Collect a visitor's vehicle plate
How to enable visitor vehicle registration on a visiting policy, record plates and reserve parking spaces on invitations, look up plates at Reception and in the Admin console, and understand what happens when the setting is turned off.
Offision can record a visitor’s vehicle plate and optional parking space on a visit, show them on visitor emails and passes, and display them at Reception. An administrator must first enable vehicle registration on the visiting location policy; until enabled, vehicle fields do not appear anywhere.
1. Enable vehicle registration on the policy
Open Visiting policy, edit the policy for the building where guests park, and select Vehicle registration (second item on the left).
Two independent switches control who can enter a plate:
| Switch | What it does | When to turn it on |
|---|---|---|
| Allow invited visitors to register vehicle | Adds Visitor Vehicles to the invitation form so hosts record cars when scheduling a visit. | Enable wherever invited guests park. |
| Allow visitor self-service walk-in to register vehicle | Adds vehicle fields to the lobby walk-in screen and visitor app so unannounced guests enter their own plate. | Enable if walk-ins use the car park; leave off if gate or reception staff enter plates. |
Vehicle registration has separate switches for invitations and walk-ins.
Turning a switch off hides the field on new visits and hides previously recorded plates across emails, Reception, and visit views. Stored plates are not deleted and reappear if you turn the switch back on.
2. Add vehicles and reserve parking on an invitation
Open Visitor Vehicles in a scheduled invitation in the User app or Admin console. Select the vehicle type, enter its plate, and click Add more for another vehicle. The back arrow discards vehicle edits; Done returns the draft to the invitation. Save or send the invitation separately.
Open Visitor Vehicles to edit cars on the scheduled visit.
Click P beside a vehicle to choose parking. Vehicle registration must be enabled on the location, with visitor-enabled parking resources configured. Pick a floor, then choose an available space in List or Map, where Any parking space picks the first available space on that floor. The 3D map requires New map enabled and a published 3D floor map with eligible parking. Other floors use the list.
Pair each plate with an optional parking selection.
Selecting a space does not reserve it yet. Click Done in the vehicle editor, then invite or save the visit. Offision checks availability, permissions, and required approval across the full visit, including repeating dates. Failed reservations never save partial allocations; if parking fails to load or no space is free, return and save the vehicle without parking.
Editing a scheduled visit rechecks parking for the updated time and location. Removing parking, or cancelling or deleting the visit, releases the linked reservation. Check the saved visit and parking after editing a repeating series.
Enter the plate as shown on the car. Spaces, dashes, and dots are stripped and letters upper-cased, so ab-1234, AB 1234, and AB1234 match the same plate.
3. Let walk-in visitors register a plate
When Allow visitor self-service walk-in to register vehicle is on, walk-in guests enter their vehicle type and plate on the lobby screen or visitor app, creating the same vehicle record shown at Reception.
Self-service walk-ins cannot reserve parking in that flow; a plate without a selected space is saved as a vehicle record only.
4. What guests, hosts, and approvers receive
Every visit message sent to the guest includes the plate:
| Message | Plate details |
|---|---|
| Visiting invitation (when invited) | Plate and vehicle type. |
| Visitor pass (QR code shown at reception and barrier) | Plate and vehicle type. |
| Update notification (when visit or car changes) | Updated plate details. |
The visiting invitation displays the registered vehicle under the location.
Hosts see the vehicle on their confirmation, and approvers see it before deciding when approval is required. Visits without a vehicle omit the row completely.
Visiting emails and Reception cards also show each vehicle’s reserved parking space, floor, and building. Cancelled or deleted reservations stop appearing as reserved.
5. Find and confirm plates at Reception
Open Reception from the home menu. Visits with a registered vehicle show the plate on the card so staff can match arriving cars immediately.
Reception cards show the registered plate for each vehicle.
The Reception search box matches plates alongside names, emails, phone numbers, visitor codes, and host names, ignoring spaces and punctuation (AB 1234 finds AB1234).
Searching Reception by plate matches regardless of spaces or dashes.
At check-in, the vehicle step pre-fills the registered plate for confirmation or correction. Confirm the existing entry rather than re-typing it as a new vehicle to avoid duplicate records.
6. Search all plates in the Admin console
Visiting vehicles in the Admin console lists every recorded plate in the first column with dedicated search, letting administrators find a car’s owner from a plate alone.
Visiting vehicles lists every recorded plate with dedicated search.
This page requires Visitor manager permission. Desk and gate staff use Reception (step 5); administrators use Visiting vehicles for follow-up checks.
7. Verify the setup
Send yourself a test invitation with a space in the plate (such as AB 1234) and check three places:
- The invitation email shows the vehicle with the space removed.
- The visit panel in the User app lists the plate under the visitors.
- Reception finds the visit when you search the plate with the space.
If step 3 returns nothing, check which building is selected in Reception (it displays one building at a time).
What this feature does not control
- Parking for a plate alone: Only a scheduled invitation with a selected space reserves parking; self-service registration records the plate only.
- Automatic barrier opening: Offision does not connect to car-park barriers; staff read the plate.
- Separate vehicle entry and exit times: Offision tracks check-in and check-out for the visit, not the car.
- Other walk-in form fields: Controlled by the visiting purpose; see Register a visitor who arrives without an appointment.