concern about the disallowed guest status. This is a very requested feature, and it has already been re-escalated with high priority/visibility for our Product Team.
We appreciate your honest feedback and follow-up.
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