When a guest books with you a second time, Make a Rezzy will usually link the new booking to their existing profile — carrying over the dietary, seating, and notes you have built up. This article explains exactly when that happens and when it does not.
The match rule, in one line
A new booking is linked to an existing guest if the first name, last name, email, and phone number on the booking are an exact match with a guest already on file for your business.
All four fields are checked. If any one of them differs — a typo in the surname, a new mobile number, an email left blank this time — the system will create a new guest profile rather than risk attaching the booking to the wrong person.
What carries over when there is a match
When the booking attaches to an existing guest, the profile fields you have already set — Notes, Seating preference, and Dietary restrictions — are kept.t.
When a guest comes back as "new"
Because the match is exact on all four fields, it is easy for a returning guest to land in the system as a brand-new profile. Common reasons:
- They mistyped their surname, or it was misheard over the phone the first time.
- Their email changed (a new job, or they used a work address one time and a personal one the next).
- They booked without a phone number one time, and with one the next — or the other way round.
- Someone else made the booking on their behalf — a partner, a PA — and used different contact details.
What happens when you take a phone booking
There is no "look up this guest" step on the booking form. You type the guest's first name, last name, email, and phone number; on save, the system either attaches the booking to a matching profile or creates a new one. Your team does not need to do anything different — they just need to be careful with spelling, since a typo will produce a duplicate profile rather than an error.
What happens when a guest books themselves
On the website widget, the guest types their own details. The same match rule applies: if everything matches an existing profile, the booking attaches; otherwise a new profile is created.
If a guest also has an account with Make a Rezzy
If a guest has a Make a Rezzy account, they can manage their bookings on our website. When you create a guest profile whose email matches a registered account, the two are linked automatically. It does not change anything you see day-to-day — it is mostly there so the guest's own bookings page lines up with what you have.
Where to go next
- Guest profiles — the fields a returning guest's profile carries forward.
- Notes, dietary, and seating — how to make the carried-over fields actually useful at the door.
- Taking a booking by phone — where the four match fields are captured.